Introducing my 9 Fs of leadership

If you read my previous – first! – column, I introduced the three foundational Leadership Lessons which have governed my lifelong approach to leadership and, specifically, for the 26 years I was the CEO of Pharmasave East:#1. WHAT you do is important, but HOW you do what you do is critical#2. Programs and systems don’t operate/run a business, PEOPLE do, and#3. Effective leaders must be able to make tough decisions to achieve sustainable success.These three core beliefs are integral to successfully leading any team, in literally any setting including any size pharmacy – whether you lead a team of two or three part-time employees or a staff of hundreds. Your team takes their cue from you as to how they treat patients, fellow employees…and, importantly, your expectations of their performance. The days of ‘Command and Control’ – ‘Do as I say, not as I do’ – are long gone, and thankfully so. You don’t have to be the CEO to influence the culture of your organization or store. Everyone plays a part in the establishment of the work culture; the CEO simply sets the tone and encourages similar behaviours from every team member.So, what does a CEO do? I never went to school to become a CEO.…I never doodled in class, “I want to be a CEO one day’.”.” It just happened. But why and how? Without knowing so, my first CEO ‘job’ was coaching the Aldershot Dairy Queen baseball team! Teach some fundamental skills, yes, but really, as their coach, the focus was to put the right kids in the right positions at the right time so they – and the team – could enjoy the game, win as many as we could, and go for an ice cream afterwards! It was as a kids’ baseball coach I learned the essence of leadership: enabling others to reach their full potential. I had lots of jobs before I became a CEO, in multiple retail sectors from restaurants to automotive to pharmacy. Each of those jobs and roles influenced my leadership philosophy.I’d like to introduce you to my 9 Fs of Leadership. If your hiring and retention practices are sound, you will only occasionally have to go much past the first five or six. However, successful leadership includes making tough decisions.The first four Fs are pretty much self-explanatory in that people gravitate to, and appreciate a nurturing workplace:A leader should be:#1. Friendly – not too friendly – but nobody wants to work with a grump…#2. Fun – laughter may not be the best medicine, but it sure helps!#3. Fair – this is wide-ranging; suffice to say, decisions and practices must be impartial and just, but also pass the commonsense test.#4. Follow up – people respect what you inspect – in other words, the workplace should be friendly, fun and fair but the work must get done.Those four aren’t always quite enough but, with the right people, you minimize the need for having to go to the next level:#5. Firm – when the first four don’t work a leader must reiterate expectations – in other words, be firm, but hopefully only once.#6. Also...Follow up (yup, again) – as perhaps being firm didn’t work.Remember: nothing destroys a good employee – and your culture - faster than a leader tolerating an underperforming fellow employee.#7. Firm (yup, again) – sometimes once is not enough. And, if at this point the first seven Fs haven’t worked – and it could be for many reasons – the situation demands….#8. Fear – this doesn’t mean being cruel or vindictive – anything but. But if the first seven Fs haven’t worked the employee (and their fellow employees) need to know the situation does have an expiry date - the last resort - the ninth F:#9. Freedom – for the employee and, yes, for you and the organization to cease expending energy away from more productive efforts.Hope is not a strategy. While hope is good for the soul, you can’t operate an organization on hope. The 9 Fs are integral to building and maintaining a successful business.In my next column, I’ll introduce you to a simple, but exceedingly effective Leadership Code.Until next time, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.Leadership advisor and public speaker Doug Sherman is the former CEO of Pharmasave East. Reach him at dh.sherman@outlook.com

Introducing my 9 Fs of leadership

Register for free access or login.

More Blog Posts in This Series

My top 3 leadership lessons to get started

Blog Author

Jane Auster

Related Topics