Manager development programme for Pharmacy chains: from top-selling pharmacist to branch team leader
Chains often promote the best pharmacist to store manager and expect the branch to improve. The skills that made them good at the counter differ from those needed to lead a team of four.
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Share your requirementsWhy manager development programme matters in pharmacy chains
A store manager in a pharmacy chain carries a lot: the rota, the incentive numbers, the stock, the complaints, the relief arrangements and a team that may be older or younger than they are. They are usually promoted because they are reliable and known to customers. Few have had training in how to give feedback, handle a dispute or plan a week.
A manager development programme teaches these skills in short, practical sessions using the manager's own branch. It does not need a classroom for days. A half day each month, with a task to try in the branch and a conversation afterwards, works better. Area managers are drawn in so they can coach in the same language.
How to set it up
1. Ask managers what is hardest
Run short talks with a sample of store managers and area managers. Note the top five challenges, such as rotas, absence, difficult customers and pushing sales.
2. Design four short sessions
Cover planning a week, giving feedback, handling absence and conflict, and reading branch numbers. Use real examples from your branches.
3. Give each manager a task to try
After each session, one thing to do in the branch, such as holding a ten-minute feedback talk with each assistant. Ask them to report what happened.
4. Involve area managers
Brief them on the content so they can coach on the same points when they visit. The manager development programme page describes how we would build it.
5. Check for change
After three months, look at absence, attrition and complaints in the branches whose managers took part. Adjust the content from what you see.
Check these first
Before changing anything, find out what is true today. These take an afternoon and use your own records.
- Ask three recent store managers what training they received before starting.
- See how many branch managers have given written feedback to an assistant in the last month.
- Count store managers who left or were moved back to the counter in the last year.
- Check whether area managers know what branch managers are being taught.
GullyHR can do this with you. Read how we approach manager development programme in general, or share your requirements and we will tell you where to start.
Questions owners ask
A few months with short monthly sessions is usually enough to build habits. A single long workshop is quickly forgotten.
Yes, where both manage branches. The people skills are the same. Keep clinical and regulatory topics separate and confirm them with a qualified professional.
Look at things managers can influence: absence, attrition, rota fairness and complaints. Ask assistants whether the feedback they get has improved, and compare these signals with branches whose managers have not yet attended.