Was this a position that you actively sought?

Were you given the job as a “natural” candidate for the position?

What motivated you to take this role?

Why do you think you were chosen for this role?

What skills and experience do you currently have that could make you a good manager and leader?

What are you most apprehensive about?

What will be your key challenges?

What do you plan to do to address these challenges?

How will you use your technical expertise and managerial responsibility to add value in your new position?

What are the top ways that you’ll add value in your new role?

What is your organization’s mission?

What is its guiding vision?

What is the organization’s strategy?

What strategic objectives is it pursuing currently?

list

Current

Intended

Anything need addressing?

Office space

Meeting space

Relocation?

Additions?

Tools

Knowledge

Information

Training

Discipline 1: Focus on the Wildly Important

Discipline 2: Act on Lead Measures

Discipline 3: Keep a Compelling Scoreboard

Discipline 4: Create a Cadence of Accountability

Getting Clear/Evangelization

Launch

Adoption

Optimization

Habituate

Anchor the process

You will have a clear written statement of what your business will be when it is completed.

You will be able to identify a sense of direction that will motivate you and your employees - a dream to strive for.

You will have a basis for decision making, planning, and business development activities.

The business will have a stable, not static plan, that can change in response to major shifts in competition, trends, and markets.

Employees will understand the direction of the business and how to align their individual tasks with the common direction of the business.

Idea Joggers

Creative ways to get there

For Your Career

For Your Organization or Area of Responsibility

1 Year Goals

Quarterly Action Plan

Controlling Calendar

Be Smart

Share your background and let them know who you are. What are your passions? What motivated you to move to management? Create a mini-bio that highlights the real you, and lets people into your “bubble.”

The more open and honest you are, the more trust you’ll inspire. Keep your promises, manage expectations when necessary, and treat everyone with respect.

Book time with these people, and listen to what they have to say. Ask questions until you’re sure that you understand what they want from you and your team, and think about what you can do to deliver this. Then, meet with these people regularly to stay in touch with what’s happening.

As a manager, you’re now expected to help people achieve success as individuals as well in a team. Admit mistakes, give credit where it’s due, and ask your people and your other stakeholders for help when you need it.

Public Speaking Assessment

Be the Message

Be Authentic

Listen with Purpose

6 Approaches

Awareness

Move Things Forward

Presenting Status & Issues

The Rule of 3

Communication as a Crucial Process

Your team’s success depends on your ability to lead effectively. To do this, you’ll need to learn skills beyond your current expertise. While we’ll look at some of those skills in the next module of this workbook, it’s useful to have a mentor who can help you identify and develop other skills.A good choice for this person is somebody who already has a stake in your success, and who has experience in doing a similar role successfully – in many cases, this will be your boss.This person can guide you through daily challenges, and prepare you for what’s to come. A mentor who has a similar background and career progression to yours will also be in a unique position to understand your concerns and your perspective.Sometimes the best mentoring relationships are those that develop naturally. Watch for signs that a person is interested in helping you establish yourself in your new career. Who’s always willing to answer your questions? Is there someone who keeps tabs on how you’re doing, and asks about your day?Don’t overlook finding a mentor outside your stakeholder list either. Simply having a mentor who’s interested in your success is a valuable asset. If someone is willing to give their time to help you develop the skills you need for career success, then take advantage of this opportunity, and reciprocate where you can.

Is there a mentoring program in your organization that you can use? How can you get involved?

Who else could you learn from?

Who has insight and perceptiveness that you find inspiring?

Who has had a similar background and experience to you, and has been successful in a similar role?

Whose experience could you learn the most from?

Your culture is what happens when you are not there.

The culture may have to be modified as your business grows.

Your culture must be cultivated; you can’t create it by decree.

Your culture is an indication of your leadership.

Everything in your business is “top down”.

How well you communicate, who you hire, how they are trained and managed, and what you focus on or avoid creates your culture.

Energizing your team does not have to be expensive.

Systems, systems, systems

Financial statements

Course correct and correct and correct.

Performance culture

Repeat

Prepare for the conversation.

Identify and describe the problem and impact.

Ask for the employee’s view.

Get agreement that a problem exists.

Mutually explore causes and solutions.

Create an action plan.

Set a follow up time.

Repeat and do often.

My top 5 non-negotiable core values include:

Examples of how I live these values

Examples of how I don't live these values and can do better

Optional: What I will not tollerate

My organization's 5 non-negotiable core values include:

Examples of how we live these values

Examples of how we don't live these values and can do better

Optional: What we will not tollerate

Problem you solve

Products and services

What you or your organization does best

Target markets served

Value you provide and to whom

Number and location of offices

Processes you oversee

Technologies you have in place

Types of employees/contractors

How big can your organization/career get?

Key milestones needed?

What else about your vision?

Close your eyes and what do you see: Metophore present, metaphore future

Go online and grab a pictures

What you or your organization does best

Target markets served

Value you provide and to whom

Number and location of offices

Processes you oversee

Technologies you have in place

Types of employees/contractors

How big can your organization/career get?

Key milestones needed?

What else about your vision?

My talents that I like to use include

I use/express those talents with the following activities

The contribution I want to make in the world through my work

What makes me passionate about what I do

I will use my --- by --- in order to create a world in which ---

The talents that we like to use include

We use/express those talents with the following activities

The contribution we want to make in the world through our work

What makes us passionate about what we do

Gone are the days where quarterly bonuses, performance-based pay raises, and other financial incentives alone motivate employees. While formal employee benefits are good for business, they are no longer a guarantee of employee or team performance. In fact, studies have proven that “soft” benefits, such as employee incentive programs and a positive company culture are directly responsible for driving increased efficiencies, productivity among employees, and customer satisfaction. Not to mention, "employee-friendly" business practices boost morale and decrease the chance of employee burnout. A formal employee incentive program, or even elements of it, don't have to break the bank.

1.0 Your culture is what happens when you are not there.

1.1 The culture may have to be modified as your business grows.

1.2 Your culture must be cultivated; you can’t create it by decree.

2.0 Your culture is an indication of your leadership.

2.1 Everything in your business is “top down”.

2.2 How well you communicate, who you hire, how they are trained and managed, and what you focus on or avoid creates your culture.

2.3 Energizing your team does not have to be expensive.

Do you believe that having a happy, productive, and supportive culture in your company is an indication that your systems are working?

If you have a sudden change in culture, how would you go about searching for the cause of the change and how would you make corrections?

Why is the failure of a system often the symptom to look for when a change in your culture occurs?

They’re the result of action, reaction, and truth. They are nuanced, productive, and authentic. Don’t focus on how to create a culture, just do the right things for you, your customers, and your team, and it will happen. The cornerstone components to a strong productive culture are clear direction and expectations. Company visionCompany missionOrganizational ChartPosition Contractsregular feedback on performance Critical DriversPerformance Bonusa regular communication structuredaily/weekly huddlesindividual coaching conversationsteam meetings So that the entire staff understand what the focus is and feel that they are an integral part of the team.

Values

Vision

Mission

Communications

1. Blow out the candles.

2. Offer an educational assistance program.

3. Create your own "Club Med."

4. Turn the company into a teaching facility.

5. Host a monthly team activity that the entire team is required to attend on the clock.

6. Set up a loan program that provides up to one week's pay at zero interest.

7. Look after those that matter to your employees.

8. Give them the day off on their birthday.

9. Verbally acknowledge a job well done.

10. Budget $60 a week to stock the break room with healthy(ish) groceries.

11. Upgrade their tools.

12. Require your high school employees to stay an extra hour to do their homework. (Make sure to pay them.)

13. Your employees write a handwritten note to your customers every day, right?

14. Offer memberships and discounts to local businesses.

15. Without being nosy, ask your employee's what's going on in their life.

16. Create a 4-walls “safe house” where no negativity is allowed.

.17. Give them a place to park.

18. Recognize employees across all your business functions for completing critical projects or reaching certain goals.

19. Introduce flextime.

20. Ask about their professional and personal dreams.

21. Take your employees’ wellness seriously.

Delegate

Be Organized

Lead By Example

Take Ownership and Responsibility

Communicate Effectively

Passion

Know Your People

Be a Follower.

Great Listener

Be Brave and Honest

1. Recruiting - You will discover the key sources for finding prospects for new employees.

2. Hiring - You will have a procedure to screen prospects to ensure a good fit with your company and the specific job opportunity.

3. Training - You will have a process to fully integrate the new hire into your company and to make an integrated member of your team.

4. Retaining - You will have a process to support team development and employee retention so that you can further build upon the asset that your team has become.

1. What is the very first employee development action that you will undertake?

2. How much will your time be freed up by having a better functioning team? How will you use that time?

3. If your team is functioning at a higher level, what impact do you think that will make on your customers?

Leader Work

Development

Relationships

Edge

1. Do you know someone who has impressed you in the past that you would like to offer your “recruiting card”?

2. How much easier will it be for you to hire someone when you have standard procedures in place that you use repeatedly rather than starting from scratch each time?

3. What is the first job you will focus upon to upgrade your training program?

4. What excites you about having Position Agreements (Position Contracts)?

Assignments and experience I need

My strengths that I can build on

Knowledge and skills I need to move forward

Behaviors that might be holding me back

Attitudes that might be holding me back

Assessment tools to identify likely high performers

Frequent informal performance reviews

Challenging high-potentials through new assignments and projects

Training programs

Clear career paths

Coaching

Compensation and reward systems

Designing roles to include autonomy and opportunities to grow

Development planning

Dialog with employees about the company’s direction, vision, and strategy

Formal succession planning for key roles

Fostering collaboration up, down, and across the organization

Identifying flight risks and engaging them before they leave

Internal leadership development academy

Mentoring

More flexible options to retain top talent

Recruiting leaders from outside who can shake things up

Management by walking around

Recruiting that targets potential leaders

Rewards and recognition

Setting a tone for and modeling high performance

Teachable moments – providing real-time feedback

Peers/colleagues

Mentors

Customers

Managers

Direct reports

Investors

Outside advisors

Other key people

Other key people

Peers/colleagues

Customers

Managers

Direct reports

Mentors

Investors

Outside advisors

Other key people

Other key people

What are the top 3 talents that set you apart?

What are the top three things your organization or area of responsibility does best and that sets it apart?

• Creating a fun and productive work environment

• Increasing employee morale

• Your employees enjoy (and look forward to) coming into work

• Increased efficiency and workflow

• Increased employee retention

• Creates a strong reputation in your community that your company is a desired place to work – increasing the pool of prospective employees

• Better experience for your customers (if your employees want to be there so will your customers!)

• Fewer staffing and disciplinary issues

• Easier for you as the owner to positively reinforce the behavior you want to see, and to correct the behavior you don’t.

• Your employees willingness to problem solve, improve processes, and help each other

• Your team and culture are aligned with business growth

• Customers immediately benefit from your team being engaged and enjoying their work environment

• Patients notice when their needs are being met by a team that is attentive and positive

• The environment becomes inviting and welcoming to all

Team GamesStep 1: Set quarterly team goals Based on your one year Wildly Important Goals, set quarterly goals for your team to work toward. Quarterly goal ideas: • Hitting specific sales targets • Increasing OTC volume • Enrolling a certain number of patients into a new program • Dealing with a repetitive issue or problem Brainstorm with your team on ideas, strategies and procedure that will lead you to successfully reaching your goal(s). Step 2: Identify criteria to use in game Based on the goals determined, establish two or three metrics you are able to track to use as part of your game. The metrics should be something that drives results for your store/company. EXAMPLE: Set a goal for handing out a set number of free product samples to ultimately increase the sales of this item.EXAMPLE: Could be if your employees are switching shifts a lot and you are trying to reduce this behavior, you could set a criterion to receive a game piece (or card) for not switching once the schedule has been posted. Step 3: Design your game Once you have your criteria established, now its time to design the game your team will be playing. There are two games commonly used – Bingo and Poker. Bingo is simple – there are 25 boxes on a bingo card (5 boxes across and down) and your team blacks out the boxes as they reach the criteria. Poker is easier to adapt to different criteria (such as being back from lunch on time) as well as sales targets. Your team members get one playing card each week when successfully hitting an assigned metric. Once a week (usually Monday for the previous week) look to see if the metrics were met. Then have someone on staff go to each team member who met the criteria and fan out a deck of cards. Each team member picks a card and that card gets posted on a bulletin board, specifically set up for the game in a public area. The poker game lasts eight weeks so each team member has the potential to earn eight cards. Keep in mind that you are NOT LIMITED to just playing bingo or poker – be creative! But keep the game simple and fun so the focus is on reaching the criteria. Step 4: Set game outcomes and rewards Its crucial that you determine what winning the game looks like. With bingo you can set a bonus value for filling the entire card (such as a $25 gift card). For poker, set a monetary reward for earning card for every opportunity and an additional prize for the best poker hand!Poker Prize Examples: • $25 for earning every card • Best poker hand gets $100 • Second best poker hand gets $50 • Third best poker hand gets $35 The more cards a participant receives in the 8-week game cycle increases their chances of having the best poker hand. Its important to remember that these games are inherently fun simply on their own. The monetary rewards do not have to be high. In fact if the monetary value attached to the outcome of the game is too high, it takes the emphasis away from the game and criteria. Step 5: Tracking and posting weekly results Whichever game you choose, its crucial that the tracked results get publicly posted each week. Create a scorecard to track your metrics each week and post it on the bulletin board along with the game pieces (playing cards or bingo card) for each team member. Part of the games effectiveness with the team is having the tracking posted for everyone to see. This creates a positive peer pressure and accountability. TIP : Have your team work together toward reaching the criteria (rather than competing). For example if one of the criteria is probiotic sales, set a weekly sales goal that everyone participates in rather than setting a target for each employee to sell. Step 6: Completing the game and rewarding team Once the game has been completed, celebrate with your team, choose the “winner” and hand out the rewards. Then start planning your next game based on the next quarter’s goals! Pay attention to anything that is stagnant or not improving to put into your next game.

Step 1: Set quarterly team goals

Step 2: Identify criteria to use in game

Step 3: Design your game

Benefits to the Pharmacy

Reviewing financial statements on a monthly basis allows you to ask key questions about what is happening in the business on a real time basis.

Once you know what is happening on a real-time basis, you can make adjustments or improvements on a real-time basis.

You can create a performance culture using critical drivers.

WIGs

Development

Relationships

Edge

Why is it important to measure the key performance indicators of your business on a real-time basis?

How does successfully performing your critical activities lead to success in your critical drivers?

In general, how many critical drivers should there be for each position in your business?

Why is it important to pay your staff well and to base their pay upon what they are doing to generate results for your company?

Action Items and Resources -- what should the company owner do to turn the learning into action and results?

Resources:

Next Actions: Determine what key performance numbers you want to change in your company.

Samples of critical drivers

Sample of a form to periodically review the performance of each employee on critical drivers

Sample Corrective Action Form

Performance Analysis Flow Sheet

1

2

3

1

2

3

1.0 Prepare for the conversation.

2.0 Identify and describe the problem and impact.

3.0 Ask for the employee’s view.

4.0 Get agreement that a problem exists.

5.0 Mutually explore causes and solutions.

6.0 Create an action plan.

7.0 Set a follow up time.

Why are owners and managers so often uncomfortable about the prospect of having critical conversations with their staff?

What information do you need to set yourself and your employee up for success as you prepare for a critical conversation?

Why is it important to get agreement that a problem exists?

Why is it important to establish in advance a follow up once you create an action plan?

They’re the result of action, reaction, and truth. They are nuanced, productive, and authentic. Don’t focus on how to create a culture, just do the right things for you, your customers, and your team, and it will happen. The cornerstone components to a strong productive culture are clear direction and expectations. Company visionCompany missionOrganizational ChartPosition Contractsregular feedback on performance Critical DriversPerformance Bonusa regular communication structuredaily/weekly huddlesindividual coaching conversationsteam meetings So that the entire staff understand what the focus is and feel that they are an integral part of the team.

Communications

Leader Work

Reading List

ALP

Think of critical conversations as a key component for setting up your team to win.

Other key components include the things that you have set up to define your expectations for your team: organizational charts and position agreements.

Rather than being fearful and/or reckless in having conversations, recognize that the missing ingredient is the ability to deal with conflict and problems with confidence and clarity.

Practice...practice...practice.

Always set a follow up date to review the plan of action.

You can’t do everything. A great leader needs to be able to delegate effectively. The key to delegating successfully is giving employees ownership of the work you assign them. They can’t just feel like they own the work, they really have to.

Successfully Delegating Work in 6 Steps

A disorganized leader isn’t leading, he’s chasing his own tail. Disorganization breeds nothing but more disorganization. If you’re frazzled and messy, your team will be too. When you’re organized you’ll be much more productive and so will everyone else.

You can’t be an aloof leader, someone that’s never around and incapable of getting your hands dirty. One of the best ways to lead is by example – pitching in where needed, lending a helping hand, and making sure that the work you do is clearly understood by your team.

Although you’ve just delegated work and truly given your team ownership, you also have to take ownership and responsibility at all times. Your team has to know you’ll be there for them through the good and the bad times. That doesn’t mean you absolve people from making mistakes or ignore crappy work/effort, but it does mean you take responsibility for the big picture.

Duh. Everyone knows great leaders have to be great communicators. But there are certain points of communication that many people forget. For example, it’s critical that you communicate to employees how their work matters in the bigger picture. Are they a cog, or does their work truly make a difference?Communicating success is also something leaders forget to do. People need affirmation. They want to know they did a good job. You just have to tell them.And be precise. Insecure leaders will often ramble; uninterested leaders cut things off to quickly. Whether you’re giving praise, providing constructive criticism, or defining goals and to-dos, you have to figure out how much to say and in what order. Be precise, specific and concise. Get to the point.

A leader without passion isn’t a leader. He’s a paper pusher. Or a taskmaster. Or a government employee… Passion drives a lot, and you can inspire so much in others through your own passion and enthusiasm. That doesn’t mean you have to be constantly cheery, it means you’ve got to believe in what you’re doing and what your company is doing.

You have to know your people. You don’t have to be best friends or even socialize outside work, but you do have to know what makes them tick. You need to know something about their personal lives because their lives outside work matter. Their lives outside work drive a great deal of their success (or lack of) at work. Keep track of simple things: birthdays, marriages, children, etc. The more you know your people the more common ground you’re likely to find, the more you’ll be able to connect.

Benjamin Disraeli said, “I must follow the people. Am I not their leader?” That sums up many of the other points so beautifully. Great leaders are followers too. If you’re a leader without following, you’re a dictator. And as fun as that sounds… Being a leader-follower means finding value in your team, getting inspired by your team, encouraging your team to communicate, brainstorm and be open. Be a Follower - it makes sense if you see someone doing something better learn from them!

A huge part of being a great communicator is being a great listener. If all you want to do is talk, you’re not a leader. Keeping people motivated means listening to them, asking them questions, understanding their issues. When you listen more, you can respond more effectively and get to the heart of things much faster.

Cowardly leaders will shy away from any number of situations that crop up regularly when running a team. The project your team has worked on for 6 months just got shelved. Now what? Or you have to talk to someone about their lack of effort recently. Do you ignore the problem? Or maybe it’s time to take your product into a new market. Do you hobble forward, scared and nervous, or do you grab the market by the throat?Leaders are brave.And honest. Tell it like it is. Don’t sugarcoat, don’t obfuscate. Don’t be a jerk either. You have to learn how to present things to your team in an honest but balanced manner.

Your growth is always on the shoulders of what you have done in the past — always.

Start with looking at your existing customer base.

Who do you enjoy working with?

Who values what you provide?

Who is willing to pay you for that?

Do they have buying patterns?

Looking at your existing numbers, what do they tell you about your business?

Who are the best revenue-producing customers?

Who are the most profitable customers?

What are your key profit centers and who are the best customers for these profit centers?

Either identify your overall best customers or best customers for key profit centers.

Operational excellence

Product leadership

Customer intimacy

Your growth is still on the shoulders of what you have done in the past.

Who do you enjoy working with?

Who values what you provide?

Who is willing to pay you for that?

Who are your best revenue-producing customers?

Who are the most profitable customers?

Do your value proposition and target audience currently match up?

If not, how will you make that happen?

If so, how will you enhance it?

From the exploration above, it is now clear what your best products are and why.

How can you better fill the needs of your existing customers who fit your target audience parameters?

How can you attract and keep new customers who fit your target audience parameters?

Pharmacy

Retail

Restaurant

EXAMPLE: When a customer says 'Thank you for getting my "product" ready so quickly, I really appreciate that” they are communicating that time is important so that is one of the pieces that stand out for them in dealing with you.

Comments

Compliments

Appreciation or thank you notes

Questions

Ideas or suggestions

Requests or wishes

Complaints

Upsets and mistakes

When the problem is resolved to satisfaction customers will tell even more people about the successful resolution of their problem than if they had received good service to begin with.

1. Say 'thank you'

2. Explain why you appreciate the complaint

3. Apologize for the mistake

4. Promise to do something about the problem immediately

5. Ask for necessary information, like product or employee names

6. Correct the mistake promptly

7. Check customer satisfaction

8. Prevent future mistakes by creating or updating system

Recommended Read: A Complaint is a Gift by Janelle Barlow & Claus Moller

1. Apologize:

2. Listen and Empathize:

3. Acknowledge the Customer's Feelings:

4. Fix the Problem Quickly and Fairly:

5. Express Thanks:

6. Follow Up:

Note: Regardless of what you say, your team will follow your example. Consider your staff as your internal customers. How you deal with them is exactly how they will deal with your paying customers. Good internal communication with your team is vital.

How will we track customer input?

Active listening

Capturing customer communication

Discussing the messages received

Discussing how to make improvements

Discuss common mistakes that happen in your store or areas of your store that generate complaints. Discuss ways of minimizing them, and also how to deal with them so you and your team can handle the improvement; the customers perception of value.

Comment 1

Comment 2

Create a story

Be specific

Give clear solutions and valuable benefits

Make an easy yes

Gain emotional access

State solutions

Explain edge-USP

Monthly , Bi-monthly, Quarterly Cycles

National health calendars: Pain Awareness Month

Sports/Social calendars: Professional Football season

Spring = Outdoor, Fun in the Sun activities

New line(s) of products you want to highlight

Is it sky view information or do you actually know something?

What is the specific result, how is it measured, and what should be measured regularly to stay on track? For example, if you are tracking prescription volume in your pharmacy, once a month you track either the average number of scripts per day for the month or the total number of scripts for the month. Then compare the prescription count for the last month against what it was a year ago for the same month (year over year numbers) and also to the previous months of this year (trend and year-to-date numbers). You may want to measure number of customers, number of new customers or number of transfer out customers, just to name a few.

Next you will determine which financial metrics you should be measuring,i.e., gross revenue, gross profit, and payroll. There is no need for this to be a huge undertaking. Your accountant, bookkeeper, or staff can provide you with the numbers. Your role is to determine what youwant to see and by when you want to see it. the owner’s role is to provide direction and leadership to the team. But without the numbers to tell you where you are, you are making decisions blindfolded. It is vital to receive regular and timely financial reports to review and learn from. You can’t course correct with old information. We recommend having a deadline of the 15th of each month to receive reports for the previous month. Be sure to review your key metrics at least once a month.

Once you are measuring and reviewing your financials and metrics monthly, the next step is apply the metrics back to the source and course correct as you move forward. With regular review of your key metrics, you are able to track and course correct toward your goal. In other words, you will be able to see along the way if you are taking the right actions and making the decisions that will enable you to reach your ideal financial future.

Measures business health and valueThe Balance Sheet tells you what you own and what you owe — your assets, liability and equity. It is a snapshot of your business on a particular date. A balance sheet is always prepared on the last day of a reporting period and should be in sync with the income statement.

Measures business performanceThe Income Statement (also called a Profit & Loss Statement or P&L) tells you how much money you are making in your business and how you’re making it. It measures revenues received and costs incurred over a period of time. It is a view of your business over a particular period (month, quarter, year).

Projects revenue and expensesThe Cash Flow Statement is useful in determining a business’ ability to pay the bills and invest in growth. A particular challenge with pharmacies is there is often a lag from paying your wholesaler invoice to being paid by third parties, so managing your cash flow is essential both for day-to-day operations and supporting growth.

Cash Flow is the money that flows in and out of your business from pharmaceutical and front of store transactions, other operations, financing, and investing activities.

Profit, also called net income, is what remains from sales revenue after all the business' expenses are subtracted.