Building management capability for clinical veterinary organisations—An Australian pilot study

AbstractBackgroundVeterinary care is facing critical levels of attrition that challenge its sustainability in the provision of standards of care. A competent and skilled management workforce, along with enhanced organisational structures and procedures, is essential to effectively address the challenges that veterinary organisations face today and in the future.MethodsThe pilot study adapted the Management Competency Assessment Partnership (MCAP) tool to collect data from 35 mid‐level and senior managers working in five veterinary organisations in Australia via an online survey to understand their competency development needs and the obstacles that they were facing in the management roles. Univariate analyses, Pearson correlations, Kaiser‒Meyer‒Olkin test and Bartlett's test of sphericity were performed.ResultsThis study confirmed that the MCAP tool maintained good internal consistency and identified competency gaps that managers in the five veterinary organisations should consider addressing. The study confirmed the positive correlation between informal management‐related training and self‐study on management issues and self‐perceived management competency level. The results supported the need for veterinary organisations to provide management training to foster a culture of continuous improvement and life‐long learning among veterinary managers.ConclusionsThis study highlighted the core elements essential for the building management capacity of veterinary care services and organisations. It also validated the value of management competency self‐assessment in identifying the development needs of managers, demonstrating how the management development framework adapted from the human healthcare sector can guide the development of a competent management workforce for veterinary care.