As a leader or manager, the morale of your team starts with you – a fact that you should always keep in mind. Take a long, hard look at yourself to see whether you can improve how you project your own morale, your feelings and your enthusiasm. 

The fact is, your team is always watching you. If you are feeling confident and positive and project this, then it will rub off on other people. A positive attitude is highly infectious. The following five tips will help you explore when and how you can improve morale in your pharmacy:

Connect with your team Strong and effective relationships are built on trust. If you don’t have strong, trust-based relationships with your team, you risk them seeing everything you do as manipulation to get more from them. They may feel that you don’t value them personally. A lack of appreciation is often cited as a key reason for low morale. Yet showing appreciation doesn’t have to involve money.

A simple and genuine ‘Well done’ or ‘Thank you for a good job’ – or even an offer of time off or flexible working when a significant goal has been met – can work very well. Spend time with your team, listen to their concerns and show them that you value their contribution. Give them feedback to help them improve. It is not difficult to develop good working relationships with people, but it does require time, consistency and integrity.

Show respect and give clear direction

The series of One Minute Manager books by Ken Blanchard introduces the concept of using the minimum investment of time to produce the most out of every member of your team. The essence is that you should show people respect and define expectations, but avoid over-managing. Most people respond well to such an approach, as long as their job is well enough defined and they are allowed the occasional mistake, without fear of disproportionate punishment. Morale levels can fall if people are unclear about what they should be doing. 

This lack of direction is disheartening and will sap morale very quickly. Make sure that everyone is clear about what they should be doing and how their work contributes as a whole. Set SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, timebound) goals for everyone. Having clear, achievable goals will help to motivate people and build their confidence.

Build an effective team

Team building takes on real importance when the pressure is on. It is a more complex challenge than just building or improving morale in individuals. Remember that you don’t have to have all the answers – part of creating an effective team is harnessing everyone’s creativity and contribution.

Focus on talent management

If times are tough and team members are feeling pressurised, you might have a problem keeping your best people or getting new people to come and join you. Think carefully about how you can give added responsibility and scope for development to your most talented individuals. Be creative and they will respond in kind, as they will recognise that their talents and skills are being fully utilised.

Be authentic

This means being genuine and believable in every interaction with your team, and acting with integrity and consistency. You will want to take a common sense approach, but so often this is either missed completely or underestimated in terms of importance. 

Everyone wants their workplace to be a happy, productive space with people doing a great job for customers and the team showing a real sense of pride in their work. This will not be achieved if people feel they are being led or managed by a leader who is anything less than someone they have respect for. This doesn’t mean you have to be best friends with everyone, but it does mean that you have to be professional, consistent, focused and resilient in all that you do.