This seems an obvious piece of common sense, but we know that common sense isn’t always common practice and that all too often we find ourselves trying to do it all ourselves.

Perhaps the most vital managerial function of all is to be able to make the best use of all the resources at your disposal. Part of this involves generating a strong team that’s focused on delivering the very best for all those who use your pharmacy.

If it seems like this may involve more work when you are already stretched, consider the following.

Will it make enough impact to be worth the investment of your time and energy? Well, yes, and research supports the view that if you can build an effective team in which everyone knows their role and everyone’s unique skills are used to collaborate for the common good, the benefits can be sizeable.

Here are just some of the potential benefits: 

• Improved morale, motivation and job satisfaction
• Reduced staff dissatisfaction and turnover 
• Easier to overcome problems when everyone is working together positively
• Productivity and quality of work increase, which results in a better service for customers and patients 
• A real and tangible positive impact on the bottom line and customer experience.

Don’t forget that you’re not outside the team, organising and running it. You are a fundamental part of it, leading from within.

So you will gain all these benefits, too – you’ll be better motivated, enjoy work more and have higher job satisfaction. It’s not really as hard as it might seem, but like many things in life you will get out of it what you are prepared to put in.

Delegating successfully

A fundamental of making the best use of your people is the ability to be able to share the workload and delegate effectively. This is a key skill of any effective manager, but remember, you will only realise the benefits of delegation when you delegate appropriately – the right task to the right person, in the right way and at the right time. Successful delegation can be broken down into a simple five-step process, as described below:

Step 1 – Define the task

Confirm in your own mind that the task under consideration is suitable to be delegated. Does it meet the appropriate criteria described above?

Step 2 – Select the individual

What are your reasons for delegating to this person? What are they going to get out of it? What are you going to get out of it?

Step 3 – Access ability and training needs

Is the person capable of doing the task? Will they understand what needs to be done. If not, you cannot delegate.

Step 4 – Brief in the task

You must explain clearly what you need to be done and when, why the job or responsibility is being delegated, and why to that person. What is its importance and relevance? Where does it fit in the overall scheme of things?

A very useful structure for briefing in any task – particularly in a busy pharmacy when time is short – is to use the mnemonic STOP–QC™. This is an established briefing methodology, which can be accomplished in a very short period of time.

Step 5 – State required results

As part of STOP-QCâ„¢ you will have defined what needs to be achieved and will have clarified understanding by getting feedback. Make sure they know how you intend to decide that the job is being successfully done.