Pharmacy U news

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.

We are pharmacists. We are not lawyers. We are not real estate agents. However, that does not mean we are void of negotiating. Whether we are explaining a co-pay to a patient, signing an agreement with an employer, buying a pharmacy or making a staff schedule, there are parts of the pharmacist’s day where we just have to pull up our pants and negotiate.

Earlier in my career, I served on a team that was to develop new revenue streams for our pharmacies. Anything that was not traditional dispensing was labelled “clinical” and given to our team to work through. In those days, we set out to participate in as many of these projects as possible.

For decades, pharmacists have been listed among the most trusted professionals. That trust comes from character. It comes from heart. It comes from having access to all sorts of powerful tools (medications) and making sure they are used to their greatest benefit!

When I realized that patients want and expect their medication experts to guide many of their choices, I began putting effort into developing workflow that would reduce the number of times patients visited or called for interactions that did not require the pharmacist.

Full disclosure: I am not now, nor was I ever, a pharmacist. But as they say: ‘some of my best friends are pharmacists’ and I sure got to know hundreds—thousands?—of pharmacists and their teams over my 27 years in pharmacy. I was proud and privileged to be entrusted with the leadership of an independent community retail pharmacy brand.

Being a striker, regardless of how good, gave me an identity and I quickly realized how important it is for people to have jobs. When pharmacists try to do everything themselves, they take someone else’s job. When we fail at delegating, we accidentally take purpose and importance away from others. Not only does this mitigate the impact the multi-tasking pharmacist can make, but also blunts what others have to offer on the team.

By developing our charisma as a learned skill, we can have a greater impact on the people we encounter. Given so many of the headwinds that pharmacists face, developing this skill can pay huge dividends. Here are a few ways we can develop our charisma.