Training: keeping knowledge and skills up to date

Finding time to carry out training for the team may be difficult, but it can have a positive business benefit. These include:

• Having a better informed team, giving appropriate, up-to-date advice
• Improved customer satisfaction
• Better morale
• Improved retention.

Tools such as appraisals/performance development reviews, personal development plans and training plans can be useful. Some companies have structured training programmes beyond the essential qualifications.

A training plan is a way to record who will be receiving what training, when and how. See below for some example entries. It can include the following:

• What training is needed
• The business need, ie what the benefit will be to the business
• Who is going to conduct the training (this may be self-directed learning)
• A time frame
• The employees who are going to complete the training
• If applicable, any associated cost.

When planning training for the team, consider that giving protected learning time within pharmacy hours will help people to complete the training more easily. Do not forget to include team members such as delivery drivers. You may want to consider developing certain team members as specialists in different areas, for example animal medicines, who can then train others.

A personal development plan for an individual often forms part of an appraisal/performance development process and may include reflection on what has gone well and not so well, where they are now, where they want to be and how they can improve performance in key areas, as well as career aspirations.