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Blaming, excuses and mindset
Anne-Marie Svendsen Aylott spoke at BSAVA Congress.
How changing the way you think and speak can help change practice culture

At the BSAVA Congress in Birmingham today (5 April), Anne-Marie Svendsen Aylott looked at mindset theories to help explain blame culture within the veterinary practice.

She explained that research has identified two mindset theories - the entity theory and the incremental theory. Those who have an entity mindset will consider that everyone is the same and that no-one can change, including themselves. Incremental mindset individuals, on the other hand, have a more open attitude, believing that things and people can change.

Those with an incremental mindset believe that people can change and develop and that success is driven by effort, discipline, strategic approaches and learning new things. Essentially they believe that everyone is born equal and that all people have the possibility to grow change and develop.

Entity mindset behaviours are characterised by a lack of confidence, lower than expected performance, low levels of resilience, blaming and making excuses, poor coping mechanisms, being judgemental, having a defensive reaction to feedback and negative emotions.

Leaders and managers with an entity mindset will clearly influence their teams and colleagues in a negative direction. Employees will concentrate on mistakes, be resistant to new systems and protocols, make excuses and have an increased anxiety at the prospect of making a mistake. Even a few people within the price with such mindsets can eventually affect the attitudes of the whole practice.

So, asked Anne- Marie, how can blame culture and entity mindsets be changed?
She explained that first, you have to identify the practice culture that you want and then set in place systems and processes and the protocols to support them. You then set the example by embracing the incremental mindset attitude.

Adopting this mindset embraces resilience and optimism, encourages performance, team spirit and learning. Slowly, over time, attitudes will begin to change the practice, she said.

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Applications open for MMI research grants

News Story 1
 RCVS' Mind Matters Initiative (MMI) has launched round two of its veterinary mental health research grants.

Researchers have until 11.59pm on Wednesday, 28 May 2025 to apply for a grant for research which reflects MMI's 2025 focus areas.

Only one Impact Grant was awarded last year, and so this year there are two Discovery Grants and one Impact Grants available. Each Discovery Grant is worth £5,000 and the Impact Grant is worth £15,000.

For more information or to apply, email researchgrants@rcvs.org.uk to contact the MMI team.

 

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News Shorts
Germany livestock import ban lifted

The UK government has amended its ban on the import of livestock, meat and dairy products from Germany.

Defra said the decision follows 'rigorous technical assessment' of the measures applied and the current situation. "If the situation changes, we will not hesitate to take necessary action in response to the FMD outbreaks in the European Union to protect our domestic biosecurity," it said.

The ban was implemented in January following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease (FMD) near Berlin. Personal imports of meat, milk and dairy products will remain in place at a country level.