People come to owning or running a business for a myriad of reasons. While money should not be a singular driving factor, I think we would be lying if we said anyone does it ALL for love. I’ve always considered community Pharmacy a unique beast. You can’t run it quite like a normal retail business nor can you run it solely as a ‘health service’. The balancing act is tricky and is as much an ethical struggle as a business struggle. I for one don’t have all the answers. What I do know is that regardless of your business model, the human capital in your business can increase or decrease profit significantly. Given that labour costs are one of the biggest financial outlays for business, why don’t we spend more time investing in it?

As managers we like reports and statistics…

but maybe not this one…

85% of employees are not engaged or are actively disengaged at work. The global economic consequence of this is approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity. 18% of these employees are actively disengaged in their work while 67% are not engaged.

Gallup, State of the Workforce report

So what does this mean?

It means that 67%…the majority of the workforce…possibly the majority of the store you lead or work in sit on the fence and are indifferent about your organisation. This looks like people turning up but not giving their best, going through the motions, giving time but nothing more. Do you know what is sad about this population? They say that they likely come to work wanting to make a difference but nobody has ever asked them to use their strengths to make the business better… The other 18% are actively bagging your business…

I guess there is two ways to look at this…one, think about how much other people in your Pharmacy might be dragging you and the Pharmacy down. Or two…an opportunity…

An opportunity for growth for yourself, your staff and the Pharmacy.

Imagine if you could grow the skills of your Pharmacists and Retail Managers to find ways to actively engage others? Find out what makes them tick and help them find strengths to overcome barriers. Who knows, you might find out why they won’t ask Mrs Smith to keep her scripts on file, why the uptake of Medschecks has never really happened or why your KPIs just keep falling short of the mark. What could that mean for you and your bottom line? Could it mean fewer ‘spot fires’ which means more time to work ‘on the business’ instead of ‘in the business’? Could it mean greater staff retention? Could it mean growth? Or, could it mean that you build a self-propelled workplace culture that means you don’t need to force it on a daily basis?

A better statistic…

For those businesses that ranked in the top quartile of global employee engagement they found that they had 10% higher customer metrics, 17% higher productivity, 20% higher sales and were 21% more profitable than those in the bottom quartile.

From being a Pharmacist Manager then providing mentorship to other Pharmacist’s and Retail Managers, I can confidently state that your staff want to help. They want to do better and can do better if you let them and help them. Frontline Managers specifically are the biggest untapped resource in community Pharmacy, your Pharmacy. They are your gateway to the coal the face of your business and are the keepers of knowledge about your stores that you may not realise they have. They know things a report can never show. This also makes them the keepers to the answers you search for and your future success.

Investing in the leadership skills of your staff can build profitability. But, before you get there, you first need to find ground zero of the problem. Once you do, sustainable gains can be made. I understand this takes both an investment of time and money but I think the real questions is, ‘what will it cost you if you don’t?’.

For an obligation free chat about how I can help you and your business, contact me.