Introduction

It goes without saying that the skills your team have are important in delivering a good service. But when we look at the skills we have in the pharmacy team, we need to make sure they are being used effectively. That means ensuring you use the most appropriate person in the team to undertake a specific task to maximise efficiency – vital in a difficult financial environment. 

The traditional managerial approach – looking at how the team perform and then working with individuals to improve their skills to make the best of the situation – will deliver incremental changes. For a step change, a leadership approach, using triple-loop learning, might prove better. 

An organisational design approach involves taking a step back from the people and looking at what the organisation wants to achieve, and using that as the basis for a capability and people plan. Such an approach obviously requires a business plan but, done properly, it also questions the status quo to create the structure and processes your business needs to meet its goals.