Veterinary Games for Staff To Boost Morale
Creating a positive workplace culture is important in veterinary offices that often deal with emotionally taxing situations. By adopting veterinary games for staff, you can help team members relieve stress, get to know each other, and stay energized to deliver the best patient care. Fun team-building activities can even contribute to employee retention and satisfaction.
Explore why veterinary games are important and ideas to incorporate into your practice culture.
Why playing games at work works
Your veterinary practice may feel too busy or chaotic to make time for games. But playing even one game a week with your team can go a long way toward engaging staff, relieving burnout, and fostering a sense of belonging within your practice.
Vet clinics experience high levels of stress and extensive workloads that make burnout extremely common. Setting aside a small amount of time to do something fun together can help relieve stress and add new dynamics to offset tension, sadness, and busyness.
Veterinary games for staff should blend enjoyment with your clinic’s values. Keeping games wholesome and low in stakes can help you meet these goals without sparking unnecessary competition between workers or accidentally creating a hostile environment.
Types of games for team building
Your veterinary practice can implement several types of games for team building and employee engagement. Here are a few ideas:
- Icebreakers: Including icebreaker activities at the beginning of meetings can encourage your team to get to know each other better and foster a more lighthearted practice culture. Maybe share a “joke of the day,” ask for input on what your veterinary team did well today, or even host a one-minute dance-off to lighten the mood.
- Classic games: Games like Charades, Pictionary, and Jenga are great for staff retreats and longer get-togethers. If you’d rather play something more veterinary-related, Dr. Andy Roark of the “Cone of Shame” podcast created card games called “What’s on My Scrubs?” and “Dr. Know-It-All” that can act as fun staff activities.
- Clinic-themed challenges: You can also go for games that are geared toward your specific veterinary team. Consider creating a vet tech Bingo game featuring common occurrences in your office. Or put together scavenger hunts, trivia games, or photo contests where staff can compete for prizes.
- Creative competitions: If you want to spark a little friendly competition, activities like egg-drop builds, costume days, and superlatives such as “Most Likely To” can engage your team. Here’s another fun one for veterinary teams: “Elizabethan Collar Ball Catch,” where someone wears an e-collar and you toss balls for them to collect mid-air.
- Volunteer projects: Planning an activity outside the hospital setting can also promote team building and staff loyalty. For example, your team can volunteer at a local shelter or host a pet food drive on the weekend. If your volunteer project relies on a different skill set than veterinary medicine, this is a good opportunity to work together while learning something new. Your team can brainstorm one or two passions shared among several staff members and look for relevant local organizations.
Printable and digital game resources
If you’re looking for printable veterinary games for staff, you can find free or low-cost downloads to print in your office and distribute to your team. Etsy is a great resource for vet-themed team-building activities and award games that cost just a few dollars to download. You can find veterinary bingo boards, trivia worksheets, and other fun activities to pass out to your staff.
Buying pre-made worksheets is a great way to save time while still providing veterinary-themed activities. However, these games won’t be as customized to your specific team as DIY ones would be. Taking the time to tailor your team-building activities to your specific team, clinic routines, and values can have an even greater impact on staff engagement, loyalty, and satisfaction.
To lighten the workload involved in creating custom games, your team members can take turns being in charge of the game for that week or month. Putting in a little bit of time to create team-building activities can go a long way toward fostering engaged employees.
Making games a regular part of your practice culture
How often should you lead veterinary games for staff? The answer depends on your veterinary hospital’s goals for the venture and the time you have for these activities. You might start with one simple game weekly or biweekly to break the ice and start building a friendlier workplace culture.
If you’re not sure where to fit these activities into your schedule, try to align them with low-traffic hours at your practice. You might not have time to incorporate them into your morning huddle if it already feels rushed. You can even consider closing early one day a month to make time for team bonding activities.
Not every team member will want to participate in games like charades or dance-offs. Consider keeping the games optional so they do not turn into a dreaded activity for those who are not interested. Still, make sure the games you choose are inclusive for all who may want to participate and drive team-building efforts rather than unnecessary competition.
If you don’t feel you have even five minutes in the day to host team activities, look for ways to make more time. Veterinary software can help streamline administrative tasks in your practice to give your staff more breathing room in the day.
Tracking the impact on team morale
Once you start implementing games for veterinary staff meetings, track their impact over time. Ask for feedback and thoughts from team members and shape your games accordingly. Perhaps a staff member suggests making games shorter or implementing a broader selection of activities to be more inclusive; take their feedback into consideration.
For competitive games, highlighting team wins and giving shout-outs to the best performers helps drive engagement. You can use your veterinary software Team Chat feature to share wins, collect feedback, and disseminate information surrounding your staff activities.
Improve morale with team-building activities in your veterinary practice
Keeping staff morale high is important in veterinary practices where tragic situations happen daily. Still, your team can maintain a lighthearted environment through targeted efforts. Leading veterinary games for staff can energize your team, build camaraderie, and create a fun workplace culture.
You don’t need to pour extensive time into creating games and activities. Start small and build the program over time. Making employee satisfaction and morale a priority in your practice can go a long way toward increasing retention and loyalty.
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