Motivating staff to do CPD
What do you understand about the term “development” when we talk about CPD?
Pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are foremost people and are professionals second to
this. Pharmacy staff (like other professionals) have a busy personal life as well as a
professional one.
The future of the profession can be considered to be the same as the future of the
individuals within it. This suggests that surely CPD should be about developing the whole
person, helping them to develop life skills that are useful both at work and outside of work?
If CPD is not seen as being about developing the person and is only seen as a way of
achieving work based objectives, is there a risk that more pharmacists and pharmacy
technicians will leave the profession because as CPD Facilitators, we are unable to tap into
the key drivers for their motivation to stay in it?
People are initially motivated to become a pharmacist or pharmacy technician when they join
the profession and they need to be looked after to ensure they want to stay.
The focus of CPD to date
Has CPD been too focused on giving people a way to learn rather than a reason to learn?
The use of a too rigid framework can stifle creativity, hence the term “drills kill skills” and we
need to ensure CPD doesn’t have this effect. There has been a lot of resistance to the way in
which the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has asked pharmacists to record their
CPD. Many people feel that the current framework for recording is too rigid.
To what extent does the GPhC CPD recording system encourage reflection?
Some people may feel that the skill and benefits of reflection have been glossed over within
the Plan and Record CPD recording format because the only two questions which relate to
reflection are:
• “What do you want to learn to be able to do?”
• “Describe how you identified this need”
We know that nurses and dieticians for example engage in much deeper reflection than
pharmacists and pharmacy technicians are currently encouraged to do. Many people find it
useful to engage in deep reflection and record this for future reference.
How can the CPD Facilitator help in this situation?
Encourage pharmacy staff to use Plan and Record system flexibly to suit their learning style.
Whilst the boxes for answers to each question appear quite small, encourage staff to record
as much detail that they feel is appropriate for them.
Remind staff that a CPD entry does not have to be written up all at once. It is much better to
record each part of the cycle as events unfold rather than leaving the recording until the
cycle is completed.
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Therefore, if a significant event happens but the individual has not identified a learning and
development need immediately, remind the individual that this might happen sometime in
the future.
A detailed description of the event recorded in the reflection stage of the CPD cycle will
ensure important details are not forgotten when you look at the event later on.
Is there too much emphasis on asking pharmacy staff to think about the
importance of their learning on others rather than thinking about the benefits of
their learning to themselves?
Plan and Record asks us to think about the importance of our learning on colleagues, the
organisation and service users as well as ourselves within the planning stage.
Perhaps the way in which Plan and Record asks us questions does not put enough emphasis
on personal development.
Maybe as CPD Facilitators, we can sell the benefits of CPD in terms of personal benefits and
use this to encourage those who have not yet started to engage in CPD rather than
threatening them with GPhC statutory CPD requirements.
Motivation.
The pharmacy profession does need empowered, motivated and engaged people to use their
pharmaceutical knowledge and skills to help others and improve patient care.
What is motivation?
It can be defined as the psychological feature that arouses an individual to a
desired goal. (www.dictionary.com)
Motivation comes from:
• Values
• Attitudes
• Drives
Values- emotionally charged beliefs acquired through interaction with others. Very difficult to
change
Attitudes- A state of mind or a feeling; disposition, www.dictionary.com
Attitudes are more specific than values.
There is no clear association between attitude and behaviour e.g. an individual may have a
positive attitude to CPD, understand and appreciate the benefits of CPD and be enthusiastic
about starting to engage, but when you meet with them for a facilitation session, you find
that they haven’t started recording anything!!!
This example of a positive attitude associated with a less positive outcome of behaviour is
described as code-shifting behaviour.
Attitudes are easier to influence than values.
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How do you change an attitude?
It requires giving people information or helping people develop new skills.
E.g. attitude to CPD may change when shown how to record reflection, or may be influenced
by the idea of improved job satisfaction and hence the individual thinking CPD is useful.
So that is what motivation is.
What motivates people?
There are a number of motivational theories around. There are of course the more
traditional motivation strategies e.g. KITA.
KITA Motivation Strategies
KITA stands for Kick In The Ass (Ar*e!)
The granddaddy of motivation theory, Frederick Herzberg used the analogy of a dog to
describe what he meant by KITA strategies. When the master wants his dog to move, he
either gives it a nudge from behind, in which case the dog moves because it doesn’t have
much choice
or
he offers it a treat as an inducement, in which case it is not so much motivated by wanting
to move as by wanting chocolate drops! KITA does the job but it’s hard work. It means every
time you want the dog to move, you have to kick it (metaphorically speaking).
Wouldn’t it be better if the dog wanted to move by itself? Transferring this principle back into
the workplace, most motivation strategies are “push” or “pull” based.
They are about keeping people moving either with a kick from behind (threats, fear, tough
targets, complicated systems to check people follow a procedure etc.) or by offering
chocolate drops (bonuses, grand presentations of the vision, conferences, campaigns,
initiatives etc)
Motivating Others
Ultimately, motivation must come from within each person. No one person is ever the single
and continuing source of motivation for another person. Whilst encouragement, support,
inspiration and leading by example will at times motivate followers, the facilitator’s greatest
role in motivating is to recognise people for who they are and to help them find their own
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way forward by making best use of their own strengths and abilities. In this way,
achievement, development and recognition will all come quite naturally to the person and it
is these things which are the true fuels of personal motivation.
“I'm slowly becoming a convert to the principle that you can't motivate people to do things,
you can only demotivate them. The primary job of the manager is not to empower but to
remove obstacles” Scott Adams, US cartoonist, author (b.1957)
"In everyone's life, at some time, our inner fire goes out. It is then burst into flames by an
encounter with another human being. We should all be thankful for those people who
rekindle the inner spirit." Albert Schweitzer, Alsatian theologian (1875-1965)
'Wheelbarrow Management' or 'Wheelbarrow Culture' - people only work when pushed, and
are easily upset (as described by certain managers, who probably have only themselves to
blame.
Herzberg’s two-factor theory of Motivation
Hygiene Factors
Motivators
Salary and Benefits
Basic Income, holiday entitlement etc
Working Conditions
Working
hours,
workplace
layout,
facilities, equipment
Company Policy
Rules and regulations, formal and
informal
Status
Rank, authority, relationship to others
reflecting acceptance by others
Achievement
Reaching or exceeding objectives
Recognition
Acknowledgement of achievement by
others enhances self esteem
Job Interest
A task that provides positive, satisfying
pleasure
Responsibility
Exercising authority, leadership, risktaking, decision-making and self direction
raise self esteem
Advancement
Promotion, progress and rising rewards
for achievement and the feeling that
advancement is possible
Job Security
Supervision and Autonomy
Extent of control individual has over
content and execution of job
Office Life
Interpersonal relationships
Personal Life
Herzberg’s theory is that if any of the factors in the column marked hygiene factors are not
met, this leads to demotivation. However, when these factors are met, this does not
necessarily lead to motivation.
Put another way, meeting the hygiene factors does not make an individual satisfied. It
means that an individual becomes unhappy when the hygiene factors are not met. E.g. If an
individual thinks they are not being paid enough, a pay rise may stop the individual from
being unhappy, but not necessarily lead to the individual feeling more motivated at work.
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Herzberg also used the analogy of a rocket and launch pad to explain his motivation theory.
Hygiene factors can be considered as merely a launch pad. When these are damaged or
undermined, we have no platform to launch the rocket and reach our personal goals.
Hygiene factors in themselves do not motivate.
Hygiene factors should be addressed to stop someone from doing something e.g. Consider a
member of staff complaining that they were being treated unfairly because they were not
given protected time to do CPD whilst other colleagues within the department were given
this time by their line managers.
To resolve the situation, you might decide to develop a CPD support strategy (which relates
to the hygiene factors of company policy and administration) which clarifies the issue around
protected time for CPD. This may stop the individual from complaining further. However, this
will not necessarily motivate the individual to engage in CPD. It simply means that the
individual will be less unhappy about the issue of protected time for CPD.
Motivators, when met, lead to satisfaction and pleasure and provide encouragement to
engage further. Motivators need to be addressed when you want someone to do something
such as starting to record their CPD.
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How can this theory be used by CPD Facilitators?
Engaging in CPD can help an individual to reach or achieve objectives. “Achievement” is a
powerful motivator. This in turn can lead to:
• Recognition
• Increased responsibility
• Advancement
• Job interest
Selling the benefits of CPD by linking them with the above factors may motivate individuals
to engage. However, we cannot forget that meeting hygiene factors is still very important. If
an individual is working in poor conditions or is experiencing conflict with another member of
staff, they may not be ready to move on and focus on things that will develop them.
In summary:
It could be argued that to ensure people want to stay in the profession of pharmacy, there
should be no distinction between personal and professional development. Maybe one way of
looking at CPD is to describe it as Continuous Personal Development of which Professional
Development is really a subset?
A possible role of the CPD Facilitator is to help their staff to see CPD as a reason to learn
rather than a way of learning and this may help those who have not already done so to
engage in CPD.
Page 3 of the handout shows a copy of the Rocket and Launch Pad diagram with blank
spaces for the hygiene factors and additional boxes next to the motivational factors on the
rocket. This form can be used by CPD Facilitators to help them motivate staff who have yet
to engage in CPD and begin recording. The form can be used as follows:
•
•
•
CPD Facilitators can ask a member of staff to reflect upon factors that would demotivate
them to engage in CPD if they were not met and record these in the boxes under
“hygiene” (or maintenance) factors of the rocket launch pad diagram
Then for each of the words on the rocket, the CPD Facilitator can ask the member of
staff to think about what it means to them e.g. advancement could mean career
progression to them or meeting the subset or full KSF outline for their role etc.
Next, the CPD Facilitator can ask the member of staff to think about how they can
prevent the hygiene factors from demotivating them and what needs to happen to
achieve their motivators and launch their rocket
Page 4 of the handout lists possible hygiene factors staff may come up with, along with
possible themes individuals may associate with motivational factors. This list is not
exhaustive and members of staff may come up with different ideas. This is to be expected as
we are all motivated and demotivated by different things and this handout is intended to be
used as a prompt to encourage further reflection.
Below are some discussion points that relate to each of the hygiene factors:
AfC Banding- if an individual is banded lower than they feel they should be, this may
demotivate them to do CPD. However, to what extent will being placed in the correct band
motivate them to do CPD?
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Gateways- If an individual is at the top of their band and have passed the 2nd gateway,
they may not be motivated to develop as they can’t see any progression. However,
continuing with CPD may further develop their knowledge and skills to start meeting the KSF
outline for a job in the band above theirs and help them to achieve personal growth,
achievement etc.
GPhC = Big Brother- If the GPhC stopped monitoring CPD, would this motivate individuals
to do CPD?
Payment- Would individuals do CPD in their own time if they were paid to do it? Many of
those who have been given protected time don’t engage in CPD any more than those who
have no protected time
Plan and Record too rigid- If individuals were able to use their own system for recording
CPD, to what extent would this motivate them to record CPD?
I have to do CPD rather than having a choice- People are more motivated to do
something they choose rather than something that is forced upon them. Individuals should
find a reason to do CPD by looking at the motivating factors on the rocket and thinking
about how to prevent lack of hygiene factors from demotivating them.
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