Accountability and sum of our parts

Early in my career I worked with a pharmacy tech who was very much about holding others accountable. Long before electronic medication ordering from the wholesaler she would have to fill out an order form for all class two (CII) controlled substances. She would do this every other week as needed. It would require the signature of a licensed pharmacist and then get mailed to the wholesaler. Not all that complicated.

My first week on the job she handed me the CII form she had filled out. I was not yet familiar with the workflow process and wasn’t sure why she was handing it to me. Being the nice guy I am I stuck it in the envelope and out to the mailbox it went. Later that week the tech was going through the mail and there was a CII order form included. She stood in front of my desk, threw the filled-out order form at me and asked, “What the hell is wrong with you?” For those of you who know me, rarely am I speechless, but I couldn’t formulate words, let alone a sentence, to respond. She followed up with, “All you had to do was sign it. I did all the rest.”

The following week I needed to check weekly pill planners we filled for assisted living community residents. I had never done this before and wasn’t sure how to fit it in during the busy workday. I just figured I would stay after work to get it done. Shortly after we returned from lunch break (yes, we actually had a 30-minute lunch break in community pharmacy) the tech took over one of the tasks I was doing and told me to go check the pill planners. When I asked why she was doing that she replied “We are all in this together. They need checked and I can take over what you are working on.”

WOW! That was refreshing to hear. All the experience I had up to that point in time was pharmacy techs were subservient to pharmacists and did what they were told. I was quickly being trained that was not going to be the case in this working relationship, and honestly, I preferred it that way. Most days our pharmacy team consisted of 1-2 pharm techs and 1 pharmacist. We didn’t have the luxury of additional support staff to do the grunt work. I emptied trash, cleaned the bathroom, and performed various repairs throughout the pharmacy as necessary. We all did. We did what had to be done. We held each other accountable and made sure we provided the support necessary freeing up time to complete the tasks only that person could do.

Recently I have encountered some challenges with accountability of others. I do my best to communicate and training to ensure we understand the expectations. I offer up additional support to make sure the person is successful at being accountable. And yet there are still instances where I end up being disappointed when someone doesn’t follow through. I realize you can only lead the horse to water, but I am rolling out the red carpet clear up to the trough and providing a towel to wipe their mouth with after. What else should I be doing to ensure accountability?

Ultimately, each team is the sum of its parts. You can have a team full of what I refer to as “100%ers” and if you add a 50%er to the mix, it will eventually bring the 100%ers down to that level leaving you with no more 100%ers. It is our responsibility as leaders to identify the less than 100%ers and challenge them to be accountable. If this is unsuccessful then they must be removed from the team. Many of us see the turnover rate in the workforce that is currently happening. Why give your 100%ers a reason to leave when it is in your control to prevent.