We all go to work to do a good job, but how often do team or culture challenges stand in our way? As a veterinary nurse, perhaps you find that broken relationships with management, feeling undermined by colleagues or lacking confidence in your knowledge and skills can stop you from working at your best.
For instance, what happens in your workplace if you make an honest mistake? Do you trust your colleagues and bosses enough to come forward? Or do you worry that you will be met with a degree of judgement, and feel ashamed or inadequate? Imagine feeling unable to acknowledge the mistake and instead remaining silent. Your team and management remain unaware, resulting in a lack of much-needed support, and procedures go unchanged. As a consequences patients will be at risk of the same mistake beingmade by a different member of the team in the future.
In this article, we will explore the importance of workplace culture and team dynamics, how they influence each other, and why it is worth investing in becoming a great team. We will also share tips on how to make a difference to the culture and team dynamics where you work, no matter your role, seniority or confidence.
What is workplace culture?
Workplace culture is rather a buzzword at the moment, but it is widely accepted that knowledge and understanding of workplace culture are crucial to managing a team well (Diez, 2020; Veterinary Practice, 2023 and helping team members perform at their best (Flamholtz, 2001). However, culture itself is not straightforward to define, and it is up for debate whether a veterinary practice or organisation has a culture or whether it is the culture and who is ‘responsible’ for it (Diez, 2020).
Workplace culture develops from an organisation's values, how they are applied in practice, and how they are lived out in the day-to-day (Flamholtz, 2001). According to VetLed Trainer and Culture Lead, Jenny Guyat, culture is the way that we behave and work as a team or practice and it is influenced by a collective awareness and understanding of what is acceptable and the norm within the team (Guyat, 2024).
Over time, team members develop an impression of what is considered acceptable and ‘how we do things around here’ based on how they see others acting, therefore, it is not necessarily a reflection of the contents of company guidelines, contracts and standard operating procedures (Guyat, 2024). Instead, you are more likely to get an idea of a practice's culture by looking at what happens when no one in authority is watching.
Similarly, culturally unacceptable behaviour in practice does not usually reflect a lack of morals among individuals within the team. When asked about specific negative behaviours, individuals will often identify them as unacceptable without hesitation, but as a group, the behaviour is tolerated, either because of a feeling of being unable to speak up, a desire to fit in or previous negative experiences where their concerns were dismissed or poorly received.
What are team dynamics?
Team dynamics describes the way that a team communicates, behaves and works together, and good team dynamics are essential for a successful, cohesive and high-performing veterinary team (Fox and Orpin, 2023). Since team dynamics are set within the environment formed by workplace culture, they strongly influence one another. Therefore, taking positive action toward improving one will only be successful if you also consider the other (Guyat, 2024). It is also essential to realise that while team dynamics are not fixed, they may vary from one shift to the other, depending on who is working. It is more complex than perhaps the traditional ‘team’ we think of, for example, a tight-knit, professional sports team.
In a busy veterinary workplace, particularly in larger referral settings, we do not always have the privilege of a stable, consistent team, as it can be variable depending on who is on shift and the levels of expertise available. In this context, ‘teaming’ is how we describe the way individuals will work together. Teaming is the term used to describe the ability of a group of people to work together in dynamic and changing circumstances—something we are very familiar within veterinary practice!
‘Teaming is collaboration and coordination to get important things done without the luxury of stable membership’.
In larger veterinary hospitals, you may find yourself working with different people each day or different combinations of teams and specialities. In any size of practice, your roles and tasks will vary from day to day. Teaming is very much applicable in either context because of the dynamic and changeable nature of everyday veterinary work and is especially relevant when you start to include students, locums, new team members, rotating interns and more.
VetLed's Jenny Guyat has a really useful analogy when describing team dynamics, and it involves imagining your team on a boat:
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‘Think of a team as sailors in a boat together, rowing towards a shared destination. However, the boat doesn't always go in the direction we want it to without help, thanks to winds, waves and currents that could pull us off course or send us exactly in the correct direction. Here, the waves, wind and currents are our team dynamics’.
Why is it worth investing in creating a great team as a veterinary nurse?
A positive workplace culture sets the stage for a thriving and engaged workforce and positively impacts work performance, leading to increased productivity, efficiency and quality of work (Radu, 2023), and safer patient care (Leonard et al, 2004). On the other hand, poor workplace culture has been demonstrated to contribute to poor staff retention, increased absenteeism, increased errors (Oxtoby et al, 2015) and reduced sales (Flamholz, 2001; Sanders and Cooke, 2005; Fukami et al, 2017). Therefore, it is clear why improving workplace culture benefits practice owners and directors…but what about you as an individual veterinary nurse?
Rather than only benefitting those with a stake in the business, intentionally cultivating a great team allows everyone to thrive in work rather than just getting through each day. Improved culture and team dynamics mean less incivility, improved client and intra-team relationships, reduced burnout and better all-round wellbeing, allowing you to focus on what you love and do best: caring for patients. The result? Better patient outcomes, improved job satisfaction and a team you are proud to be part of (Hayes et al, 2019).
Influencing workplace culture and team dynamics
Where to start
If you are lacking in confidence or you are not in a leadership position, you might feel powerless when it comes to influencing the people and behaviours at your practice. It might seem like the practice's culture is just ‘the way things are’ and not subject to change. Perhaps you feel like you are often on the receiving end of incivility, communication issues, shame, and other manifestations of poor workplace culture and team dynamics, but you are not in a position to make a positive difference.
However, everyone can contribute towards changing the culture and team dynamics where they work. It is not only leaders that hold the power (though they have a great responsibility to contribute to it and can ‘cast a long shadow’ with their actions). However, change can come from the bottom up as well as from the top down, and in reality, when culture change occurs in practice, it is usually a result of the combined effort of the leaders and the team members themselves.
Action points
Find like-minded people
The first step is getting other people on board with the idea. To create real, deep-down and sustainable culture change, the entire team must be convinced of the benefits (Diez, 2020), which could feel like an impossible task. However, research has demonstrated a ‘tipping point’ of 25%, after which convincing the remaining portion of the team becomes easier (Centola et al, 2018)—a much more achievable goal. Start by finding your allies and forming a small group of champions to spread the word and set a ripple effect throughout the team.
Invite and encourage feedback
One of the keys to a positive workplace culture and great team dynamics is feedback (Veterinary Practice, 2023). In our profession, it is common for leaders to adopt a ‘no news is good news’ approach to feedback, whereby team members only receive feedback when there is a problem or concern. Scheduling regular one-to-ones to provide feedback, including positives and areas for improvement, and inviting feedback in return will help to build trust, improve relationships and encourage constructive communication. If you are a veterinary nurse and do not currently receive regular feedback, consider suggesting a feedback framework and theuse of regular one-to-ones and debriefs at the next practice meeting. The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (2021) has a useful GROW feedback framework, and the British Veterinary Association's (2024) Good Workplaces Policy has blogs and resources to help support performance management.
Be curious, not judgemental
Part of creating a just culture, encouraging growth and establishing psychological safety is to avoid judgment. The vast majority of veterinary staff turn up at work to do a good job. Despite this, when we see something that hasn't quite gone to plan, as a bystander it can be easy to subconsciously slip into a position of judgement, whether or not we actually voice that thought. We know that lots of factors contribute to not completing a task in the prescribed way, or to unexpected outcomes and it is exceedingly rare for veterinary professionals to actually intend to cause harm. Our response to unexpected outcomes in veterinary practice, as teams and as individuals, will shape our culture and team dynamics (Veterinary Practice, 2023), and while management has a key role to play, choosing to adopt a curious mindset as individuals will also make a huge and positive difference.
Have courage
In any team, no matter the nature of the work, there will be uncomfortable moments and difficult conversations. We are humans, not robots, with emotions, strengths, weaknesses, health issues, and lives outside of work that bring their own challenges. In veterinary practice, we work in an incredibly complex, multi-faceted workplace which can throw up even more challenges than perhaps might be seen in an office setting. Rather than avoiding discomfort, having courage in difficult conversations will help to manifest a positive workplace culture (Veterinary Practice, 2023) in a complex work environment. When people feel included, seen and heard, it contributes to a growth mindset, establishing psychological safety and ultimately impacting the care we can provide to our patients (Radu, 2023).
Be humans
While it may sound simple, one of the most effective ways to start improving the dynamics within your team is to proactively interact with each other as valuable, and valued, humans. Intentionally use people's names when communicating with them and greet them when you or they arrive for their shift (Guyat, 2024). It can take slightly longer to truly acknowledge the people involved in every work interaction, but taking the time, when appropriate, can make a real difference in making team members feel valued and appreciated. Other positive steps include checking in with colleagues at the end of a shift, taking an interest in their lives outside of work, and making them feel seen by offering help or acknowledging a challenging consult or procedure they just completed. Moreover, it is important not to underestimate the impact of politeness, not just on workplace relationships but on patient care as well, since intra-team rudeness has been demonstrated to adversely affect medical team performance (Riskin et al, 2015).
Looking to the future
Over the next five years, small consistent actions can significantly impact your workplace. With your team, cultivate a culture of open communication where everyone feels safe to share feedback, suggestions and personal challenges. By fostering strong team dynamics, you can reignite your passion for nursing while prioritising your own health and wellbeing. This approach benefits you and your team and may leads to improved patient care (Locock et al, 2020).