Roy Rogers never went to the doctor when he was sick. Nope. He would visit his local veterinarian. Do you think that's weird? I don't think so.

Here's why it's not so unthinkable: People can tell you face to face what is happening to them, how they feel, where the pain is, while animals don't have a voice in the matter.

Doctors have to listen to you tell them about their ailments and then he begins searching for the clues that leads to diagnosis and treatment.

Veterinarians, on the other hand, have patients that cannot tell them anything. Well not with the spoken word, anyway. Animals do tell their Vet what is wrong, but in a different way. They show up with their symptoms, and the Vet is left to diagnose them without the 'help' of his patient.

Now let's take the workplace relationships into account here and see if there are any Doctors and/or Veterinarians in the house.

Is there a Doctor in the house? This poor, sick employee over here needs a good doctor! Let's ask him what his symptoms are.

"I am so so tired all the time", the patient complains.

Doc replies, "It can't be all that bad, let's take a look, Open wide!" Doc takes his pulse, listens to him breathe, and even takes a look at his tonsils. All systems look good from where I am sitting.

Translation: sick employee comes to work on time and gets his work done promptly. So what's the problem? All is well, right?

Enter the Veterinarian. He doesn't ask any questions, because he can see how the sick employee has changed his disposition over the past couple of weeks. He still comes to work on-time and does his work, however, he doesn't smile anymore or interact with the others on his team.

The Veterinarian hasn't notice any bad interactions here at work, but can't completely rule out that he might be getting beat up by his herdmates. The Vet thinks that possibly there could be something going on at home that could be the issue. When asked, the sick patient reveals that he has separated from his wife, and yes that has impacted him greatly.

Do you see a difference here? The Doctor doesn't see that there is anything wrong. If fact, when the doctor asks the patient what is wrong, he gets back that he is just tired. More is going on than that! It takes the eyes and ears of a Veterinarian to come to the proper diagnosis.

Roy Rogers had it right when he said that Veterinarians make better Doctors! I think that leaders in the workplace need to take a page from a Roy Rogers and watch for and act on issues before they get out of hand.