For the multi-faceted, multi-tasking, multi-skilled practice manager, life as a practice manager is something of a rollercoaster ride. One minute you’ll be dealing with the finances, the next preparing for the latest round of appraisals or getting your team ready for the next CQC inspection. Then, just when you think you’re on top of everything, an aggressive patient needs to be dealt with – or worse still, a global pandemic turns your world upside down!

Throw in the rest of the ‘usual’ practice manager duties around staff morale and generally holding up the practice and it’s clear that the one-stop shop of a practice manager will bring numerous different skills into play each and every day. But what about the rest of the practice staff? Are you underutilising their skills? What other tricks have they got up their sleeves that can be brought into play for the good of the practice?

For example, as we reported in our blog, Coping with the pressures of COVID-19, many members of staff have been utilising additional talents for the good of the practice and its patients in response to the coronavirus crisis.

“We’ve got some team members who have gone the extra mile and brought to the fore skills we hadn’t been using before,” one PM told us. “They’ve written ‘how-to’ sheets to help patients get to grips with remote consultations and have even helped individuals get online through phone calls. It has been fabulous to see.”

Extracting the full range of skills from an individual is clearly of benefit. According to a report on by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), workers who better use their skills are more likely to have greater job satisfaction and are more prepared to adapt to changes in the nature of work. Employers benefit from a more productive and innovative workforce, enabling them to maximise business performance and profitability.

But what does this mean in reality for practice managers?

Focusing on the administrative function of the practice, rather than the clinical side for which there are plenty of studies – usually centred around the ‘new professional roles’ such as advanced practitioners, physician associates and practice pharmacists – it’s clear that teamworking is fundamental to the future of general practice.

“As part of a management training course I went on, loads of time was spent analysing skills gaps,” one PM explained. “When I stopped to think about those gaps and my team – we’re a relatively large practice with a 35-strong admin team – I started to realise that many of those gaps could easily be filled by making better use of existing talents.

“This included simple things like better use of social media – one of my receptionists used to work as a marketing executive so knew a thing or two about it – through to overhauling our systems and software – a part-time admin assistant used to be a business analyst and had experience in this area. Finally, a younger member of the team – of course! – helped us adopt Microsoft Teams for remote working and Zoom for meetings, based on their own experience of attending remote university lectures and catching up online with friends. The skills exist if you know what you’re looking for.”

Two-way approach

Whether your team members have specific industry-related qualifications, whether they have topped up their education with an online course, or whether they simply have natural abilities that could prove useful, ensuring that these skills are put to use is key to improving motivation and boosting productivity. Having spoken to several practice managers about this, it appears the first place is look at both the skills needed – and the skills in your workforce – in a two-way approach.

“The first step to utilising the potential in your workforce is to identify the precise skills that each of your employees possesses”, one PM we talked to explained. “We listed each employee together with their role in the practice, marked down the skills that we thought they could offer – and then asked the employee to independently list down the skills they thought they could bring to the table. This gave us a true, honest picture, and it was amazing to see the differences in opinion.

“Having already created a list of must-have and nice-to-have skills for the practice, were able to empower people to better use a mix of skills – talents is what I prefer to call them – to fill the gaps. A year or so on, despite everything that’s going on, we have a very happy workforce.”

Another PM points to the fact that this whole conversation makes people feel valued and highlights any areas where training is required.

“It’s important for us, as managers, to give our ‘people’ the chance to voice their own opinions about their own skill set. In which areas do they feel that they excel, and in which others could they benefit from more support or training? By communicating with staff in this way, you can obtain the most accurate picture of each employee’s qualities. Practice life is tough, and this goes a long way to keeping people happy and motivated.

“I discovered that some staff members were lacking certain skills in a particular field, so I used it as an opportunity to offer additional training, which has definitely boosted motivation.”

Finally, another interesting point made by a PM suggests that skills and interests shouldn’t be confined to the working day: “Skills come in all shapes and sizes. We have a practice nurse who is fanatical about running – she runs to work, she runs at weekends, she never seems to stop! She decided to set up a practice run club – where patients could join her at local parkrun events – which was a huge success (until Covid-19 closed the events down). Patients loved it, some other staff members have joined in, and GPs are behind it, encouraging patients to join in where appropriate. It’s another service we can offer to our patients, which is great.”

It’s clear from our discussions that practice staff do have untapped skills – and that practices have skills gaps. Bringing the two together therefore seems like a win-win situation!

What are your views on skills in your practice? Have you uncovered some hidden talents? What skills gaps do you need to fill? Let us know by commenting below or join the discussion on the Practice Index Forum.