Upskilling - or the act of continuing to learn additional skills - is important for pharmacy employees in today’s economy. By upskilling, you can put your best foot forward with the service that you provide and even gain an advantage over your competitors. Here are a few pharmacy training tips that can help you succeed.
1. Provide learning opportunities for everyone.
Everyone on the team should have a chance to learn new things on a regular basis. If you have a structured and detailed training plan that includes a time frame for new learning, this will be possible for all of your employees.
2. Widen your scope.
Your team should work on upskilling in a myriad of different areas, not just one. If you help your team learn a variety of new skills, this will help your pharmacy become more well-rounded in its services. If your staff can handle a variety of services, that’s weight taken off of your shoulders on a day-to-day basis, which gives you more time to focus on long-term strategies and planning for the future.
Keep in mind that while providing variety is helpful and necessary, it’s also smart to allow employees to focus on a particular sector of learning that speaks to them and their role.
3. Encourage the act of sharing knowledge.
Everyone on your team can learn from each other. You can learn from them, and they can learn from you. Every staff member has gained experience and knowledge from their specific role, and an organic way of upskilling is encouraging employees to share what they’ve learned from each other, with each other. You can also share your own knowledge and insights related to pharmacy management during this time.
4. Lead the way.
True leaders understand how to lead by example. In order to stress the importance of upskilling, take the time to do it yourself and show your staff that it’s worthwhile.
5. Promote a culture of learning.
Create an environment where your team members feel free to ask questions, and more experienced people take the time to answer those questions in a detailed and thoughtful way. To encourage this work environment, you can match up junior staff members with senior employees in a mentee/mentor relationship.
6. Make upskilling manageable.
It’s unlikely that every member of your staff learns in the same manner. Change up the way that you teach upskilling by breaking it up to brief exchanges at certain times of the day or the week, because training doesn’t always sink in when it’s given in a lecture environment where employees have to sit and listen for hours.
