How veterinary teams can reset after conflict
Bottom line
Veterinary teams don’t need more reminders that conflict happens under pressure. In a new dvm360 podcast and article published September 29, 2026, healthcare executive Bridget Rollins and veterinarian Adam Christman frame those moments as the “red zone,” when frustration overrides thoughtful communication and people shift from a thinking state to a reactive one. Rollins says the earliest signs can be subtle, including irritation, defensiveness, feeling threatened, or assuming negative intent, and argues that recognizing those triggers early is the first step toward resetting a conversation before it hardens into team tension. (dvm360.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the message lands in a workforce already carrying high emotional labor, staffing strain, client conflict, and burnout risk. AAHA has argued that psychological safety and healthy team culture are strategic necessities for retention, while its Stay, Please research has identified teamwork as a major reason people stay in practice. Separate veterinary literature also describes conflict resolution as a technical skill in medical environments, not just a personality issue. That makes “red zone” awareness less of a soft skill add-on and more of a practical management tool for keeping conversations productive, teams stable, and patient care from being affected by unresolved friction. (aaha.org)
What to watch: Expect more practice leaders and CE programming to connect emotional intelligence, conflict de-escalation, and retention as clinics look for workable ways to support team wellbeing. (dvm360.com)
A new dvm360 conversation is putting a familiar veterinary workplace problem into clearer language: the “red zone,” the point where frustration takes over and productive communication starts to break down. In the September 29, 2026 Vet Blast podcast article, Bridget Rollins, EMBA, founder of Kings Consulting, told host Adam Christman, DVM, MBA, that teams often miss the early warning signs because by the time someone can name what’s happening, they’re already reacting instead of thinking. (dvm360.com)
That framing matters because conflict in veterinary medicine isn’t new, but the industry is talking about it more directly as a workforce and culture issue. Rollins describes the red zone as an emotionally triggered state marked by defensiveness, overreaction, and a tendency to assign negative intent. Her core point is that people need enough emotional intelligence to interpret both their own reactions and the reactions of others if they want conflict to become productive rather than corrosive. (dvm360.com)
The broader background supports that view. A 2019 review indexed in PubMed described conflict resolution as a technical skill required in medical environments and said a brain-awareness lens can help veterinary teams better manage interpersonal conflict. More recently, AAHA has emphasized that veterinary workplaces ask teams to absorb client grief, conflict, unrealistic expectations, staffing shortages, ethical distress, and burnout, all while maintaining safe, effective patient care. (pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov)
Industry retention data also helps explain why this topic is getting attention now. AAHA’s Stay, Please research found that functioning as a team is one of the main reasons veterinary professionals stay in their jobs, and AAHA has continued to position psychological safety as central to retention. In other words, conflict management is no longer just about smoothing over hard conversations. It’s tied to whether practices can recruit, keep, and support veterinarians, technicians, CSRs, and managers in a strained labor market. (aaha.org)
Other veterinary education content points in the same direction. dvm360 has previously highlighted emotional intelligence as a professional skill that can improve workplace professionalism, and older practice-management coverage has stressed that unresolved conflict can damage morale if leaders avoid it rather than address it directly. Together, those sources suggest the latest “red zone” discussion is part of a longer shift toward treating communication habits as operational infrastructure, not side conversation. (dvm360.com)
Why it matters: For veterinary professionals, the practical takeaway is that conflict de-escalation needs to happen before a formal HR issue, resignation, or culture problem surfaces. If leaders can help team members recognize early signs like irritation, threat response, or defensive assumptions, they may be able to intervene sooner, preserve trust, and reduce the downstream effects of unresolved friction on morale and workflow. In a profession where emotional load is already high, that kind of reset skill can support both wellbeing and care delivery. (dvm360.com)
There’s also a management implication here for hospital leaders and medical directors. AAHA’s recent workplace guidance argues that culture is shaped by daily leadership behaviors, including listening before responding, addressing conflict respectfully, and communicating transparently. That aligns closely with Rollins’ message: the red zone may feel personal in the moment, but the systems around feedback, trust, and psychological safety determine whether teams can recover from conflict or stay stuck in it. (aaha.org)
What to watch: The next step is whether practices translate this conversation into training, meeting norms, and leadership routines, especially as retention efforts increasingly focus on team culture, not just compensation or scheduling. (aaha.org)