Dispensing Leadership: Embracing Discomfort

In episode 12 of Dispensing Leadership, Shawn Bjorndal, PharmD, RPh, and Jesse McCullough, PharmD, discussed the importance of pharmacy leaders embracing discomfort in their roles and how community support is a key catalyst for navigating these roadblocks.

“By definition, when you lead people, you're taking them from someplace where they are to a better place,” said McCullough. “That place is typically uphill, which makes it uncomfortable. Oftentimes, that uphill climb can require us to do some things that we haven't done before, and it can put us in this place of discomfort.”

Central to the current evolution of pharmacy practice is the debunking of the solo leader myth. Successful pharmacy managers are moving away from isolation and toward a model of community support, relying on their entire staff—from technicians to pharmacists—to fill in critical operational blind spots.

According to them, this collaborative approach treats the pharmacy like a regional weather map; just as temperatures vary by location, team members in different roles perceive unique organizational climates. By giving staff explicit permission to share these observations, leaders can collect a more accurate dataset of their pharmacy and, more importantly, their pharmacy staff’s overall health.

In Dispensing Leadership, a podcast offering from Drug Topics and RPhAlly, Bjorndal and McCullough discuss essential leadership skills for pharmacists, how to develop them, and how to advance the pharmacy profession. All new episodes of Dispensing Leadership will be available in a video format via DrugTopics.com on the second Monday of each month. Check out our January episode: Dispensing Leadership: Growth vs. Goals.

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