The employees in a pharmacy will all differ in their skills, attitudes, personalities and behaviours. Some just like to work a 9am to 5pm day, but are hard-working and diligent. Others aspire to a career path – challenging in a community pharmacy, but not impossible. Appreciating the differences between staff members will allow you to tailor workloads, training and development, communication pathways and performance assessments. Not recognising these differences is a recipe for failure.

Demonstrate strong leadership. You must set the direction for the pharmacy and communicate confidently to your staff. Leaders must inspire, even when the world appears to be against you. An employee’s motivation is proportional to the manager’s momentum to drive a business forward.

Create and communicate direction. Most members of staff are actually interested in your business! They want to be involved and contribute. A haphazard approach to business growth will not instil any confidence in your team. Take time to clarify your direction. Where do you want the pharmacy to go? How will it get there? What do you need in order to achieve these goals? How can staff help?

Be honest when talking about this. It is amazing how the dynamics of a business space change when you involve employees at this level. It can be surprising how many good ideas your staff will have to offer.

Listen. Actively listening to employees’ ideas and perceptions of the pharmacy is a critical element of business development. It demonstrates that you value their input; quite often you will find an idea that will help grow your business. Hold team meetings outside opening hours every few months.

Recognise and reward. Recognition is not just about financial rewards. How many times do you personally thank staff for their contribution? It’s easy to forget the simple things like ‘thank you’ when you are trying to get through the day. Feeling unappreciated breeds discontentment.