April 2026
In this VETgirl online veterinary continuing education blog, Dr. Wendy Hauser discusses the consequences of ‘failed’ leadership…when leaders fail to lead, it is their followers who pay the price. Leadership mismatches don’t have to be irreconcilable, nor do employees need to feel that they have to choose a side when caught in the crossfire of leadership conflicts. Read below to learn how to avoid leadership pitfalls!

Failure to Lead: What Happens When Leaders Don’t Get Along?

By Wendy Hauser, DVM, Peak Veterinary Consulting

You are on a trip 8,000 miles away from home, in a van with 12 people you don’t know and two guides. The guides, or leaders, are responsible for the wellbeing of this newly formed ‘team’, with the team members depending on them for transportation, lodging, food, safety, and guidance during the physical and risky outdoor activities.

This was the situation my family found itself in while experiencing New Zealand. These leaders were at odds from day one. Their inability to communicate, share responsibility and create a psychologically safe environment was absent. The conflict between them was intensely uncomfortable to witness and deeply disturbing.

I hadn’t been in a situation like this in decades, unlike many unlucky veterinary teams. Observing the leaders’ interactions, it was clear that there were several factors that contributed to their inability to work together and lead effectively. Let’s investigate how these dynamics show up in veterinary practices:

  • Personality Preference Differences We have inborn psychological preferences that govern how we communicate and interact with others. These preferences are neither good nor bad; they are traits that individualize us. Understanding and recognizing your own preferences, and those of others, is a critical leadership skill. Mismatches occur when leaders fail to adapt their personality preferences to align with others.
  • A Lack of Trust It is almost impossible to form and build a successful collaboration without trust. If leaders doubt each other’s competence, integrity, or intentions, the ability to co-lead deteriorates. This is worsened when there are unresolved past conflicts or perceived betrayals. When a leader’s actions cause stress and anxiety in the workplace, are inauthentic, or when leaders fail to show that they care about each other and their followers, trust is broken.
  • Ineffective Communication When leaders don’t trust each other, communication suffers. A lack of psychological safety prevents leaders from discussing decisions transparently and authentically. They fail to share information with each other out of fear of losing influence. Due to a lack of collaboration and effective communication, mixed messages are sent to the team, which leads to confusion, uncertainty, and frustration.
  • Role Ambiguity Without clear role definition, it is impossible for leaders to know where the boundaries lie between their duties and those of their co-leaders. Unclear decision-making authority leads to territorial disputes in which teams may receive differing information about how work is to be performed for some tasks, while other priorities are unaddressed and overlooked. The result is a workplace culture that is defined by inconsistency. The leaders fear losing control and display protectionist behaviors that further erode their ability to work together.
  • Lack of Upper Management Support and Mediation Veterinary practices are uniformly small businesses, defined as workplaces with less than 500 employees in one location. Unlike larger businesses, there is rarely a mechanism in place for upper management to proactively address conflict amongst leaders. Further complicating the issue is the absence of an early warning system through which employees can raise red flags when leadership schisms occur. The absence of a cohesive leadership team leads to daily chaos, which can be recognized by a lack of teamwork, professionalism, and operational inefficiency.

What Happens When Leaders Don’t Get Along?

When leaders can’t find common ground, team members pay the price. Lack of alignment between leaders results in uneasiness, instability, stress, and concern amongst the team members. Due to leadership vacuums, teams form factions, with each subset operating under their own guidelines. This is harmful to team dynamics, leading to misunderstandings, confusion, and resentment among team members.

Fixing Fractured Leadership

How can leadership mismatches in veterinary practices be avoided? It starts when leaders know themselves and each other before they are thrust into situations where they need to co-lead. Building cohesive leadership teams requires the following skills and strategies:

  • Appreciate Perspectives
    When leaders communicate with each other, they should know the role that perception plays in interactions. They must understand their own perspectives, realizing that the person with whom they are communicating also has their own perspectives. During a successful interaction, both individuals attempt to understand the viewpoints of each other, seeking common ground.
  • Build Trust
    The kind of trust that is necessary to build a cohesive leadership team is vulnerability-based trust. It forms when each person believes that the other’s intentions are fair, truthful, and that decisions are mutually made. Vulnerability can be hard for leaders in practices, especially if they fear losing influence to other practice leaders. When vulnerable, there is a risk that they may be emotionally hurt, judged, or seen as weak or lacking by their fellow leaders. While counterintuitive, vulnerability contributes to being a stronger leader who forges deeper connections and stronger, more resilient relationships. Vulnerability-based trust is built with the belief that a person has others’ best interests at heart. In cultures of trust, there is no need to hide weaknesses or mistakes, and each person can be accountable for their performance without fear of shame, embarrassment, or ridicule. To build trust, leaders must invest the time to get to know and understand each other.
  • Effective Communication
    When communication is unclear, rushed or doesn’t take into consideration how the other leader likes to give and receive information, mismatches occur. These can be tempered in three ways:

    • Emotional Intelligence to Cultivate Personality Preference Awareness. Emotional intelligence is the ability to manage ourselves and our relationships effectively by an awareness of our emotions and our response to those feelings. There are five skills associated with emotional intelligence, with two of the skills being relevant to leadership mismatches: Self-Awareness and Self-Regulation. When leaders understand their personality preferences, they can use self-awareness to help them to be honest with themselves and other leaders. Self-regulation refers to having control over feelings and impulses so that leaders are mindful of how their actions and words impact others.
    • Increased transparency in communication. Instability and uncertainty are triggers for anxiety and stress. To counterbalance the unpredictable nature of caring for pets and their owners, leaders should be a stabilizing influence by acting in dependable, consistent ways. One way to do this is by communicating clearly. Prevent confusion by being transparent, open, and authentic in sharing information. Unclear communication, like when different leaders provide contradictory information, leaves employees guessing at the meaning behind statements creating insecurity and unease. Messages can be misinterpreted, leading to misunderstandings and chaos.
    • Prompt recognition and resolution of interpersonal conflicts. Leadership teams benefit from brief weekly leadership meetings, which are structured tactical forums that allow leaders to align on strategic decisions, identify concerns and solve problems, and provide progress reports on team goals. These meetings emphasize action and problem solving, ensuring all leaders are included in the information loop.
  • Clear role definition Upper management should define responsibilities for each leadership role to avoid overlap. These should be matched to the strengths and interests of each leader. For example, some leaders may be passionate about education while others are more interested in creating consistency in the practice by identifying processes that need guidelines and protocols. It is important that upper management sets clear decision rights by defining who has the final say on strategic decisions.
  • Accountability by senior management Team members take their cues about acceptable workplace behavior by watching how practice leaders act and what they say. This includes taking ownership of successes and failures, as well as admitting mistakes. This helps team members understand what behaviors are encouraged, expected, and tolerated.
    When conflict occurs between leaders, it is necessary that senior leaders step in to help mediate these differences. This might include skills coaching for some leaders, as well as communication and emotional intelligence training. Senior leaders don’t find the answers; they facilitate conversations so that acceptable resolutions occur.

The components that lead to leadership mismatches are the same that lead to interprofessional conflict. Practices benefit when all employees receive coaching in communication and emotional intelligence skills. When team members learn to recognize their own perspectives, as well as those of others, the outcome is often more empathetic responses. When trust is foundational within teams, there is higher engagement, better collaboration and psychological safety.

When leaders fail to lead, it is their followers that pay the price, on a trail in New Zealand or within the four walls of a practice. Leadership mismatches don’t have to be irreconcilable, nor do employees need to feel that they have to choose a side when caught in the crossfire of leadership conflicts.

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