Dear Friends,
The previous issue with Dhiren Vyas as Guest Editor received a tremendous response from the readers - both for the contents and the presentation. Thanks a lot for this overwhelming positive feedback. This is sufficient source of encouragement.
Intelligent first-line managers always realize the importance of retaining the best medical representatives in their team. Retention has never been so important in the Indian pharma industry as it is today. There is no dearth of opportunities for the best in the business - or for that matter even for the runners-up and those in the third place.
In an intensely competitive environment, where placement agencies are poaching on people, organizations can either hold on to their employees tight or lose them to competition. For gone are the days, when employees would stick to an employer for years for want of a better choice. Now, opportunities abound.
In Volume I, Issue XII, Dhiren Vyas discusses the steps to reduce attrition in a pragmatic manner.
With warm regards,
Vivek Hattangadi
079-26601479 / 9376100041
High Attrition – Challenge to Sales Managers – Part II
By: Dhiren Vyas
"People leave managers, not companies” write Marcus Buckingham and Curt Coffman in their book ‘First, Break All the Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently’. This book was the outcome of interviews by these authors on a million workers and 80000 managers.
We, the first-line managers have to take accountability for the high rate of attrition of medical representatives in our pharma industry. A survey published in CiteHR has revealed that next to compensation (54%) it is the supervisor and line managers (38%) who are responsible for people to change their jobs. The remaining 8% reasons include personal reasons, family issues, location preference, company brand and peer relationships, employees are not self-motivated to leave the company they are working in. (Reference: http://www.citehr.com/102931-who-responsible-attrition.html).
The major responsibility of retaining people is therefore on the shoulders of the First line manager. The earlier generation First-line managers have exhibited this. When medical representatives consider their immediate manager as a friend, philosopher and guide why would one leave him? This could have been one of the reasons for longevity in organizations.
Being an effective First-line manager is all about knowing ourselves and our medical representatives and understanding the perceptions of our team members. Empathy is a prerequisite to provide self motivation. Daniel Goleman popularized it as Emotional Intelligence at the work place.
Daniel Goleman in his book ‘Emotional intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ’ defines Emotional Intelligence (EI) as the ability to perceive, control and evaluate emotions. It is a concept that captures emotional competencies. People with high EI have the ability to understand his own emotions and also the emotions of his colleagues at the workplace to create a pleasant work environment. EI is an essential ingredient of life success and happiness. Emotional Quotient (EQ) is a measurement of a person’s EI.
Five Ways to Create a High EQ to Reduce Attrition |
Emotionally secure medical representatives are your biggest assets. Make them feel wanted; give them the respect they deserve. Tell them how much you value them and how much the company values them. Acknowledge their contribution on public platforms and they will not change jobs for a meager salary rise. A word of caution, do not cry on the shoulders of your medical representatives. You lose respect and credibility. |
Compensation plays an important role in forming a just and fair environment at the workplace. Medical representatives look towards you for fair appraisals and increments. Effective appraisals after every joint field work will let them know their strengths and weaknesses. The increments at the end of the year will not come as a shock. Money might not be the sole motivator for work but fair compensation is more important. |
It is always good to motivate people to better themselves, but extremes can hurt. While easy goals can demotivate intelligent people, impossible goals will put them off. Give SMART Goals (i.e. goals which are specific, measurable, achievable with extra efforts, realistic and time-bound) after every joint field work. Impractical targets create an unhealthy environment and people tend to blame others if they are not able to achieve them. There is burnout and even good performers start losing confidence. In the long run, this can be disastrous toward people retention. |
Communicating feedback by empathizing and understanding the emotional needs of medical representatives is one of the key challenges faced by First-line managers today. The first step is to understand your situation and that of medical representatives. Then find the common ground. Then build rapport. While giving feedback, ensure confidentiality and create a win-win situation. |
Develop a sense of common responsibility in achieving goals. When a task has been executed successfully, attribute it to the medical representative, and not to yourself. The same goes for failures. If the task fails, take the blame on yourself. |
You are now ready to retain the right people.
A word of caution: after reading this article, in your enthusiasm to retain people, do not hold on to the wrong people. A little bit of attrition always helps. Unwanted baggage needs to be dumped off. Wrong people may demotivate the performers. Saying good-bye to perpetual non-performers or those with shady honesty and integrity can help you become stronger with the infusion of new talent into your team.
