Provide personalized feedback that helps grow your team.
If you’ve been running an independent pharmacy for some time, you know that a key responsibility of yours is to guide and develop your pharmacy team members to reach their full potential by offering feedback and training.
You may have felt tempted to forgo offering feedback and ongoing development, thinking that your team members will only be around for a short time and that you won’t reap the benefits.
It’s time to shift your mindset.
Pharmacy leaders who invest in a growth mindset view intelligence, abilities, and talents as learnable and capable of improvement through effort.
A growth mindset can help you shift your thinking and invest in the growth of your team members with quality coaching and feedback, which can pay dividends for your pharmacy in the short and long term.
For example, short-term wins include filling gaps in various positions and quickly shifting to new initiatives. Long-term gains involve developing company leaders who can help you pass down their knowledge and expertise to the rest of the team now and into the future.
Providing feedback may seem intimidating at first, but there are a variety of techniques that you can use. Here are a few of our suggestions – don’t worry, you don’t have to be a hostage negotiator to implement these!
DISC Personality Assessment
The DISC personality assessment can help you identify your team member’s unique strengths and weaknesses, communication styles, and behavioral preferences, as well as your own. DISC is amazingly accurate (a little scary accurate, to be honest!).
Use a Controlling Calendar.
A controlling calendar is a nifty little tool that allows team members to track their daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, with high-priority items conveniently located at the top and bonus incentives tied to them.
A controlling calendar works as a communication tool, eliminating the need for constant check-ins and allowing you to easily stay updated on the status of each project. Download your FREE controlling calendar worksheet here. Feel free to customize it for your pharmacy team.
Don’t Wait For a Quarterly (or, gasp, yearly) Review.
It can be easy to get caught up in daily tasks and forget to provide consistent feedback to your team. That’s why waiting for quarterly reviews to give feedback isn’t enough. As someone who wants to see your employees thrive, it’s important to make an effort to provide ongoing feedback that is specific, actionable, and delivered promptly.
Whether it’s a quick word of encouragement after a job well done or a constructive critique to help them improve, your team members will appreciate your effort to stay engaged with their development.
Keep it Private
Nothing good ever comes from open criticism. Rather than encouraging growth and improvement, it often leads to defensiveness and resentment. Open criticism can be incredibly demotivating and cause your employees to shut down instead of improving.
Instead, set up one-on-one meetings where you can more comfortably discuss performance goals and improvement areas. This creates a more positive work environment and establishes a sense of trust, showing you have respect for your team members.
Feedback Is a Two-Way Street
Giving and receiving feedback effectively can be tricky, but treating it as a two-way street can make all the difference. When receiving feedback, we recommend remaining open-minded and listening actively. Don’t jump to conclusions or respond defensively.
If necessary, take a moment to process the feedback and ask clarifying questions. Team members may hesitate to give you feedback, so make sure you ask for it as directly as possible. Doing so shows you value their input and can lead to innovative and effective solutions that might only have been possible with their insights.
Remember, feedback is meant to help us grow and improve, so embracing it with a positive attitude and a growth mindset can lead to great results.
Next, coaching your team members is essential for several reasons:
1. Skill Development
Coaching offers a structured approach to developing the skills and knowledge of your team members. By identifying their strengths and areas for improvement, you can tailor coaching sessions to grow their abilities, making them more competent and efficient in their roles.
2. Performance Improvement
Effective coaching leads to improved performance across the pharmacy team. By addressing any performance gaps and providing guidance, team members can enhance their productivity and contribute more effectively to the pharmacy’s overall success.
3. Employee Engagement
Engaged employees are more committed and passionate about their work. Coaching demonstrates your investment in their growth and development and builds a sense of value and appreciation. Engaged team members are likelier to be loyal to the pharmacy and have higher job satisfaction.
4. Retention and Talent Development
When employees feel supported and see opportunities for growth within the organization, they are more likely to stay with the pharmacy long-term. Coaching helps identify and nurture talented individuals, cultivating a pipeline of skilled employees who can take on higher responsibilities in the future.
If you’re ready to maximize your team’s potential, coaching and feedback are two of the most valuable tools you can have. By taking the time to understand each team member’s strengths and weaknesses and providing targeted feedback and support, you can create a thriving pharmacy environment.
