VNA Level III Module 9: Goal Planningvna.hillsvet.com/pdf/en-us/Module_29.pdf · In this module,...

Learning ObjectivesAfter completing this module, the benefits you realize should include:

• Understanding the importance of planning for improvement• Being able to create a focused Goal Planner• Appreciating the importance of a S.M.A.R.T. Objective• Knowing that Goal Planning can be used with any product or service to enhance pet care

and practice productivity• Preparing for the Applications section after Module 10, where you’ll actually create a Goal

Planner involving proper pet nutrition and Hills® pet food products

VNA Level III Module 9: Goal Planning

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IntroductionWhile some of the concepts presented thus far in Level III of VNA may have been relatively new to you, the concept of Goal Planning is probably something you’ve been applying to some degree all your life: School projects, vacations, strategies in sports, interviewing for a job, finding the “right” moment to ask an important question, high school and college courses to take… Along with all of these no doubt, was the element of identifying a specific idea either alone or with a group (as we discussed in the last module) to focus on, having defined or defining for yourself an accomplishment, (what would be considered a “successful” outcome), then crafting a way to help ensure you achieved your goal. It is this last part, “Goal Planning” that we will address in this module, building upon what you have learned thus far in the Hill’s® Veterinary Nutritional AdvocateSM educational experience. Remember your overall objective: To enhance your ability to be an advocate for the pet’s best interest!

Note: The Applications Section of this Level of VNA will require you to develop and submit a Goal Planner relating to one of seven Overall Goals on proper pet nutrition. Once you’ve sent in your completed Goal Planner, you’ll obtain the distinguished designation of Hill’s Veterinary Nutritional Advocate!


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Why Have Goals?There are innumerable reasons for having goals. For the simple examples below, think how supposedly enjoyable activities could become chaotic if you:

• Needed to meet someone at a certain time, but didn’t know what time.• Had a report due in school, but didn’t know what the topic was, or when it had to be turned in.• Started to go on vacation without knowing your destination, or how to get there.• Were involved in some sort of competitive sport, but no one kept score.• Went to high school, but didn’t know at what age you where supposed to graduate.• Interviewed for a job, but didn’t know anything about it or why you wanted the position.

As you can imagine, in each instance, you’d be extremely frustrated and confused, mainly because you did not have a plan! Not only that, you did not know WHY you were doing an activity, and didn’t know if there were any potential benefits to you for your time and effort.


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Why Have Goals?In this module, we’ll show you an effective Goal Planning process that will help you and your entire veterinary health care team (VHCT), deliver even better care to the pets and people you serve. While this process can be used for any product or service your practice provides, we’ll utilize examples incorporating Hill’s®

Science Diet® and Prescription Diet® pet food products. With Goal Planners involving proper pet nutrition, you’ll also appreciate how everyone involved benefits. Specifically:

• Pets: Ideally, a longer and healthier life.

• Pet Owners: Enjoying interacting with their pet as long as possible.

• Personnel: Promoting responsible pet ownership and appropriate care ina team environment.

• Practice: “Good Medicine/Good Business.”

This Goal Planning process can be utilized with any product or service to enhance pet care and practice productivity.

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Effective Goal PlanningAlong with a clearer understanding of Leadership and Teamwork, and utilizing such helpful processes as The Improvement Engine and T.A.L.K. (from previous modules in Level III of VNA), the steps below can help ensure a successful Goal Planning process:

1. Reaffirm the philosophy of your practice. Make sure everyone on your team is aligned with the practice’s mission, vision…

2. Utilize the T.E.A.M. approach. Together, Everyone Accomplishes More. Utilize the ImprovementEngine process.

3. Examine your practice’s potential. Look at a general area of improvement, using T.A.L.K.

4. Define a S.M.A.R.T. Objective. S= Specific, M= Measurable, A= Action-oriented, R= Realistic, T= Time-bound (S.M.A.R.T. information to follow).

5. Develop a Goal Plan. (Goal Planning templates to follow).

6. Monitor progress. Display and update a chart or graph for all team members to review frequently.

7. Celebrate “success.” Enjoy achieving your goal!

8. Review the process and involvement. Was your Goal Planner conducted correctly? Did the team rally around the S.M.A.R.T. Objective?

9. Integrate learnings from Goal Planning into the practice’s enhanced protocol for pet care. Refinement of this type of activity will lead to increased productivity.

10. Continuous Improvement. You don’t have to be sick to get better! Keep creating ways to exceed petowner expectations!


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The Goal PlannerPlease click on the Goal Planner Template to print this document for future reference.

Figure 1. Goal Planner TemplateStart Date: End Date:

Overall Goal:

S.M.A.R.T. Objective: Specific Measurable Actionable Realistic Time-bound

Action Steps Leader Participants Date Completed

Progress Chart:Leader:Update Frequency:

Celebrating Success:Upon successful attainment of our objective... (In S.M.A.R.T. format):

Commitment:Initialing and dating this form signifies my commitment to the S.M.A.R.T. Objective

Notes:

© 2003 Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc


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The Goal PlannerKey Elements of the Goal Planner:

• Start Date and End DateFor most products and services, a Goal Plan should be conducted for no longer than 1-3 months. If designed to be longer, it is very possible for the team to lose focus. By keeping it to around 4-12 weeks, the team will be more enthusiastic in watching their progress, staying on task and anticipating their “Celebrating Success” reward.

• Overall GoalThe team, in accessing ideas to work on, either via the Improvement Engine, (Level III, Module 6) or some other process, should define an area that can enthusiastically be addressed. This is the Overall Goal, for example; to improve care in pediatrics, oral care, weight management, senior care…).

• S.M.A.R.T. ObjectiveThe T.A.L.K. process, (Level III, Module 8) can help the team be more focused in creating a Goal Planner that has taken into account the Overall Goal, and the team’s creativity, discussions, refinement and voting. This idea that emerges as the one with the most votes can be the essence of a the Goal Planner’s S.M.A.R.T. Objective where:


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The Goal PlannerS= Specific. The objective should be as succinct as possible so everyone on the team has a clear idea of the process and expected outcome. Examples below.

M= Measurable. The old adages, “What gets measured gets done” and “Inspect what you expect” are applicable here. Progress needs to be tracked, and is usually best accomplished via a graph or chart.

A= Action-oriented. Everyone on the veterinary health care team needs to be involved, taking positive “action” in order to reach a goal. This means the goal should be defined with demonstrable terms as “increase,” “perform,” “sell,” “work up”…

R= Realistic. The VHCT may be so excited about the practice’s potential in a certain area of improvement that they try and set too aggressive of a goal. The risk in this approach is falling short of their goal, for whatever reason, then becoming disillusioned about the goal planning process. Being realistic means to establish a goal that the team should be able to reach without compromising any of the other important activities of the practice. Reaching a goal can be exhilarating, and as a result, bigger challenges can be set, building upon success.

T= Time-bound. These types of goals should be no longer than three months, which allows the team to stay focused and enthusiastic. This also helps eliminate procrastination.


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The Goal PlannerExample: Objectives that are NOT S.M.A.R.T.

• Do more dentals. (Not S or T).

• Conduct puppy training classes for every puppy owner we see over the next8 weeks. (Not R).

• Have clients create a list of questions to ask. (Not S, M, A, [on VHCT’s part]or T).

• Run lab work on 50% of all the dogs and cats we see over 7 years of age for the next month. (Not S, [what kind of lab work?] M, [should use real numbers of patients/clients versus percentages].

• Fill appointment book from 3-4pm with only rechecks. (Not S, [what constitutes a ‘recheck’?], R or T).

• Each team member smiles and greets pet owners and pet by name for the next 2 months. (Not M, R, [how will everyone know the names?]).

• For the next 12 months, sell a lot more nutritional products. (Not S, M, R, and the T is much too long).

Developing a S.M.A.R.T. Objective is extremely important because it brings clarity to what the team is trying to accomplish.

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The Goal Planner Example: Objectives that are ARE S.M.A.R.T.

• Starting January 20, and for the next 8 weeks, schedule and perform 4 routine dental prophylaxis per week for canine patients.

• For the next 3 months, start 3 overweight dogs and cats per veterinarian, per week on our weight reduction program, utilizing Prescription Diet® Canine r/d® and Feline r/d® products.

• Mail a descriptive reminder to every dog owner who has a pet on Prescription Diet® Canine k/d®, but has not had a Kidney Function Blood Panel and Urinalysis (Kidney Screen) for their dog in the last 6 months. Follow up with a phone call two weeks after mailing, and schedule 40 of the Kidney Screens in the month of March.

• Dispense our preferred heartworm preventive product in 6 packs, to 25 dog owners per week, for the next 12 weeks, (for a total of 300 6-packs).

• Each week, for the next 6 weeks, start 10 puppies and 5 kittens on a Hill’s® Science Diet® Puppy pet food product or Science Diet® Kitten pet food product, by selling at least a case of cans or 10lb or 4lb bag respectively.

As you can see, it is very important to have the S.M.A.R.T. Objective as specific as possible, to minimize confusion and to help the team focus.


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The Goal Planner Action StepsAction Steps are things that need to be set up, created, conducted, developed … BEFORE the start date of the Goal Planner. This section of the Goal Planner includes the Action Steps, who will be responsible for seeing the Action Step is accomplished (Leader of the Action Step), who needs to be involved in that specific Action Step (Participants) and the Date the Action Step will be carried out or completed.

Progress ChartWhat form of monitoring process will be put in place: Chart, graph, time line, pie chart…? This is set up by the Progress Chart Leader and the Frequency of updating also stated, (daily, weekly…).

The Action Steps need to be completed BEFORE the Start Date of the S.M.A.R.T. Objective.

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The Improvement Engine Celebrating SuccessThis is what your team has agreed to as a “reward” for their achievement of the specific goal, (S.M.A.R.T. Objective). It should be written in a S.M.A.R.T. format to avoid confusion, miscommunication or disappointment. For example, if the statement was “Going out to dinner,” some on the team might think this means the best restaurant in town, when the owner is thinking taking the team out for burgers. Of course, the reward for Celebrating Success needs to be commensurate with the Goal achieved: A team would not get to take a five-day trip to the Bahamas for starting 50 new pets on a Hill’s® pet food product over an 8 weeks period, or would they?! A good resource to coming up with fun, appropriate ideas is Bob Nelson’s book: 1001 Ways to Reward Employees.

An example of Celebrating Success in a S.M.A.R.T. format: Upon successful attainment of our objective, the entire team is invited to dinner at 7:00pm on July 12 at the Seaside Manor.

CommitmentHaving each team member initial and date the Goal Planner form signifies his or her commitment to working as a team in achieving the S.M.A.R.T. Objective.

On the following page, Figure 2 is an example of a Goal Planner involving the promotion of proper pet nutrition utilizing Hill’s® Science Diet® pet food products. Figure 3 shows the Progress Chart for this Goal Planner.

In celebrating your achievement of your goal, you are celebrating your team’s ability to positively impact pet and pet owner care, as well as practice productivity.

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Goal Planner ExampleFigure 2. A Goal Planner Example for Promoting Proper Pediatric Nutrition

Start Date: May 3, 2004 End Date: July 2, 2004

Overall Goal: Increase our ability to promote proper pet nutrition in the area of pediatrics.

S.M.A.R.T. Objective: Specific Measurable Actionable Realistic Time-boundFor the next 9 weeks, start at least 4 puppies and 2 kittens per week on the appropriate Hill’s® Science Diet® Puppy or Kitten pet food product, by selling the pet owner a case of cans or 10lb bag (Puppy) or 4lb bag (Kitten).

Action Steps Leader Participants Date Completed

Complete at least Level I and II of VNA Kelly W. All Technicians April 23, 2004

Seminar of Hill’s® Science Diet® Puppy and Kitten products Jessica K. Entire VHCT April 16, 2004

Appropriate Marketing Materials Helen S. All Receptionists April 16, 2004

Protocol for nutrition discussions Joe D. Technicians and Veterinarians April 02, 2004

Adequate inventory of products Carly G. Carly G, Abigail N. April 28, 2004

Progress Chart:Leader: Bob B.Update Frequency: Weekly

Celebrating Success:Upon successful attainment of our objective... (In S.M.A.R.T. format):The entire health care team is invited over to Doctor Wood’s home for a barbeque and party, July 10, 2004 at 6:00pm.

Commitment: Initialing and dating this form signifies my commitment to the S.M.A.R.T. ObjectiveKW 4/6/04 JK 4/6/04 CW 4/6/04 SM 4/6/04 JL 4/7/04 HS 4/6/04 BB 4/6/04 MG 4/6/04 JT 4/6/04LK 4/7/04 CG 4/6/04 JD 4/6/04 KP 4/6/04 WB 4/7/04

Notes: We all realize the importance of “setting pets up for success” in life, so it makes great sense that our team focus on having the puppies and kittens we see being fed the appropriate Hill’s® product sold through our practice.

© 2003 Hill’s Pet Nutrition, Inc


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Goal Planner Example

Figure 3. Progress Chart for Figure 2. Note that even though the team started out slow in regards to reaching their weekly targets, they eventually not only achieved, but exceeded their goals for both puppies and kittens.

Number of Pets

Weeks

= Number of Puppies40

35

30

25

20

15

10

5

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

= Number of Kittens

“Number of puppies started” goal

“Number of kittens started” goal


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SummaryOnce you conduct the Goal Planning process several times with your team, you’ll really begin to realize how helpful and powerful it actually is in focusing your efforts. Ideally, the goals you achieve through this process will encourage the entire VHCT to keep up that level of enthusiasm in that area of focus and concern. In doing so, everyone will appreciate and benefit from turning the “activity” of Goal Planning into the “productivity” of continuous improvement and enhanced compliance. Promoting proper pet nutrition with Hill’s® Science Diet® and Prescription Diet® pet food products is an excellent way to experience the value of Goal Planning!

To continue, you will need to complete the quiz for this module. When you are ready, click on the forward arrow below to take you to the quiz.

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VNA Level III Module 9: Goal Planningvna.hillsvet.com/pdf/en-us/Module_29.pdf · In this module,...

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Transcript of VNA Level III Module 9: Goal Planningvna.hillsvet.com/pdf/en-us/Module_29.pdf · In this module,...