Q1 in Review: 4 Simple Changes Every Pharmacy Owner Must Make Right Now
As we near the end of the first quarter, it’s time to pick your head up from the trenches and take a moment to look around your pharmacy. Take inventory of your four walls and everything in it. What do you see?
Look at your team. Do you see a team that bickers with each other, or do you see a team who works together to accomplish a singular mission? Do they have a purpose in their everyday duties with measurable goals and milestones, or are they running through the motions of daily operation?
Now look in your store. Take inventory of your endcaps, your checkout counters, carpets, uniforms… Are they clean and orderly?
What you see right now is what your patients see when they walk through that door. Making small, incremental changes throughout the year to address cosmetic, structural or operational issues will compound to large wins by the end of the year.
The idea is not to be consistently perfect, but to be consistently better.
Instead of making unattainable promises to yourself, your business, your employees, and your patients resolve instead to do small, minor adjustments to your everyday routine that will become powerful catalyst for lasting growth.
That’s why, instead of making grand resolutions this first quarter, make a simple commitment: “I am going to do something every day to make my pharmacy better.”
Below are four simple habits you can implement to upgrade your 2018:
Detox Your Workplace Culture
If you want to make this the best year yet, you can’t do it alone. You need to rely on your team to help your patients, fill prescriptions and rise above the petty bickering that can often bring teams down.
While complete culture change is often a long, tough road, the process must start at the top with simple first steps.
Catch your employees doing something right. As owners and managers, we are too often fixated on recognizing everything employees do wrong. Before we realize it, only negativity comes out. To reverse this, aim to create a culture of positivity by recognizing an employee for a positive action every day. Let an employee know in a simple handwritten note that she did a good job with a patient that day or say thank you for covering for her sick coworker. You can spread positivity and encouragement in just two minutes every day. Just one action a day can have a long-lasting effect.
Spring Clean Your Pharmacy
Every day, countless feet walk around your pharmacy. The look and smell become background white noise that you and your team no longer notice. However, that isn’t the case for your patients! Trust us; they notice the stain on the ceiling or the faded sign on the front door and, yes, your worn-out carpets.
While a full remodel may not be possible or even needed, you can do some spring cleaning! Some examples of fast, easy improvements can be:
- Moving OTC products around to new locations
- Purchasing new waiting area chairs
- Placing fresh daily hours stickers on the front door
Small and inexpensive changes like these can give a whole new look to your pharmacy and a new appreciation by your patients.
Be Thankful
The role of pharmacy owner is stressful and tiring. It is often too easy to ruminate on only the challenges and roadblocks you experience. Gratitude, as simple as that sounds, can rewire you to become a more positive person. Taking a moment to appreciate something each day can boost your happiness and productivity. You can do this on your own, by thinking of 3 things you are thankful for every night before bed. You can also include your team and share positive stories at the end of the day, instead of just focusing on daily frustrations.
Set SMART Pharmacy Goals
Most of us familiar with goal-setting realize that broad goal statements don’t translate into accomplishments without some heavy lifting and correcting course at least once. Specificity is critical when it comes to getting goals across the finish line. SMART goals are:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic
- Timely
Instead of saying I want a better year, you should say “I want to make $50,000 more in profit in 2018,“ or “I want to attend all of my son’s football games this season.“
When you have a clear vision of your goal, you are more likely to achieve it. Encourage your employees to do the same for themselves, both personally, and professionally. If you’re not sure what is achievable in your pharmacy, we invite you to speak with one of our account executives that can share with you what other pharmacy owners have achieved in a single year.
Applying incremental and impactful changes will add up to major wins by the end of the year. Regardless of the changes you implement; the point is to keep moving, consistently aim to improve and take quarterly reviews of your pharmacy.
Launch Your Pharmacy to Amazing Heights in 2018
Want to learn more about what you should be focusing on in 2018? Watch the PDS 2018 Super-Conference recap video below for the 5 Key Takeaways from the conference and the strategies you should set your sights on to make this year the best your pharmacy has seen yet.
