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Record learning outcomes

In last month’s article we looked at how to engage your pharmacy team to work together to bring about positive change for your business. This month we will concentrate more on how to manage the performance of individuals within your team.

Many articles start by stating that your team is your greatest asset. Indeed, it should be. But when you find a weakness in the team, how do you tackle this sometimes uncomfortable predicament and still remain fair to all employees?

Before you do anything, you need to consider your role in this. Have you had conversations with your employees about what you expect from them? Do they have a clearly defined job role and understand how that role impacts on the rest of the business? If you haven’t set this out, how do they know how to behave, how to perform or take on responsibility? What does a ‘good’ performance look like? Think about the role they are undertaking and give examples of where this performance is below standard.

Having benchmarked the current performance against what you require, you have now identified the ‘performance gap’ and you need to take steps to reduce it. How you do this will depend on the size of the gap and the impact on your business. It may be a simple discussion between you and a team member to raise awareness of an issue and to agree the way forward. Of course, there may be instances where a review needs to be conducted in a more formal environment.

Conducting reviews

It is these more formal or perhaps challenging conversations that we often shy away from, yet if we don’t provide quality feedback how can we help the team member improve? Whilst having difficult conversations might make many line managers nervous, the reality is that most conversations needn’t be especially difficult.

Planning the discussion and being clear on the outcome of the meeting, together with good questioning and listening techniques, are key to success. There are lots of models or structures you can use for meetings or for providing feedback, but effective meetings will typically begin with a welcome and introduction. This can be used to put the team member at ease and summarise the purpose of the meeting.

Scheduled meetings, eg, a progress review for MCA training, should be approached in a more informal, casual way: “I’m glad we’ve got this opportunity to have a chat about your MCA course. How are you getting on?” From there you can lead into a look through their workbook with them and discuss areas of concerns or achievement.

It is good practice to start your questioning early, so you can understand their requirements and you would do this using open questions. Start with something generic and positive, even if the key point you want to make is negative. Start with easy open questions, like: “How are you settling into your new role?” or, “How are you finding the new EPOS system?”

Focus on what has gone well and demonstrate you have been listening by repeating key words or phrases or summarising what they have just said. Try to focus on the positive: “You said you were finding your workbook hard to complete, how much have you managed to finish so far?” Continue acquiring information until you have all you need for that particular point, then move onto discussing different options. “You said that you got behind because you have been busy – what stopped you using your allocated time?”

For more immediate meetings where issues need to be resolved, there may be occasions when you need to start by supplying information, particularly if you have some information that the person may not know. For example: “I have received an e-mail from Mrs Porter stating that you ... Can you talk me through this please?”

Listen to their response and base your follow-up questions around this, or on specific points within the email that weren’t answered. In some cases it might be that the individual doesn’t know what might be an appropriate solution or an alternative approach, so you will need to talk through your views on how this should have been handled.

When a team member is underperforming, you need to be very clear about how they are underperforming and what the next steps are. For example: “To work as an MCA within our business, it is a requirement that you complete and pass your MCA course on time. You have stated that you haven’t finished your module because you were busy. This is disappointing, as the business has afforded you allocated time for training. If you find that you cannot use the time allocated to you, I would like you to talk to me about how we can manage your time more effectively. This course needs to be completed on time and I need your reassurance that you will do this in future.”

The follow-up

Following up on agreed actions is vital for success. When your team member agrees to do something you expect it to be done, in the same way they expect you to deliver what you agree to. Effective follow-up sends a positive message to your team that the actions agreed are important, and that you have sight of progress made towards achieving them. It will also enable you to deal with continued underperformance more formally or, of course, to celebrate success.

When providing feedback, whether positive or critical, you need to be specific and constructive. A comment like, “good job on that delivery” is neither specific nor constructive – what specifically do you mean? Was it good because it only took me an hour? Was it good because I put everything in the correct place? Or was it because I didn’t break anything?

When we think of managing the team we often think of managing a poor performer. But it is not just about improving the performance of those below the required standard, it is about moving the good to great! While you have a duty to manage underperformance, you also have a responsibility to recognise good performance.

_{In order to support member pharmacies, Numark offers a comprehensive HR service, providing templates and advice around personnel issues. For Numark members who require guidance developing their business and their teams, a one-to-one consultation can be requested with one of our pharmacy development managers. Contact our Customer Services team on 0800 783 5709 to arrange a one-to-one business review.}