Consolidate That!

Dr. Olivia Oginska, a veterinarian and human psychologist joins the show. She has recently extended her healthcare practices into the field of positive psychology for humans instead of animals. Olivia started Vet Gone Mental, where she is able to share her learnings around positive psychology and help others along the same illuminating path she has been walking. 

In our conversation, we get into some of the important areas of her study, talking about how change occurs in organizations, the importance of leadership and communication, and exactly what entering into a flow-state does for a person.

Topics discussed:

• The science of positive psychology; a focus on personal strengths and applicable solutions. 
• Olivia's path from work in the veterinary world into an interest in positive psychology. 
• The areas of the internal world that generally need more attention from veterinarians.    
• Flow-states, levels of resilience, and the role of leaders in introducing change!
• Psychological safety and capital and the components of hope, optimism, efficacy, and resilience.  
• The importance of organizational communication and the dangers of silence and fear

Today, David Strauss, Co-Founder of PetWell Partners, sheds light on PetWell Partners’ fundraising strategy, how they spotted value-unlocking opportunities, and hiring the right people for the job. 

David also shares some of his key learnings from his time in the space and what he would do differently, details around PetWell Partners’ decision to be acquired by NVA, and his latest project Roo.

Topics discussed:

• Why David believes the strategy of scaling fast and building operations after the fact is risky; 
• The value of knowing your strengths and weaknesses as a person and as a team; 
• The link between credibility and your team and why you cannot separate their importance; 
• How PetWell Partners financed their first two rounds and corporate overhead percentage; 
• Insights into how David and his partner identified opportunities to improve before purchasing; 
• Dealing with cultural baggage before the acquisition;  
• Why PetWell Partners decided to go with NVA and what’s on the horizon; 
• What David’s role looks like now that they are part of NVA;
• Details about another one of David’s projects, Roo.

Our guest, Dr. Bob Murtaugh, is highly accomplished as a double-boarded internal medicine and critical care specialist. He is currently the Chief Professional Relations Officer at Pathway Vet Alliance, where he builds the talent pipeline for hospitals and looks for means to support research and community service. 

In this episode, Bob shares more about what consolidators need to keep in mind when looking to acquire a practice and the importance of community in the industry. Veterinarians have an incredibly unique career and set of job requirements, so we discuss the value of having someone who understands the vet and the operational side of things to ease the transition.

Topics discussed:

• The importance of community and culture and why consolidators should be aware of these aspects;
• Veterinarians drive the business, so it’s important to choose the right people;
• Insights into how consolidators starting out can look to scale their operations;
• How Pathway has dealt with consolidating during the pandemic;
• The key people who help make integration as smooth as possible;
• A look at Pathway’s Veterinary Incentive Program and what it offers associates.
• Veterinarian’s performance measuring tactics;
• Some of the benefits of being part of a larger organization;
• The importance of support rather than control for consolidators.

In today’s episode, Dr. Ivan Zak shares his experience from a Harvard University course about assessing mergers and acquisitions. We begin the episode by talking about the importance of knowing what your capabilities are and who can most benefit from them. 

Expanding on this topic, we share vital insight on pinpointing your core values, what kind of culture is already present in your business, and how you can align the two. 

Topics discussed:

• First thoughts on Harvard University's mergers and acquisitions course;
• Why the consolidation process needs to cover aspects of synergy;
• The importance of knowing what your capabilities are and who needs them;
• Links between synergy and cultural integration in a company;
• Comparison of the business cultures at IBM and Lenovo;
• How alignment and decision-making between executive teams should look;
• Proper preparation of data before entering the consolidation process;

In this episode of Consolidate That! Ryan Leech and Dr. Ivan Zak discuss the main principles of goal settings and OKRs, or objectives and key results. What are they? How do they affect the business? How can consolidators use them to implement goals and objectives across the entire framework?

Topics discussed:

• Learn about OKRs and get to know how they affect business, and how can consolidators use them;
• Discover the Grandma Rule;
• SMART goals and OKRs: do they overlap, are they the same thing, or components of OKRs;
• How the OKR system allows every level to own the size of the task at hand for themselves;
• The difference between benchmarks and OKRs;
• Potential risks for missing OKRs for the organization;
• The difference in goal setting for technicians vs veterinarians;

In our previous episode, a webinar, we received some great questions about change management versus continuous improvement. So, today Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech are diving into some of the best change management practices. From the ADKAR model, to McKinsey’s 7-S model, Kotter’s 8-Step Change Model and even Kubler-Ross, we discuss the continuous improvement and how it differs from change management. Change is inevitable, but when employees lead it, not only will it be better received, but it will touch on pain points they experience. 

So, rather than waiting for corporate change management, foster a culture of continual improvement and your organization is sure to flourish and weather whatever storm comes its way!

Topics discussed:

• Industry change management models;
• What the McKinsey 7-S model is most useful for; gap analysis to assess strengths and opportunities;
• Which steps are more important than the change management itself;
• What continuous improvement means and how it can be implemented in organizations;
• Why continuous improvement resonates with millennials in the workforce;
• Fostering a sense of continuous improvement in your business is more effective than implementing corporate change.

In our special episode of the Consolidate That! we are going to discuss with Dr. Bob Lester of WellHaven Pet Health and Dr. Thom Jenkins of PetsApp how an acquisition impacts the classic burnout triggers, why team culture is subject to due diligence, how consolidators can build a system to improve employee experience, and the costs of indifference.

Topics discussed:

• The importance of cultural assessment pre- and post-acquisition;
• Employee NPS score;
• A good question to ask employees: What would you change if you were the boss?
• When to communicate the acquisition to the team;
• Preserving the legacy, the team and making sure that the financial incentives are there when you’re picking the consolidator to sell your business to;
• Taking references from other clinics that already sold to a particular consolidator, a good strategy suggested by Bob;
• Change management vs continuous improvement culture

This week on the Consolidate That! Ryan and Ivan talk with Mark DeCourcy, CEO at Ellie Diagnostics, about diagnostics' role in the patient journey and the significant impact on EBITDA for veterinary consolidators.

Topics discussed:

• Percentage of revenue from diagnostics;
• Optimization of the clinic's workflow by transitioning to a laboratory partner;
• How eliminating contracts increases the practices’ value;
• Impact of preventive diagnostic tests on the total revenue for the clinic;
• Ellie Diagnostics’ innovative business model;

This week on the Consolidate That! Dr. Julien Renard, Co-Founder of Vetstoria, joins Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech to discuss the successful execution of a clinical tech stack and the importance of knowing how to measure success.

Topics discussed:

• Vetstoria appointment bookings in the customer journey;
• Implementing software for large scale organizations;
• Change in the hospital workflow and clinical staff behavior;
• Key KPIs that Vetstoria provides for the veterinary groups;
• The importance and influence of having meaningful actions based on KPIs;

Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech discuss the safest methods for consolidators to implement post-acquisition changes in clinics and ultimately empower the practice team to live their passion.

Topics discussed:

• Different partnership models on the consolidation market;
• The importance of transparency in an acquisition;
• “Do what you say you will do” during the negotiation;
• The influence of mixed messages on the medical staff;
• Six classic burnout triggers by Christina Maslach;
• Ways to avoid discrepancies between Business Development and Integration departments within a consolidation.

Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech welcome Rivers Morrell, the CEO of Vet Marketing Pro and COO of easyvet, to chat about franchising in the veterinary domain.

Topics discussed:

• The importance of having a consistent platform with all data points together;
• Growth opportunities in the veterinary consolidation market;
• Franchising as a turnkey model;
• Creating a work-life balance for franchisees and front-line staff;
• easyvet's plans for future growth by geography

This week on the Consolidate That! Ivan and Ryan are joined by Dr. Thom Jenkins, CEO & Co-founder of PetsApp, to discuss cultural assessment methods and cultural integration.

Topics discussed:
- Understanding your corporate culture;
- Core value misalignment and its effect on burnout;
- Business owners’ responsibility in culture creation;
- What to measure in your Cultural Assessment;
- Consolidator’s advice on how to communicate with your team during the sales process;
- Why to use an employee Net Promoter Score (eNPS) across the existing business.

Our speakers, Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech discuss how methodologies from Traction, SAFe and Agile can be combined to help drive quarterly planning in veterinary consolidator businesses.

Topics discussed:

- Approach to strategic planning at VIS;

- Importance of quarterly planning meetings for interdepartmental collaboration;

- Identifying interdepartmental dependencies to align efforts towards goals and objectives;

- An online whiteboarding tool that helps organizing quarterly plans;

- Vertical cascading of goals down the four levels of the enterprise; 

- Definition of Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) and SAFe methodologies;

- Level-10 meetings to track progress;

- How to make all the departments aware of the initiatives kicked off in a particular quarter.

In this episode, Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech from Veterinary Integration Solutions talk about the strategic filter that accelerates and automates the M&A process. The strategic filter is what goes into the system, and there are two maturity levels to focus on. It’s important for the clinics that you buy, and initiatives that you take into consideration for consolidation. 

Topics Discussed:

• Consolidator Operating Framework©: How all elements connect and interact
• Knowledge Base: Proven, integrated principles, practices, and workflows 
• Buy or not Buy? Learn about different software, tools, and pieces
• Strategy vs. Strategic Filter: What’s the difference?
  • Strategy: New divisions/departments need new processes and initiatives   
  • Strategic Filter: Depends on maturity level (inception or development)
• Core Values, Goals, and Competencies: Are they permanent? Can they change?
• Change Management: Starts from top to introduce planning to prioritize together
• Checks and Balances: Visionary pushes things through filter, integrator shares it
• Cost of Delay: Calculated by adding business value, time criticality, opportunity
• 3-Pronged Approach: Strategic filter, prioritization, and work-in-progress limit 
• Quarterly Planning: Purpose is to share dependencies—not to plan

This week, Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech discuss strategies and methodologies to create a predictable practice acquisition funnel using a CRM system.

Topics discussed:

• Two parts of the Value Creation Stream;
• Pipeline management;
• Utilizing a CRM system to streamline the acquisition process;
• Book: Predictably Irrational by Dan Ariely (recommendation by Sebastian from Digitail);
• Post-acquisition survey;
• Using the PFI Index to prevent employee burnout;

Experts Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech explain value stream mapping and how veterinary consolidators can improve their systems and value delivery process to the customer.

Topics Discussed:

• What is value stream mapping?
• Improving systems and processes for value delivery to the customer by optimizing the value stream;
• Lean Methodology described by Taiichi Ohno and the example of Toyota’s production system;
• Finding bottlenecks to optimize your system;
• Definition of Done/Definition of Ready;
• Explaining the exercise with the sticky notes and mapping the on the board according to the steps;
• A six months course to increase EBITDA;

Your veterinary consolidation business will encounter different sets of challenges as it matures and grows in complexity. Without a clear roadmap, many businesses lose their momentum and fail to attract capital. Today we break out our playbook and share the dos and don’ts of developing your company. These insights will help you go from a fragile start-up to a strategic organization that’s built to survive and thrive. We open our conversation by unpacking what happens in the early stages of founding a consolidation business. After highlighting the need for early rapid growth and creating systems that align your team with your business, we discuss how unproven consolidators can best appeal to practices. As we explore each level of organizational development, we touch on many key topics, including — the importance of creating processes to transfer knowledge; why the second level is so difficult to progress beyond; how you can improve your business and create value-creation tools; and how data can drive the value you create. Near the end of the episode, we reflect on the opportunities that unlock once you reach the last business development stages. Tune in to hear more about scaling your business and discovering new strategic horizons.

In this episode, Dr. Ivan Zak and Dr. William Griffin from Veterinary Integration Solutions talk about the critical components of a value creation plan.

Topics Discussed:

• Value Creation Plan: Basic business plan used to effectively guide decisions
• Consolidator: Creates value for shareholder and practice seller within timeframe
• Reasons to Invest: Vision, mission, and values to start a consolidation
• Value Creation Plan/Strategy – Fundamental Components:
  – Arbitrage (acquisition and merger of small, independent practices)
  – Operations (what you can, should, and not do after acquiring a practice)
• Margin Expansion: Europe’s data, systems, processes cleaner than U.S. market
• COVID vs. Client Behavior: Human-animal bond continues to get stronger
• Healthcare Capacity: Reduce stress and strain by implementing changes
• Diligence: Create value by partnering and aligning with people and culture

Dr. Ivan Zak and Ryan Leech are pleased to introduce the Consolidate That! Podcast. In this episode, we are talking about the reasons why we started this new initiative and what kinds of topics we’ll be discussing in the show. We want to share our domain knowledge and the meaningful insights we have gained from our experience working in the veterinary consolidation space.