How many times have you recruited an employee, only to find out that they do not live up to your expectations for the role? Many pharmacies have no formal recruitment process in place. This should involve a clear job description and person specification outlining:

• The scope of the position and key tasks and responsibilities (the Job Description)
• The key personal characteristics for the position, attitude, skills, experience, and behaviours (the Person Specification).

This is equally important when recruiting internally or externally to the business. When you mismatch skills, experience and knowledge with a job position, it should be no surprise if the successful individual does not live up to your expectations. The employee will quickly become de-motivated.

Challenge and delegate

Monotony does not feed motivation. No-one really gets excited about doing the same task over and over again, even the 9-5 people. You should constantly review how you could present challenging work for your team.

This will involve a large degree of responsible delegation, meaning that you do not micro-manage the individual. Equally you should not 'dump' challenging tasks onto unskilled employees.