Veterinary Leadership

Rev Your Engines: VMG Leadership Courses to Fuel Your Practice’s Long-Term Success

What is leadership? It has been described as “a set of mindsets and behaviors that aligns people in a collective direction, enables them to work together and accomplish shared goals, and helps them adjust to changing environments.”¹ Leaders inspire people to follow them by what they do, not by what they say or by their job title.¹ Crucially, leadership is not an innate trait; leadership behaviors can be taught, learned, practiced, and improved. For independent veterinary practices facing fierce competition, a changing economy, and the complex needs of clients and patients, leadership is an essential skill for many members of the team, not just the practice owner.

Leadership: The heart of practice culture

Veterinary leaders develop, demonstrate, and reinforce their practice’s culture, directly affecting employee and client satisfaction and the quality of patient care. Effective leadership involves balancing empathy and emotional distance, flexibility and firmness, and curiosity and certainty. It requires active listening, communicating clearly, setting goals, and following through on commitments.

VMG’s Professional Development team offers a two-part series of leadership courses that can help any practice member develop these essential abilities.

The VMG Leadership Development Series: What you’ll learn

The VMG Leadership Development program includes two courses, Leadership 1.0 and Leadership 2.0.

Leadership 1.0

Attendees begin by learning about their own leadership style, strengths, and social intelligence using the Insights® Discovery Profile tool. Taña Welch of VMG’s Professional Development Team finds this tool “scarily spot-on” in its accuracy, noting that it encourages the reflective discussions that are hallmarks of VMG’s Professional Development activities.

Using their personal Insights profiles and the latest in leadership research, attendees learn about:

• systems thinking, effective decision-making, and implementation
• leading through influence and encouraging collaboration
• emotional and social intelligence
• self-management, including mindfulness, energy management, and thriving through change ̶ all essential in the often-high-pressure world of independent veterinary practice

Leadership 2.0

This more advanced course teaches the next level of leadership skills for handling complex issues in practice. Topics include:

collaborative decision making and team problem solving
coaching people through and resolving conflicts
hiring for and maintaining a customer service culture

Attendees apply their learning through practical exercises, ensuring that they return home ready to use their new skills to immediately benefit their practice.

Shaunna Ford, Vet Tech Lead at West Concord Animal Clinic, who attended the autumn 2025 Leadership 1.0 program, found that the course inspired her to keep improving herself and gave her new ways of supporting clients and staff that she could start using right away.

“The Leadership 1.0 conference provided a sense of community and collaboration that was incredibly fulfilling. I am already using new leadership tools in my practice to connect more to our clients and staff.”

Shaunna Ford, Vet Tech Lead, West Concord Animal Clinic

World-class instruction with a veterinary-specific focus

VMG’s Leadership Courses are taught by professors from the University of Denver’s Executive Education Branch and Daniels College of Business. These world-class experts also train senior leaders in major businesses like Comcast and Lockheed Martin. VMG’s Leadership programs use specially developed content focusing on skills specific to the needs of independent veterinary medicine.

Courses are open to VMG practice teams — practice managers, technicians, veterinarians, and other staff are all welcome. Whether they are preparing to lead for the first time or have some leadership experience already, they are united by their desire to be better leaders for their teams and clients.

Leadership 1.0 includes two three-day sessions in Denver, one month apart. This schedule allows attendees to learn new skills, practice them at home, and then regroup to reflect and learn more. The course is open to any practice employee.

Leadership 2.0 builds on the first course’s content with a three-day retreat in a beautiful location outside of Denver, focusing on further practicing and developing their leadership skills. Successful completion of Leadership 1.0 is required for those attending Leadership 2.0.

Investing in leadership is an investment in your practice

Good leadership is the engine for creating a positive culture that provides top-quality, compassionate veterinary care. Leadership skills can be learned and mastered by many staff members, not just the practice owner, and can make a positive difference to colleagues, clients and patients.

VMG’s unique veterinary-focused leadership courses will be offered for members and their staff again in 2026. Register yourself or a key team member for one today. Explore the full Professional Development offering and secure your spot on VMG Connect.

If you’re not yet part of VMG, why not join us? Visit our website to learn more and become a VMG member today.