1. Moving veterinary from the service
business to the development
business
24 February 2016
Sheraton Hotel, Athlone
Geoff Dooley & Denise Duggan

2. Start with WHY
1. Build interconnection within veterinary and
(later) between veterinary & farming.
2. Consistently deliver the highest standards of
animal care & health management through
veterinary excellence.
3. Be a Change Agent by moving veterinary
from a service function to a development
function.

3. Background
Winter 2009 – 3 practices with an idea
September 2010 – XLVets Ireland
June 2011 – XLVets Skillnet
2015 – 24 practices (110 vets) & 973 farm
businesses

4. Our Story
Why
How
What
IMPACT
Simon Sinek, 2012

5. Start with WHY
1. Build interconnection within veterinary and
(later) between veterinary & farming.
2. Consistently deliver the highest standards of
animal care & health management through
veterinary excellence.
3. Be a Change Agent by moving veterinary
from a service function to a development
function.

6. Why being a Change Agent matters:
Anti – microbial resistance in humans
Food safety
Animal welfare
Greenhouse gas emissions/climate change
Food security
Deregulation
Herd expansion
Synthetic biology
Feminisation

7. Why being a Change Agent matters:
Anti – microbial resistance in humans
Food safety
Animal welfare
Greenhouse gas emissions
Food security
Deregulation and market volatility
Herd expansion
Synthetic biology
Feminisation

8. Why being a Change Agent is hard:
Veterinary sector
 Reactive culture
 State work
 “Inflexible” business
structures
 Lack of specialisation

9. Why being a Change Agent is hard:
Veterinary sector
 Service mentality
 State work
 Inflexible business
structures
 Lack of specialisation
Farming sector
 Pull towards status quo
 Low “HR Flow”
 Focus on immediate
problems
 Won’t pay for training
 Information overload
 Poor execution

10. HOW
1. Upskill vets with best clinical education
2. Train vets to be trainers & training designers
3. Sub-committees create program content
4. Tap the supply chain for resources
5. Pilot initiatives (everything is learning)
6. Leverage the existing vet-farmer
relationship

11. HOW We Operate
Inspire through our “Story of Why”
and then use the network as a lever
for large-scale change

12. Corporate and Research Partners

13. WHAT
Information seminars
On-farm training
Surveillance programs
Herd health planning

14. WHAT
Information seminars
On-farm training
Surveillance programs
Herd health planning

15. WHAT
Information seminars
On-farm training
Surveillance programs
Herd health planning

16. Why is execution so difficult?
1. Farmers don’t know the most important
risks of the business
2. Farmers don’t know what to do to manage
the most important risks.
3. Farmers don’t keep score & they don’t know
how to measure success
4. Farmers are not held accountable for results
McChesney et al, 2012

17. Why is execution so difficult?
1. Farmers don’t know the most important
risks of the business
2. Farmers don’t know what to do manage the
most risks
3. Farmers don’t keep score & they don’t know
how to measure success
4. Farmers are not held accountable for results
McChesney et al, 2012

18. Why is execution so difficult?
1. Farmers don’t know the most important
risks of the business
2. Farmers don’t know what to do manage the
most important risks
3. Farmers don’t keep score & they don’t know
how to measure success
4. Farmers are not held accountable for results
McChesney et al, 2012

19. Addressing the Execution Problem
Introduced DairyMentor in 2015:
Surveillance program
Herd health planning program

20. Addressing the Execution Problem
Introduced DairyMentor in 2015:
Surveillance program
Herd health planning program
+ Coaching program

21. Addressing the Execution Problem
Introduced DairyMentor in 2015:
Surveillance program
Herd health planning program
+ Coaching program

22. Addressing the Execution Problem
Introduced DairyMentor in 2015:
Surveillance program
Herd health planning program
+ Coaching program

23. Simple Scoreboards
People play differently
when they are keeping
the score
McChesney et al, 2012

24. Winning or losing?

25. Scoreboard
BCS Colostrum Bloods
2.75 22 5.5mmol/L

26. What is accountability?
Accountability means making
personal commitments to
move the scores forward and
then following through in a
disciplined way.

27. Meeting Rhythm
Weekly/fortnightly/monthly
Report on commitments
Review the scoreboard → learn from
successes and failures
Clear the path & make new
commitments
Celebrate successes
Share learning

28. IMPACT

29. Ear to the ground

30. Next Steps
1. Use scoreboard data to set performance
benchmarks
2. Calculate impacts in € and productivity terms
3. Use data to inform increasingly compelling stories
about XLVets Skillnet
4. Global scoreboard to calculate tons of CO2e, Kgs of
anti-microbials not used etc….
5. Contribute to the “farm food story”

31. Next Steps
1. Use scoreboard data to set performance
benchmarks
2. Calculate impacts in € and productivity terms
3. Use data to inform increasingly compelling stories
about XLVets Skillnet
4. Global scoreboard to calculate tons of CO2e, Kgs of
anti-microbials not used etc….
5. Contribute to the “farm food story”
Fuelling change…

32. Thank you!
Feedback & questions
welcome…