Veterinary Business and Practice Management is a broad term.
Colourful CPD therefore classifies the pursuit and delivery of Colourful CPD’s 4 outcomes (clinical, client, financial and team) across 3 levels of responsibility within the various roles working within practice;
1) Operatives = the people ‘on the ground’ interacting with clients and patients during the Clinical-Client-Journey (CCJ).
2) Operative-management = Maintenance and implementation of the systems surrounding the CCJ with a view to achieve micro (operational) objectives.
3) Executive-management = Responsibility for the organisation’s macro (strategic) objectives, overseeing the performance of the organisation’s operational systems including the ‘hiring and firing’ of people.
Whilst some of these roles require specific qualifications, many don’t – although recognised training is often preferred (such as ‘qualifications’ and training in HR and marketing.)
Sometimes individuals working within a smaller veterinary organisation actually work at all 3 levels, acting as operatives one moment, operative-managers the next and even executive-managers as well.
As organisations grow, the distinction between operatives, operative-managers and executive-management becomes more obvious, as does the specific skill sets each require.
- Operatives tend to hold an increasingly specific skill set (e.g. some vets only do orthopaedic surgery whereas other vets only do ophthalmology for example)
- Operative-managers tend to oversee an increasingly specific domain, either within an individual practice (e.g. the head nurse) or across the entire corporate group (e.g. a regional business manager overseeing a cluster of practices etc).
- Executives oversee and perform increasingly specialised managerial roles on behalf of the entire organisation (Ops Director, Finance Director, HR Director, Marketing Director etc).
Colourful CPD offers a range of courses aimed at helping people who are now moving into management or those who have worked as a manager outside of the veterinary profession and now work within veterinary practice.
Either way, please note that Colourful courses are not simply generic management courses re-branded and marketed as a course in Veterinary Practice Management. Colourful CPD’s courses are very specific to the veterinary profession; they discuss the Laws and Regulations that specifically govern the veterinary profession (e.g. The Veterinary Surgeons’ Act; The Veterinary Medicines Regulations) as well as how others specifically impact day-to-day operational systems within veterinary practice (e.g. GDPR; H&S; CoSHH; Ionising radiation; Clinical Waste Regs; ICO Compliance etc).
And likewise, they explain the specific expectations from the Veterinary Profit and Loss account for example, in terms of average spend per client per year or gross and net profit margins – and how this relates to veterinary procurement through wholesalers and buying group rebates.