Pharmacy U news

On the way to improving your bottom line, workplace experts, pharmacy owner/operators and others say employee empowerment increases productivity, improves integrity and customer service, provides for better inventory turns and control, and helps attract better employees.

It started Friday when I was honoured to moderate the Alberta Pharmacists’ Association (RxA) Spring PD Event. I was fortunate to moderate the same event one year earlier. So, in preparation for this year, I reviewed my opening comments from 2021. I was shocked to read my notes from only one year ago.

Many a business owner, softened by success, runs into difficulty in tough economic times because he or she has not laid a strong foundation for long-term growth.

We need to recognize this lesson of the wood stove, because it gives us a tremendous clue for our leadership. We need to operate on the cause end of the law of cause and effect. What does that look like? It looks like adding value to the patients we serve. That often includes adding value to the teams that we serve on so that, as a whole, our teams can add more value to the patients we serve.

We have been through a lot in pharmacy, even before the global pandemic (and toilet paper!) challenges played havoc. So, if you are feeling a little jaded, no one blames you. But you will be the only one capable of pulling yourself out of that rubble and back to the motivating days you felt when you graduated. It is time for a reset and only you can do it.

They're worth their weight in gold: those loyal, experienced employees who add so much to your pharmacy's success. They're often the ones who answer customers' questions, find products on the shelf, and help make your pharmacy more than just another drugstore.

To increase or at least maintain profits in a difficult economic environment, business owners must improve positive inputs and reduce the negatives. To manage this dilemma in the best way possible, you can take several measures to optimize the outcome while the business climate goes through a so-called recession.

I have heard some claim that we are now in the Age of Insight. The age where we take the information available to us and then find ways to apply it in such a way as to deliver a benefit. In keeping with the theme of the last several articles, we would call this delivering “value.”