There have been few moments throughout history that have placed the same degree of pressure on the healthcare landscape for the current generation. Hospitals and clinics are overrun, researchers have been working at greater speeds, and teams have been struggling to innovate constantly.
Everyone involved with the healthcare industry, from medical device consultants to product specialists, struggles to keep their head above water. The question for leaders is, how do you motivate, guide, and empower your team in these difficult times?
Even as the world continues to look towards opportunities to reduce restrictions and re-enter normalcy, medical device innovators have a long road ahead.
Let’s explore what leaders can do to survive and thrive going forward.
Step 1: Be The Leader Who Epitomises Resilience
As a leader in your team, employees will be looking at you for guidance and insight. If you seem overwhelmed, uncertain, or stressed, this will naturally rub off on your team too.
The best leaders will need to discover their inner grit and resilience to maintain a positive atmosphere during difficult times.
Look at how you can strengthen your leadership potential before you start working on your team. If you need to invest in extra training and guidance for yourself, this is the time to do it. For instance, if you’re asking your medical device technicians to give demonstrations over a video call, you’ll need to make sure you’re confident with the technology first.
Commit to strengthening any of your abilities or knowledge areas that might be helpful in the months and years ahead. During this time, don’t be afraid to delegate more of the tasks you can’t handle in your own time to your colleagues. In this uncertain time, everyone expects to be working more cohesively as a group to thrive.
Step 2: Be Empathetic With All Your Team
Empathy and emotional intelligence are becoming increasingly important to building an excellent pharma team. Now that “company culture” is a driving factor for employees determining who they want to work for (or with), leaders need to show they can understand the feelings of their team.
Leaders who demonstrate empathy foster better commitment and effort from their staff. With that in mind, look for ways to remind your staff you are thinking of them, for instance:
- Stay in touch: Regularly check in with team members. Even if your staff are travelling to different locations and cannot join in office conversations, you can still set up regular phone calls, video meetings and conferencing sessions to check in.
- Ask questions: Talk to your employees about how they are doing and ask them for feedback on how you can help them achieve more. You might discover that your staff needs more guidance when selling products in a digital environment. Perhaps your team could benefit from some training not related to work, like tips on how to destress.
- Empower people: Give people the power to make some of their own decisions. For instance, allow people to change their schedule if they need to address personal issues and work remotely. This extra freedom will show your staff you understand that their needs are changing in the current landscape.
Step 3: Always Be Transparent Open and Share What is Happening
Although it is important to maintain a positive attitude when motivating your team members, this does not mean hiding important facts or data. Sometimes leaders avoid sharing too much because they’re unsure how their employees will feel about certain information, but it’s better to be open and talk things through with your team.
If you’re planning on investing in new medical devices for your employees to sell, but you’re not sure when this will happen, tell your team anyway. Embracing uncertainty is fine in some cases because it shows your team that you are all working on the same page.
It is also helpful to have a system in place for regularly delivering updates and new information to team members whenever you can. This could mean sending out a weekly news bulletin or newsletter to all employees, whether they are working remotely or visiting the office. This will help your team to feel as though they have a solid grip on their career and where it is heading.
Ensure you have an environment where employees can send in questions and approach you about their concerns if they have any.
Step 4: Invest in Training and Coaching Your Team Consistently
Finally, remember that the changing landscape will change a lot of things for your employees from now on. Team members might need to get used to prospecting more medical device purchasing leads on social media or having conversations with clients online. People working with clients in a physical environment may need extra training to ensure they remain safe in a post-pandemic world.
Sit down with other leaders in your team and ask yourself what kind of coaching opportunities will be necessary for your people. Don’t just look at things that are going to help your employees survive right now. Consider training options that might make sense to make team members more productive in the future. For instance, maybe you could provide training on new sales techniques and pitches responding to clients’ concerns after COVID-19.
Depending on the nature of your business, it might be helpful to sit with each member of staff and ask for insights into the kind of support they feel they need most. Your team will have the best view of the challenges they are facing right now and how they can deal with them.
Step 5: Empower Your Team for Difficult Times
Every industry is facing a new set of challenges right now.
The healthcare devices and life sciences environment are under more pressure than most to respond faster to increased demands and new processes. This means it is time to think more carefully about how you can strengthen your team for business leaders.
What Next?
If you are looking for your next health care role or want to build your talent pipeline and want our help, contact our team on +971 (0)4 442 0921 or via email here to find out more about how our expert team of recruiters can enhance your medical device business starting today.
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How Kinetic Can Help
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If you need help sourcing the best candidates for your pharmaceutical or medical device organisation who will help drive your business forward this year, contact us today.