The Pharmacy Business Advice Blog

{Pharmacy Employee Management} The Power of Defining Your Staff's Critical Drivers

How often do you take the time to work on your business instead of in your business? You know.. behind the counter as the pharmacist? As the pharmacy owner, your number one job is to maintain the culture of your business and inspiring your team to produce the results you crave. However, are you designing a performance-based culture? Or a pharmacy that just barely scrapes by?

To insure your team is meeting your expectations and actually obtaining a ROI, it is important define each positions’ critical drivers. Critical drivers are vital because they paint a clear pictures of what’s expected out of your employees. They inform the entire team of whats to be expected, the tasks at hand, and how they contribute to the overall success of the business.

Otherwise, how are they supposed to know what's expected of them? You may verbalize it, but writing down their critical drivers sets it in stone and creates an agreement amongst the owner and pharmacy staff. 

While each position should have defined critical drivers, we will start with the pharmacy technician as they play one of the most important roles in the pharmacy. Thinking about the activities they do that impact the business’s bottom line, here’s what one of our pharmacy's believes to be the critical drivers for a technician: 

Make outstanding impressions/customer interaction

• Customer retention
• Always smiling
• Handle complaints in a caring and efficient manner
• Professional demeanor
• Courteous, prompt, accurate

Greet/Acknowledge each customer as soon as they reach the pharmacy counter or drive-up

• 7 second rule
• Answers phone on third ring
• Accountability
• Always smile
• Prompt and friendly service

Accuracy in filling prescriptions

• Eliminates rework
• Perceives problem, alerts pharmacist, resolves problem
• Correctly reads prescription, understands physicians intent, processes prescription in a timely manner
• Supports all basic work flow standards
• Files prescriptions daily
• Works well with team and maintains work flow
• Fills SP200
• Flexibility
• Demonstrates Teamwork
• Exercises initiative
• Accepts change

Again, having the critical drivers written down and agreed upon is key. What are we missing? What else can we add to the list of critical drivers for the pharmacy technician?