Are you the ‘do-er’ or the ‘thinker’ in your dispensary?

What if I told you the difference in your pharmacy manager type would predict your longevity in the profession? Listen to my comparison of these two pharmacists: Raph vs Leo. Which are you?

The Do-er is a manager that is constantly putting gout fires. They work extremely hard in a reactive and error-prone dispensary that delivers good results with that take Herculean effort. When this manager is away, there is usually a blast radius. Since this manager is forced to spend a lion’s share of their time on technical duties to keep things rolling, there is a lack of calculated, analytical, big picture succession planning and people development. Wait times are long, essential systems like inventory management cause trouble, patients make frequent low-value visits to the pharmacy and the staff spend way more time fixing problems than preventing them. Some of the customer complaints and stresses of the day are self-inflicted, but not seen this way due to a lack of awareness.

The Do-er is often less job satisfied, of shorter duration in one pharmacy site and less motivated to take on life-benefiting after work extracurriculars.

The Thinker behaves more like a shareholder. While capable of the heavy lifting, they avoid a large part of it not because they are better than others or lazy, but because they understand the essential principle that they need to expend energy on the overall strategy. In their pharmacies, which have a defined culture and operate proactively instead of reactively, patients make less frequent, high-quality visits. Customer complaints are de-escalated immediately and systematically and staff feel engaged as decision makers.

The Thinker appreciates that the overall vision is the hardest part of managing a pharmacy and that not everyone can do this.  When the ultimate decision maker is awarded time to think, the overall operation is more seamless and sustainable for its patients, more resilient to industry pressures and more profitable for reinvestment back into its community.

Don’t know where to start?

The fundamentals of pharmacy are the same across all pharmacies; so zoom out and simplify by planning your play, then playing your plan. You will be surprised at how this first step opens doors to understanding so many other tangible components of your operation.

Step 1: Make a list of repetitive tasks in your dispensary.

Step 2: Isolate which days of the week they should be done and who should do them.

Step 3: Let staff create on that backbone and make it better. 

Step 4: Press go and let that song play over and over, without you, fine-tuning along the way. Then go think about something else; that's your job. A job only you can do.

At work we use my automation kit for a weekly and monthly fillable PDF with all the formatting already completed. They can be saved to your computer, typed directly into or print them and handwrite for brainstorming. Give the staff 24 hours to add in their thoughts. Then prioritize, argue and post a final version. You will be surprised at how this first step opens doors to understanding so many other tangible components of your operation.

For deeper insight, discover what they don’t teach us in pharmacy school with the Labcoat to Leader course