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 to 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.

Satisfy the basics. No one is motivated by poor work conditions and salary. The American psychologist Frederick Herzberg first described human beings as being subject to two different sets of factors at work in the 1960s. Those leading to job satisfaction are ‘motivational’ factors; those leading to dissatisfaction he called ‘hygiene’ factors.

In the workplace, hygiene factors include salary, work policies, work environment, security and status level. If we get these wrong, Herzberg suggests that motivation is not possible. An employee who is subjected to a poor salary, burdensome policies and a continual feeling of insecurity or lack of status is unlikely to be open to new ideas.

According to the Herzberg theory, addressing hygiene factors will create peace. Employees will no longer be dissatisfied, but if you want to motivate your team, you have to focus on satisfaction factors that affect the ‘person’. These include achievement, responsibility, advancement and personal growth.

Manage well. Respect has to be earned. A good manager can adapt to a range of scenarios and communicate clearly with staff. They actively listen and reward effectively. They are approachable, but strict and fair when required. Managing well feeds team motivation.

Challenge and delegate. No surprise, but monotony does not feed motivation. No one really gets excited about doing the same task over and over again – even the 9am to 5pm people. You should constantly review how you can present challenging work for your team.

Create clear roles and responsibilities. A clearly defined role is a basic requirement for any employee. It is essential to review responsibilities and ensure that your employees understand what is expected of them.

Develop your staff. There is nothing more rewarding. This could be something as simple as showing an employee how to undertake a new task. Gaining relevant qualifications will aid those who aspire to a career pathway, such as becoming a pharmacy technician. Never impose a training and development course though. Some positions require mandatory programmes, but this should be discussed with a team member before starting a new position or before a new Government policy or regulation.

Be fair. When you demonstrate fairness, employees will know what to expect. This feeds healthy respect for you as a manager and motivates your employees to provide the best level of performance.

Celebrate even the small wins. It is very important to celebrate milestones, no matter how small they may appear. Small or quick successes – a customer thank you, or the first request for a new service – can reignite a workplace and are essential to enhancing the team mood and belief in your pharmacy.

Opportunity in adversity

If things are not going well, people and workplaces can become demotivated. However, this can also be an opportunity to refocus and get closer as a team together and with customers.

Working together can help you to clarify your direction and open up opportunities for personal development and communication. Consider how you can engage with your staff to enhance productivity and results. Motivation naturally flows from a good leader.

Further reading

•               Royal Pharmaceutical Society/Pharmacist Support Workforce Wellbeing Survey 2024: www.rpharms.com/about-us/news/details/annual-rps-workforce-wellbeing-survey-results

•               MacLeod, D and Clarke, N. Engaging for Success: enhancing performance through employee engagement. Department for Business, Innovation and Skills, London: 2009

•               Chartered Institute of Personnel Development: www.cipd.co.uk/hr-resources/factsheets

•               www.mindtools.com/pages/article/herzberg-motivators-hygiene-factors.html