Layered Pharmacy Leadership
Blogs
- 5/2/2023
Can you selectively diversify your pharmacy day job?
For the past five years my work portfolio has been a mix of corporate and independent pharmacy work. I have a day job at a corporate pharmacy as a practising pharmacist/pharmacy manager that I spend close to 40 hours per week at and own two pharmacies well outside of the trading area to avoid any conflict of interest. - 4/25/2023
Is your mental chatter about pharmacy your worst enemy?
If anyone wrote down the negative thoughts that go through the minds of pharmacy people, it would alarm you (and a psychiatrist). Trust me. - 4/18/2023
How to deal with the mental aftermath of confrontation
Leaders must be prepared to put their bulletproof vest on and own it. To process the time-waster’s feedback, remember that the issue is not a reflection on you, but a reflection on a set of circumstances that you were a part in building. Those circumstances are unpredictable and often are tasks that others do not have the guts to take on. - 4/8/2023
Update: Pharmacists and minor ailments. Howzit going?
At the stroke of 2023, Ontario pharmacists were capable of initiating prescription medications without patients seeing a prescriber beforehand. It is a major solution to a major ailment plaguing a complex and congested healthcare system. - 4/4/2023
The important difference between two types of feedback in pharmacy and what to do with them
We get a call in the pharmacy asking if we have a drug. The busy pharmacy assistant checks our software that tells them we have what they are looking for. Two hours later, a patient enters with a prescription and we realize the software inventory is off and we don’t have any physical drug. - 3/21/2023
What is Layered Leadership (and why should you care as a pharmacist)?
Bold prediction: Pharmacists will grow in medical responsibility and clinical expertise. But while complexity (and exhaustion) increase, who will take care of the pharmacists? - 3/14/2023
Mature pharmacy teams know how to lose together
The simplest way to obtain buy-up is togetherness. A team matures when they are united and have each other to follow. During turmoil, if they win as a team no one overstays their welcome by taking too much glory. If they lose as a team, no steps out of line because they understand it was a collective loss. - 3/7/2023
Newbie to pro: are you good enough at something to need a coach?
Whether you like it or not, optically you are the expert. Your words and actions drive behaviour change and it is up to you to provide the feedback that allows staff to navigate their own individual mastery curves. - 2/28/2023
Why triathlon makes me a better pharmacist
To be a better pharmacist, unmask new success by committing to your obsessions and unleashing your inner badass. - 2/21/2023
Pinballs: Do your decisions as a pharmacy boss invite customer agony?
Decisions are like pinballs. They bring downstream side-effects in both predictable and unpredictable ways. Some pinballs change the internal (staff) environment while others change the external (customer) environment. Great leaders understand the difference and get ahead of them in the right places. - 2/14/2023
Are you the James Bond of pharmacy or just another average labcoat?
The ‘complete retail pharmacy experience’ has a way of bringing out the pharm-grumpies. But take heart, there is an antidote. Not a pill (or a suppository like you were thinking – yes, you were), but it does involve looking inside and doing a little pharmacist-introspection. - 2/6/2023
Pharmacy leaders build pipelines
Leaders build pipelines. They manage the future by thinking ahead while still managing the day. They forecast, they calculate, they design without allowing the anxiety of the unknown to take over. Always preparing for the next sequence greatly improves the chances of being ready to capitalize when that sequence happens.