Aiming at Nothing.
We said in previous blogs that pharmacy can be a lonely business at times. I know as a business owner that we can spend a great deal of time in our businesses doing some important “stuff” and a lot of non-important stuff.
We all generally go about our day in a very structured way. So much that we sometimes don’t see the world outside of what we do thereby missing opportunities, trends, changes and threats. We become insulated as a result and directionless. Worst of all we become very reliant on the decisions of others for our business to progress.
In pharmacy you can become reliant on the right government decision, on the Guild, the wholesalers, competitors and everyone else for our own success. That is not a place you want to be. Even worse is when we start blaming everyone else when our business goes backwards.
Aiming at nothing and hitting it with remarkable accuracy.
In my observations, when this happens owners become easily swept up in employee mode. That is focusing on the day to day duties, going about their day in a very routine way, with the blinkers on and not seeing the opportunities that are around them. They become very robotic. The danger of this is it becomes their comfort zone. They and their team then become very reluctant to change how they are doing things, refuse to acknowledge a different approach and stick their head in the sand. The business as a result stagnates or will slowly erode over time as customers go to other more dynamic pharmacies.
Owners need to break from this mode. To break the shell they have put around them and dare to dream about bigger things. They need to create a vision and something to aspire to. They need to aspire to a vision, dream, and something quite audacious.
You are an owner; you are a leader that is what your role is. Your role is not to be a robot. You need to lead and create a vision that you, your team and your customers want to be a part of. When everyone is aligned to that vision that is when creativity and change starts to take place. That is when you start transforming your business on an evolutionary curve.
Now change is hard.
It is difficult, sometimes fraught with error and failure and requires us individually to move out of our comfort zones. It is hard to move ahead with such uncertainty, fear and nervousness buzzing in our heads. However, when we have the support of a fantastic team, mentor and partners (life and business) we can acknowledge these feelings, file them away and proceed to making the changes. We need to make changes knowing we have the support of those around us. Don’t wait to feel motivated, motivation comes and goes. It is never a constant. Your success will come from the habits you form now and tomorrow.
The journey towards a vision is never easy. There will always be ups and downs. But you are a pharmacy owner and a leader. Show the leadership your team and your patients are expecting from you, be strong, have courage and create the vision that will inspire all around you. You will be surprised at how clever you are and what you are able to achieve.
Can you imagine how much better community pharmacy in Australia could become? How much community health could benefit if we all achieved a vision of the perfect pharmacy?
So the question to you is…….what do you think is the perfect pharmacy?
We would love to hear your ideas. Imagine what we could all do together?
For those who entered our competition at the WA Pharmacy Forum last week they have already provided some insight into the above question. However we want to hear from more pharmacy owners. So please either respond via the comments section or email sarah.rendell@peakstrategies.com.au
