When Pharmacy Management Doesn’t Listen
One frustration pharmacists express frequently when they are tired of their current job is that management doesn’t listen to their ideas. What challenges do you experience that keep you from bringing ideas to your supervisor?
Here are quick tips on how to overcome challenges with your pharmacy supervisor not being receptive to your ideas:
- STEP 1: Come up with a few solutions for the problem(s) you plan to bring up. This way, your supervisor does not see you as just a complainer, but a problem-solver.
- STEP 2: Talk about your suggestion from the perspective of what it would do for the pharmacy, pharmacy manager/director, or the rest of the pharmacy staff (or everyone who would be involved with the suggestion you’re making).
- STEP 3: Tell them how you are a part of the solution. Describe what your ideas are and what role you will play in the solution. Pharmacy supervisors/managers like it when you are not just making more work for them, but you will help them implement what you want to see.
STEP 4: If you are turned down by your supervisor, ask him/her, “What are your hesitations about my suggestions?” “What additional information do you need to help you make a decision with this suggestion?” “What are the challenges you foresee with this suggestion?” “What other kinds of solutions do you suggest?” If you are certain your solution is the answer to the problem you are noticing/experiencing, tell your supervisor “maybe we can try it for awhile and I can help you test it. At the end of (agreed duration), you can evaluate it and decide if it makes sense”.
If your suggestion was still turned down by your pharmacy manager, keep in mind that you can ask again when you have more information to support your suggestion, or when the timing is different.
If your suggestion was accepted, go back to your supervisor with a progress report in a timely manner that is mutually discussed.
Read more on our blog on about how to overcome other pharmacy workplace challenges, including Gossiping and Backstabbing in the Pharmacy.
When the Mirror Says It All
Have you ever felt frustrated with your patients and felt that you were right and your patients were idiots for how they treated you?
The next time you experience this as you are working in the pharmacy, look inward. You may notice that people reflect back to you what you don’t see in yourself. When you consider someone is an idiot for being angry and yelling at you, ask yourself if you embrace considering yourself as an idiot. As humans, we have the capacity of a range of emotions and characteristics. If you embrace that capacity in yourself to be an idiot, the incident of someone else yelling at you will not spark any emotional reaction.
Instead, you will just witness it without feeling a triggered emotion. You will less likely internalize it and respond with an emotional reaction that upsets you.
Try filling in the blank. For example, rather than not embracing being an “idiot”, you may get upset when your pharmacist co-workers are angry and controlling. Chances are, you have not embraced the part of yourself that is an angry, controlling person. Take steps in loving that part of yourself that is angry and controlling.
The more you are able to witness your thoughts and not pass judgment, the freer you will feel. This will empower you in your work as a pharmacist as well as your personal life.
Try it! Post your opinion below–I want to hear about it!
Pharmacists – Would you Date Another Pharmacist?
If you had your choice, would you date another pharmacist? I’ve always said I would never marry another pharmacist. Nor would I marry anyone healthcare related, because I didn’t want to be talking about the same topics at home. Ok, I confess, although I never wanted to marry a pharmacist, I was always open to. If a perfect charming pharmacist came along, I’m sure I would have fallen in love.
As in dating & marrying, so it is with looking for the right one when you’re looking for a job. Set your criteria of what you prefer so what meets your criteria starts coming into your awareness. Have you ever noticed that when you buy a new car, you see your car everywhere on the road but you never noticed it before? After that, just be open to what happens. You never know how things fall into place when it comes down to it.
I have seen pharmacists tell me they were not open to working as a pharmacy director of a smaller than 200-bed hospital, but then when it came down to it, they absolutely loved the pharmacy staff, the management support, and they jumped on board. I’ve also had pharmacists tell me they don’t want to live in a geographic area, but then when I talk to them a few months later, they are working in that area! Things change; circumstances change and life is dynamic.
Set your intention of what you want & then let the universe take care of it. You will be led to the next step in your path that is right for you to make your next decision.
I guess I will never know what it’s like to date or marry another pharmacist—I married a sweet Aussie guy who is now a pilot teaching flight school. He came along when I was least expecting it, while traveling in Paris. We are in our 10th year together and loving it.
What about you–would you date another pharmacist? Comment below and take the poll (see results instantly)!
If They Like Me, They’ll Hire Me
Is it true? Sure, it plays an important role in a pharmacy hiring manager’s decision, but why should they pick you out of other interested pharmacist applicants?
I was talking to a pharmacist who wanted to be presented for a management position. I suggested that she highlight any leadership experience, including starting/leading clinical programs or previous leadership experiences during work or in pharmacy school (she had attended pharmacy school within the last 5 years), and her response to me was “I want to keep my resume the way it is. If they like me, they’ll hire me. I don’t want to be giving any false impressions about myself.”
I don’t know how else to say it, but please understand that you may not be used to a pharmacist job market that requires you to not only be a pharmacist who has the skills to get the job you want, but to also convey your skills and passion among other competing pharmacists to get the job.
It’s one thing that you know what you are good at–that your patients love the way you connect with them & physicians listen to your therapeutic suggestions because you are sharp clinically & you collaborate well with others.
It’s another thing to show on a resume (the main thing a potential pharmacist employer sees initially) what it is you have that is directly relevant to the pharmacist position they are trying to fill. A good resume’s purpose is not false impressions. A good resume points your strengths out. It is not about being untruthful. It’s about marketing yourself because that is one of the first key impressions someone will have of you.
If you are untruthful, you will be found out during the interview anyway, so that is dangerous territory to be playing in. The point is to think of what the pharmacist employer wants and tailor your resume uniquely to what they are looking for.
Maybe this will help you understand why it’s important. Why don’t we step back from pharmacy & look at a job for a housekeeper. The qualities of a housekeeper an employer or a client (perhaps you) is looking for is 1) someone who cleans the house in an efficient & detail-oriented manner, 2) someone who has experience doing housekeeping.
Candidate #1:
This housekeeper has the skills mentioned above and the experience, but chooses to write on his/her resume:
Housekeeper. Responsibilities are not elaborated on.
Assessment: You are left wondering what responsibilities he/she had as a housekeeper.
Candidate #2:
This housekeeper has the skills mentioned above and experience housekeeping, but chooses to write on his/her resume: “Experience with scanning & copying”, “Running errands for my clients”, Taking quality photo portraits of people”, “Typing 100 WPM”.
Assessment: Experience with scanning & copying is not relevant to the position. Perhaps running errands is somewhat relevant, but not directly relevant. Taking quality photos & typing 100 WPM is not relevant at all.
Candidate #2:
This housekeeper also has the skills and experience housekeeping, but chooses to write on their resume: “Cleaning 4 houses/day that are 5000 sq ft average size and retaining clients for 3+ years”, “Receiving high compliments from clients (references are available) and consistent referrals”
Assessment: This person seems to 1) clean the house in an efficient & detail-oriented manner, 2) someone who has experience doing housekeeping. This person also has references to back it up.
Who would you choose to interview?
Get your foot in the door first. Once you are interviewing, they will get a better sense of your personality and whether they like you. Keep in mind that you are still highlighting what you have that is directly relevant to the position even when you are interviewing, but at that point they will definitely take into consideration more of your personality fit. When you are at the resume stage, what you point out is all they have to go by. Get your foot in the door first. For other tips useful in your job search, check out the 5 Biggest Mistakes Candidates Make in a Job Search.
Throw Out Resolutions – They Don’t Work
Are you feeling stuck, or wondering what you got yourself into by living the life you are living now? Or maybe you know exactly what you want, but you’re having internal conflicts about how to get where you want to go?
Seeing pharmacists feel stuck is one of the main reasons why I went from working as a pharmacist in ambulatory care clinics on Native American reservations to helping pharmacists find the right jobs for them. I was tired of seeing pharmacists feel stuck in what they were doing & feeling like they need to settle.
Seeing pharmacists lose their passion was frustrating to me. A job is just a part of your life, but the way you approach your job can reflect how you approach life. Many pharmacists I’ve seen who’ve lost zest in their jobs have also lost zest in their dreams for their life.
This is the year for you to take the big leap.
Here’s a secret to how you may be sabotaging yourself & not achieving what you want to achieve, even though you’ve put forth the effort: Conflicting desires. Even if you are clear about what you want, sometimes you are not achieving what you want to achieve because of internal conflicts that you may not realize about. I know this very well myself-–on the surface, I felt I was clear, but during times when I struggled and wasn’t as successful as I could be, it was because I had an internal conflict.
On the surface, you tell yourself that you plan on spending more time with your family and will not stay late from work anymore. But you keep picking up shifts when your boss asks you to, so you can make more money. Or, you may have set the resolution of being financially set when you retire and that you plan to invest $500 every month, but you don’t spend your time figuring out what to do with that money you invest; instead you buy new clothes or a new car.
You need to overcome your internal conflicts in order to achieve what you want to achieve. Sounds simple? If you aren’t achieving what you are wanting to achieve, chances are that you have not overcome them or they are masked. Stop writing resolutions that don’t work. Start with the secrets I’m going to teach you.
Join me in my FREE “Throw Out Resolutions & Live Your Purpose in 2010” Teleseminar to start out the New Year. It is completely my gift to you.
“Throw Out Resolutions & Live Your Purpose in 2010”
The program is over, but you may access the FREE replay instantly:
Give yourself the gift of this 1-hr teleseminar:
· Learn how to achieve what you want to achieve without setting resolutions that don’t work
· Re-connect with your higher purpose
· Release what isn’t supporting you
· Discover 3 ways to overcome internal conflicts related to the gap between where you are & where you want to go without feeling pressured
Come away with clarity & a plan to live your purpose in 2010 like you never have before! Register Now! You will get the call-in details when you register.
You will also receive a bonus gift, “90-Days to a New You” accountability e-course. We are in this together. As you leap into the next level of your passion, or re-discover your passion, I am also going to take that leap with you, stepping into the next level of my passion.
Look forward to connecting with you on the call and seeing you re-ignite your passion and create a plan to live it.
To 2010 & new beginnings!