Assistant Manager of Specialty Services

_Job Description_

**Assistant Manager of Specialty Services**

Ottawa Animal & Specialty Hospital

Who We Are:
Founded in 2012, the Ottawa Animal Emergency & Specialty Hospital’s mission is to promote animal welfare by offering specialized and emergency veterinary services 24/7 in its centers located in eastern Ottawa, proudly owned by Veterinarians, and serving Eastern Ontario and the Ottawa-Gatineau areas. Passion, Dedication, Compassion and Excellence in our team and the clients we serve is our culture. We believe in a great experience for our team, clients, patients, and stakeholders. Our hospital offers complete services for owners of dogs, cats, birds, and exotic animals. We are an accredited member of the Ontario College of Veterinarians.

The role is a high-responsibility position that responds to Specialty Manager. The employee works to lead Specialty Services at the Ottawa Animal Emergency and Specialty Hospital. The employee is to supervise and support all areas of Specialty Services, including all team leads and employees within this department. The employee is expected to lead the department’s overall effectiveness and work to reach financial goals, client retention, recruitment goals and employee engagement.
- Duties and Responsibilities_:

- Training, including new employee integration, continuing education, and mentorship support
- Support disciplinary actions, including enforcement of hospital policies and the development of performance improvement plans
- Support mediation between specialty department staff, emergency department staff and other hospital staff
- Team Motivation, including maintaining a positive, engaging and supportive work environment at all times
- Liaise with the various specialty departments to ensure staffing and equipment needs are met in accordance to the budget and financial model of each respective specialty departments
- Support and liaise with specialists to ensure department costs (including equipment, staffing, etc.) are in the correct proportion with the departments respective financial budgets
- Support and facilitate the opening or re-opening of Specialty departments as opportunities become available
- Support that KPI standards are met regarding specialty department staffing levels, fee schedules, economic trends for the specialty departments, financial forecasts or analysis, veterinary compensation, and other areas as needed
- Support continuing education events internally at OEASH and with prospective rDVMs with each Specialty department
- Arranging externships for students (in conjunction with the Emergency leadership team)
- Work with external partners such as the Canadian Animal Blood Bank to develop mutually beneficial programming
- General Hospital Oversight (in conjunction with the OAESH leadership team):

- Support the Specialty Manager in the efficient and proper running of the hospital as a whole
- Ensure employee adherence to the OAESH vision and core values
- Ensure a spirit of collegiality is maintained within the hospital
- Support the smooth day-to-day operations of Specialty Services and its team members,
- Work with the Client Services Team with client complaints and feedback and implement best solutions, involving other department leaders on the development of action plans
- Ensures maximum retention of clients, including referring clients, by occasionally contacting existing clients to ensure quality service is being delivered and needs are met and exceeded.
- Support the Specialty Manager with performance assessment & development. Participate in all performance management situations for any issues related to any direct reports in the department. Ensure timely feedback for improvement is delivered and followed up on as necessary
- Support the improvement of all training materials. procedures and documents relevant to your department as needed
- Delegate tasks and focus on individual development by coaching as needed and in times that are appropriate
- Coordinate with other department managers, ER department & client services to ensure the Specialty teams are serving their needs and working effectively with each department
- Coaching and connecting with your team daily around important communications and confirming that each employee within your department understands and has clarity.
- Offering feedback to your team and holding them to the highest standard around service, time management, and organization.
- Ensuring all daily/weekly tasks are completed, done right, and in a timely fashion while also addressing tasks that aren’t complete or done to OAESH standard
- Support rolling out any new guidelines and medical policies, including working with your manager to create new guidelines or improve existing policies
- Offering and producing pragmatic approaches to existing guidelines and policies, including prioritizing to get ahead of the problem
- As directed by your manager, conduct in-person, private, and professional coaching co