Veterinary medicine demands continuous learning. From mastering clinical techniques to managing difficult client conversations, veterinarians and their teams regularly encounter situations that test their skills and confidence. How they interpret those experiences can influence whether they seek opportunities to improve or avoid challenges altogether.
Developing a growth mindset, the topic of a recent workshop with licensed veterinary technician and positive change agent Andi Davison of Flourish Veterinary Consulting, can help veterinary professionals approach challenges with greater curiosity and openness to feedback. It can also change how they support colleagues, particularly through a simple but often overlooked practice: giving specific, meaningful compliments.
What Is a Growth Mindset?
Psychologist Carol Dweck of Stanford University developed the concepts of fixed and growth mindsets to describe how people’s beliefs about their abilities influence their behavior.
A fixed mindset assumes abilities are largely predetermined. Someone who believes they aren’t good at a particular skill may avoid opportunities to practice rather than risk exposing their weaknesses.
A growth mindset recognizes that skills can develop through practice, effort, feedback and learning. Challenges become opportunities to improve rather than tests of natural talent.
Veterinary professionals can experience both mindsets, depending on the situation.
Davison illustrates this through her experience with anesthesia. Although she enjoyed other aspects of patient care, she found anesthesia stressful and sometimes assumed she lacked the natural ability to excel at it.
That belief encouraged avoidance, limiting her opportunities to develop confidence and skill. A growth-oriented approach would acknowledge the challenge while remaining open to improvement: “I’m not confident with anesthesia yet”. From there, a veterinary professional can seek mentorship, ask questions and practice.
“You are not stuck on the path that you start out on,” Davison explains. “You can choose to change lanes.”
Reframe Mistakes as Opportunities to Learn
Veterinary professionals work in environments where mistakes can carry significant consequences. Clinical errors, unsuccessful procedures and difficult client interactions can trigger frustration, self-doubt or defensiveness.
Addressing mistakes and their implications for patient care remains essential. A growth mindset helps veterinary professionals move beyond self-criticism toward identifying what they can learn and do differently.
Consider a veterinary technician who struggles to place an intravenous catheter. A judgmental response might be, “I’m terrible at placing catheters. I’ll never get this right.”
A growth-oriented response acknowledges the difficulty while identifying a next step: “I didn’t get the catheter placed today. I can ask for more opportunities to practice and get feedback on my technique.”
Davison encourages veterinary professionals to recognize when they are judging themselves or others and shift toward curiosity.
“We’ve all found ourselves in the judger pit from time to time. But I also know that we have all made many, many trips down the learner path as well,” she acknowledges. “We’ve answered a situation or an emotion with questions like, ‘Gosh, what happened here? What can I get out of this that’s useful for me?’”
Instead of assuming a colleague is being difficult, for example, a veterinarian might ask what information they are missing or what barriers the colleague is facing.
Davison also encourages people to focus on small, manageable changes rather than expecting immediate perfection. One question she suggests asking yourself is, “What can I do differently right now to change things for the better by just 5%?”
These types of questions help veterinary professionals identify achievable next steps and use their colleagues’ knowledge and experience as resources.
Compliment Coworkers on Their Efforts, Not Just Their Abilities
You may notice a colleague doing something particularly well without saying anything. Perhaps you might worry that a compliment will feel awkward or insincere.
Davison offers a straightforward reminder: “A compliment is only powerful if it is shared.”
Recognition helps veterinary teams feel appreciated, but the way compliments are delivered can influence what employees take away from them.
There is a distinction between person praise and process praise.
Person praise focuses on perceived traits or abilities. Examples include “You’re a natural at this,” “You’re so smart” or “You’re a rock star.” Although well-intentioned, these compliments don’t explain what someone did to achieve success and can reinforce the idea that performance depends on natural talent.
Davison learned this distinction while managing a team of veterinary technicians. Looking back, she explains:
“What I could have done better was utilize process praise by focusing more on the steps that were taken to be successful. Recognize the details of what my team did, the efforts that they made so that they knew what they did well and they could replicate it in the future.”
Process praise focuses on the actions, strategies and effort that contribute to a result. It identifies what someone did well and why that approach was effective.
For veterinary teams, this offers a practical way to make recognition more meaningful.
Instead of: “You’re great with difficult clients.”
Try: “The way you handled that difficult client was impressive. You stayed patient, listened to their concerns and took the time to explain the treatment options. That helped them understand the plan and feel more comfortable moving forward.”
Instead of: “Great job organizing the stockroom.”
Try: “Thank you for organizing the stockroom. The supplies are much easier to find now, which will help the team work more efficiently, especially when we’re responding to an emergency.”
Instead of: “You’re a natural at placing catheters.”
Try: “I can tell you’ve been practicing your catheter technique. You hit the vein on the first try today, which meant we could get the patient on fluids quickly. Your practice is paying off.”
Each example identifies a specific behavior and connects it to an outcome, giving the recipient something concrete to repeat.
Effective process praise should be:
- Specific: Identify the action, decision or effort you observed.
- Sincere: Recognize something you genuinely appreciate.
- Connected to an outcome: Explain how the contribution helped a patient, client or colleague.
Recognition can be shared privately or publicly, depending on the situation and the recipient’s preferences. The essential step is communicating the appreciation rather than keeping it to yourself.
Build a Culture of Learning
Building a growth mindset doesn’t happen overnight, and nobody is going to get it right every time. There will still be frustrating days, mistakes and moments when it’s easier to judge than to get curious. That’s part of being human.
The good news is that small changes in how we approach those moments can make a difference. Encourage questions, be open to feedback and take the time to recognize when someone does something well. Look for opportunities to learn from one another and celebrate the progress along the way.
Sometimes, building a stronger team starts with something as simple as changing how we say, “Good job.”
