Real Talk With Ro -
What's One Belief That's Changed for You as You've Grown in Your Leadership?
The belief that as a Pharmacist, I hire, train, mold and shape pharmacy technicians to help aide ME in the overall prescription process for our patients. And also the belief that it's the sole responsibility of my employer to create the culture within my Pharmacy through efforts that look like increased budget hours, unlimited staffing roster, and metrics that stay well within reach.
Oh how false these thoughts have become.
As the Leader, I do believe that it's my job to set the thermostat through my own consistent, transparent and vulnerable actions that allow me to lead, train, encourage, instill hope and serve and partner with my team to work comfortably within the non-toxic temperature that has been set. Leadership begins with ME. Leadership ends with ME. The sooner I realized that belief, the sooner I walked into the culture that I had always desired.
What Do You Wish More Incoming and Veteran Pharmacists Would Understand and/or Inquire About?
Leadership - Once you walk across that stage, pass your boards and clock in for your very 1st shift - You Are a Leader. You will have technicians under you, patients that need you, and fellow pharmacists working beside you, and strong Leadership skills are needed in more areas than one can imagine. Not every manager is a bad leader, But, they are usually an undertrained Leader. Most want the Title without the Travail, but they go hand in hand. Great Leaders are born in times of unprecedented discomfort and change.
What's a Subtle, but Important Characteristic/skill You Wish Every Team Would Have?
Grace - Just simply the ability and self awareness to extend Grace where you once struggled yourself, where you know it's needed, and where you know it's deserved is something I wish I saw and experienced more and more. This is something I challenge myself, along with my team, daily - and guess what, I fail everyday. However, it is always at the top of my to-do list or it's my most visible mental post-it note on my mind because We All Need More Grace.
What's Something You've Seen Strong Leaders Do That Others Overlook?
Early Preparation - I truly believe in the statement "When you fail to prepare, then prepare to fail!" Pharmacy is not for the faint-hearted and to prepare for as much as you can will at least win half the battle. The other half of the battle is unpredictable - Staff emergencies, Sick call outs, virus outbreaks, etc. You will be so much the better leader for the time you decide NOW to spend in preparation for the known and the unknown.
What's a Moment in Your Career That Felt Like a Plot Twist?
The moment that I decided that I will no longer wake up for metrics printed on paper, but making the choice to wake up for People.
My pastor has engrained Gary Smalley's quote into us for many years - "Life is about Relationships, the rest is just details."
If serving is beneath you, then leading is beyond you! And as Pharmacy Leaders, our job is to become the servant because Leadership is all about being of service to others. We always must remember, Your title does Not make you a Leader. Your Actions do.
What's a Piece of Advice That Turned Out to Be Wrong for You?
The Customer is Always Right - We live, move, work and mingle amongst many individuals that are Mentally Well and Mentally Ill. Individuals that are Self Aware and Self Detached. People who drip in Kindness and others that wreak in Rudeness. Human beings that walk Selflessly and others that gallop in their Entitlement. Persons that don't believe in medicine and those that heavily depend on the ingestion of a substance for them simply to take their next breath. And even still, in the incompleteness of this list, any one of these individuals can and will, at anytime, walk into our Pharmacy's and require for us to serve them. Yall, we live in an Unhealed World and every word, comment, gesture or reaction from any individual at our counter is not always correct. There are times when Right is Right, no matter who it's coming from, but not Always.
If You Weren't Doing What You Do Now, What Do You Think You'd Be Doing?
NFL Broadcaster - All I'm gone say is Pam Oliver Who?!? The struggle is Real! To work every other Sunday during Football season which also parallels with Flu season - Who's responsible for this?!?
Most Pharmacists, Over Time, Grow to Dislike Their Jobs, Career Choice, and Most to All of Things Attached to It. How Have You Been Able to Sustain and Grow in the Total Opposite Direction?
My Faith in God - I am a firm believer that I truly am Graced to do what I do. Everyday I serve and lead others in my natural. Only the Super Natural within me allows me to rise above the negativity, soar beyond the chaos, experience peace where I should be losing my mind, and sustain in places where others quit. Although I OVERstand all that my colleagues share about Pharmacy-life or "Pharmageddon" as some have labeled it, I have just decided to control what I can control and create what I desire to see. If we wait for our bosses, our teams, our employers, even insurance or our patients to align to create this Ultimate Healthcare Experience, I will be waiting my entire life. I choose to become The Rx Remedy!
How and When Did You Decide to Put the "PFARM" in Pharmacist With Being the Proud Mother of 2 Mini Pigs?
OMGoodness - My girls Anaya and Allaya are my 2 heartbeats. They are part of the reason I have very little stress, lol - How can you stress for long when you get to come home to 2 oinking pigs as soon as you walk into the door. No matter the day I've had, these 2 girls unequivocally always make me smile, Even in the midst of my tears at times, they still somehow find a way to brighten my day. My girls are now 5 and I have raised them since they were 3 months old so that are a part of me. I have some farm-life in my family history, and God decided to sprinkle some into my DNA as well. I do not currently live on a farm, but would love to own a ranch one day here in Texas.
What Do You Love Most About Your Job?
What I love most is the Teamwork that it takes to accomplish what we do everyday. I'm a sports girl. I was point-guard in Basketball for years and would've played football if they let me. So I have always loved Teams and how Coaches rally them together for one simple goal - To Win! And winning is what I strive to do everyday.