Morgan McArthur, DVM for The Veterinarian

18 November 98

My training in a US veterinary school was probably very similar to yours. In a few short years I’d gone from barely able to spell veterinarian to being one.

Our training program wasn’t ideal, however. Had it been so, the real world wouldn’t have had such fine lessons in store for me following graduation.

Vet school gave me many technical tools but there was one thing I didn’t learn while there.

That was: being able to communicate well with two-legged creatures is as important as being able to treat the four-legged ones.

Put differently, I may have been good with the animals but they didn’t write the cheques.

Our practice put on a technical seminar one afternoon and in front of 50 of our best customers I was a wreck - disorganized, nervous, ineffective. I didn’t exactly project confidence and technical aplomb. Ouch. With lots of competition around these days it is important to project the right image whenever you’re in the public eye. Well, for me, shaking and quaking in front of the audience just wasn’t it.

I’ve often said that we don’t begin to grow strong until we identify where we are weak.

I needed to become a better speaker. The short version of a long story is that I joined Toastmasters eleven years ago. With a hint of evangelism in my voice I can tell you that it changed my life.

Toastmasters is an international organisation devoted to improving communication and leadership skills. They offer a time-tested program designed to improve our listening, speaking, and thinking skills. The program is inexpensive, effective, ongoing and available in many communities. They are alive and well in Australasia and you can look them up on the ‘net at www.toastmasters.org.

Through Toastmasters I quickly gained confidence in speaking before groups. That confidence permeated every aspect of my life. I became both more assertive and assured. I became a better vet. (Taking it to the extreme, I became a professional speaker.) No single thing has had such a powerfully positive influence on my life.

It’s available to you, too.

Vets are technoids. We tend to see communication/people skills as “soft stuff”.

Don’t forget this important lesson, however: Our income is earned by working with animals but our success is determined by how we deal with people.

The soft stuff is the hard stuff. Make improving your communication skills a New Year’s resolution.

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed