A Leap into Leadership

career development leadership

I’ve been speaking to a number of vets recently who are toying with the idea of stepping into a leadership role, and they are my inspiration for creating this post today.

If you’re a vet who has reached a certain point in your career where you’ve developed a solid clinical foundation, you may be thinking about what’s next. You may feel the urge to take a step forward in some way shape or form, but you find that further clinical progression (like completing a certificate) may not scratch that itch. This is when I see vets starting to think about leadership.

There are 3 things to consider before you take the leap into leadership:

1. Your Why

Leadership becomes a way of life; it becomes part of your being. On that basis, it must be something you want to do, and for the right reasons. If you feel the urge from within to do something more, to create positive change in the industry, to make a difference, to have an impact, then these are strong motivations to have and will shape your leadership in a positive way. On the other hand, if someone explored their why and realised that being in a leadership role was more about money, power, and status, it’s unlikely they would thrive in a leadership role.

2. Your Values

Our values are what drive and motivate us. They help us make decisions that we deem important, worthy, or desirable of our time and how we spend it. Before you leap into leadership, it pays to look at what your values are and whether they align with what is expected of you in that type of role. Here’s how to do that:

To uncover your values, take a blank sheet of paper and ask yourself, “What’s important to me about my career right now?” “What else?” “What else?”
Then, put your list in order of importance starting with the most important value.
When you look at your values in order of importance, notice what you see. Consider what’s expected of someone in a leadership position and ask yourself whether your values and what’s important to you right now truly align. If you’ve written down things like “Making a difference, creating positive change, helping others grow, progression and growth, being of service...”, then you’re on the right track.

3. Your Beliefs

What you believe about yourself, other people, the veterinary profession, and the world, will shape who you are as a leader. Your beliefs can be positive or negative, and empowering or disempowering. Beliefs become psychological rules that shape your thoughts and filter your experience of reality, and in the case of leadership they influence and shape other people’s realities too. What have your early life and work experiences taught you about leadership so far? What do you need to overcome within you in order to serve other people powerfully?

You may be interested in: What stories are shaping your leadership

Leadership is a lot more than just a job title. It takes you on a profound journey of self-discovery and growth, and puts you in situations with certain people, and situations with decisions to make, that reveal things about yourself that perhaps you didn't know before.

In a leadership role you are always under the magnifying glass, so how you show up and the energy and attitude you show up with is so important. Being in a leadership role requires you to have incredible self-awareness and to recognise when more inner work is required to ensure you show up as the best version of yourself each day to serve your people. I talk a lot about how teams are often a reflection of their leader, in other words – your vision, mission, drive, motivation, beliefs, values, and behaviours are what you are modelling for your team and what is influencing their thoughts, feelings, behaviour, and actions.

If you are thinking about transitioning into leadership and would like a safe space to talk it through, please reach out for a complimentary Leadership Discovery Session. Email: [email protected] to book.

A Leap into Leadership

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