Admin teams within practices tend to be small. That is, of course, unless you’re part of a ‘super practice’. But for most, it’s a small, intimate working environment, where everybody is an important cog in a practice’s engine room.

When working in small teams staff get to know each other well – which makes them sensitive to every change of mood, output and motivation – and the latter in particular is a dangerous trait that requires careful management.

As has been discussed on the Practice Index Forum recently, the poor attitude of one member of staff can damage the morale of other staff members or, worse still, spread like a disease.

So what can you do to prevent the spread of poor morale and, to put it politely, re-engage demotivated staff? Here are a few top tips:

Communicate

If a member of your team is underperforming, face the problem head on. Call a formal meeting, sit down with said staff member and constructively discuss what’s going on, constantly reminding the employee of the important role they play in the business. The HR professionals we spoke to when compiling this article said that in most cases, there’ll be a reason why they are underperforming; it could be because of personal issues, unreachable targets or perhaps, they’re struggling with some part of their job.

You’ll never know unless you ask and this conversation will give you an opportunity to help those who are genuinely struggling – but should also give those inherently lazy employees the kick up the backside they need to get back on track.

Also, don’t limit conversations to the one member of staff. Sit down with everybody, just in case there’s an underlying problem affecting everyone.

Keep it going

Don’t let that meeting be a one-off. Provide employees with communication channels. Schedule meetings for employees to discuss projects and problems. Allow workers to freely suggest solutions from their ground-up vantage points. Show them you take their issues and proposals seriously by finding ways to implement workable ideas.

Feedback

Provide regular performance feedback. Meet with teams and with individual employees to review projects and to evaluate individual performances. It can also pay to provide objective assessments, telling your staff what they do well and what they can improve.

Lead by example

An interesting response to the thread on the Practice Index Forum read: “We have policies and procedures a-plenty but for us NOTHING beats bums on seats time amongst staff while they’re doing their job. Nobody can complain if they see you doing what they should do and clearly showing them an example.

“I also found keeping a few hours flexi-time to appear unannounced alongside them worked well. Everything we do is for the good of the patient and therefore the practice. You’re the manager and there’s nothing wrong with a little coaching/explaining as you go. Eventually you’ll get to the point where peers who are making the effort won’t stand for poor attitudes from their colleague/s and you’ll have their support should you need to warn/dismiss them.”

Can’t do or won’t do?

Another reply on the forum post suggested the need for a ‘capability policy’? “There’s a difference between ‘can’t do’ and ‘won’t do’,” the contributor said. “If you identify areas for development and offer training/mentorship etc. and performance still doesn’t improve you could demonstrate a lack of capability to do the job? You would need the support of the partners and you would have to treat everyone equally, so perhaps you could do a skills matrix to identify development areas for the whole team, really important skills being customer service and working as part of a team.”

Set objectives

Could your demotivated employee simply be lacking direction? Some people work better when they’re set strict targets – not everybody can or wants to work under their own initiative. Without some kind of guidance and structure, some employees can get left with piles and piles of projects to finish, without knowing which one is the priority. Agreeing on targets and prioritising workloads with your employees will really make them much more accountable – and your lazy employees won’t have anywhere to hide!

Provide the right tools

Give employees the tools they need to do their jobs with as much ease as possible. Provide on-site and off-site training to keep workers up-to-date on advances in their areas.

Think about the job

By its nature, a lot of practice work can become repetitive and boring, so consider how the more mundane work is allocated. And then think about working practices, document workflows etc. to see if anything can be improved.

A recent survey by technology firm Sharp found that motivation was at a low within UK workplaces. When asked why they described their office in this way, a third blamed outdated and frustrating ways of working (35%), while a quarter said that too long is spent on boring admin tasks (24%) and 23% that everyone communicates over email, instead of talking.

Technology in the workplace was also identified as a major pain point, with just over half (51%) of respondents saying it is restrictive and limiting. The average UK worker was found to get frustrated at their office tech three times a day, or 16 times over a working week – driving 32% to pretend something was broken so they could avoid using it, and 41% to use their personal devices instead. Is this an area you could fix?

Enough is enough

There’s only so much you can do to motivate your employees and, sometimes, you’ve just got to admit that you have a bad egg. If the rest of your team are performing well and seem happy and engaged, but one employee is trailing behind, and you’ve been through the measures listed above, it’s probably time to make a change. That will, of course, require buy-in from partners, which is whole other story!

How have you dealt with underperforming, demotivated, complacent staff? Let us know by commenting below or in the forum thread here. 

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