From 'The Pharmacist Coach'

Over the past decade, so many people have asked me some variation of the question,

'How come you left pharmacy Rachel?' 

Those of you who have asked me that question know that I have not ‘left pharmacy.’  I remain proud to be a Pharmacist. 

Luckily, neither being a Pharmacist nor being a Coach are mutually exclusive.  Instead, they are entirely synergistic.  That is why I am proud to be 'The Pharmacist Coach.'

As a member of both Pharmacy and Coach/Supervisor Professional Membership Organisations, I am accountable to each profession’s Core Competency Framework and a Code of Ethics. Thankfully, I have found that honouring both enriches each other.  My personal and professional growth journey in coaching has had a synergistic, positive effect on my PSI Core Competencies and my ability to honour the PSI Code of Conduct and vice versa.  It enables me to coach and empower both Pharmacists and Coaches to engage whole-heartedly with life, embrace learning opportunities and face challenges from a much broader and deeper perspective. 

As healthcare professionals, as parents, as partners, as community activists ….. we GIVE of ourselves to others at work and at home. 

Every day, further amplified by the last two years of COVID, I realise with more and more clarity that in order to fulfil my dreams, honour my values and accomplish meaningful goals, I must care for my own health, wellbeing and needs as much as I care for others health, wellbeing and needs.  Indeed, without caring for my own health, wellbeing and needs, I cannot sustainably care well for others.  Instead of being an asset, I become a liability.

I cannot give what I do not have.  Can you?

The results of commitment to self-mastery are empowering. 

I decided that 100% committing to my Continuous Professional Development journey (rather than dabbling with it or treating CPD like a ‘should do’ chore) was to become a core part of my self-care.  My intention was to choose powerful CPD activities – mastering fundamental mindset and skillset that have a positive ripple effect on ALL aspects of my life -  personally, professionally (as both a pharmacist and as a coach), for my clients and colleagues and for the communities we serve.

I am proud to share with you that I, and my coaching, mentoring and supervision clients, have made tremendous progress on our self-mastery practices.  AND we continue to be works in progress! Click here to read the full post.

The Tale of Two Wolves : Saboteur and Sage

As the Cherokee tale of the two wolves tells us, we are either feeding the fearful, negative, Saboteur wolf OR we are feeding the expansive, vibrant, courageous Sage wolf. 

Whichever neural network gets more use expands, and the other contracts.  Unfortunately, most of us, by default and training have over-active Saboteur Wolf tendencies and under-utilised Sage Wolf pathways. 

To address this imbalance requires our daily, consistent, intentional, conscious choice to feed the Sage Wolf, an environment where our Sage can thrive, and a commitment to developing ongoing conscious, self-mastery practices. 

I am proud and grateful that 4Front’s Positive Leadership Academy provides such a community for pharmacy professionals. 

Together, we have a backbone of steel (as we hold one another accountable to feeding the Sage wolf) and a heart of gold (as we support one another to leverage the power of neuroplasticity in our favour).   

Remember, whatever your circumstance, whatever others do, whatever wolf you have been feeding up until now, we all have the power to choose.  Use this power wisely.  You are not alone.  Wolves are pack animals.  Just like your Saboteur Wolf, your Sage Wolf thrives in community.  Choose your community based on who you WANT to become. 

My Sage Wolf reminds me that Obstacles Make Me Stronger (OMMS).  And when my Saboteur Wolf starts to seduce me, because my Sage Wolf is well-fed, it provides a counter-point to my Saboteur Wolf’s dire predictions. Click here to read the full post.

Which wolf are you feeding?  Which wolf are you starving?  How do you know?  On balance, is your current status quo working for you or against you?  

What are YOU most proud of this month?  What are YOU grateful for?  How can  YOU leverage your strengths to coach and empower others to be at their best?

Register for our Next Cohort which starts September 5

If you are interested in an even deeper dive into identifying your Saboteur Wolves and fostering your Sage Wolf so that, as you develop your own self-mastery, you develop your skills at coaching and empowering others, The Positive Intelligence Program® could be a great fit for you (and your team).

The programme grows your three core mental fitness muscles within six weeks, installing the foundational mental fitness operating system, on which mastery can be built.  The Breakthrough app delivers neuroscience based, personalised daily practices that result in powerful new habits for a positive mind.

Intentional on-going focus on building your three Core Mental Fitness Muscles allows you to prioritise mastering your mindset as a fundamental, lifelong leadership practice.  You develop the neural pathways to consciously discern between Saboteur Wolf lies and Sage Wolf Wisdom.  Mastery occurs DAILY, not in a day.  

To equip you to optimise the benefits from your initial six- week intensive mental fitness training, the 4Front Positive Leadership Programme facilitated by Rachel Dungan, Certified PQ Coach® includes an additional four months of support to engrain your PQ practice so that you sustain your momentum, assume a steady, sustainable pace going forward so that you (and those with whom you interact) reap the rewards of your ever strengthening mental fitness muscles.   

Our next cohort starts on September 5, 2022. Learn more here.

Curious to find out more about your unique Saboteur Wolves? 

Click Here! to gain access to the Saboteur Assessment to identify how YOUR Saboteur Wolf Operates. You can also discover your Positive Intelligence Quotient (PQ Score) and more! Click Here! The resources include links to assessments and videos:

• Learn more about how Positive Intelligence mental fitness can improve productive conversations by watching the Positive Intelligence TED Talk
• Discover the saboteurs that are negatively affecting your impact and influence by taking the Saboteur Assessment.  Remember - conflict is not only about conflict with others.  We also experience inner conflict between our Sage Self and our Saboteur Selves! 
• Discover your Positive Intelligence Quotient (PQ Score)
• And more! Click Here.

World-Class Professional Practice Requires World-Class CPD. 

For Leadership Coaches, WBECS by  coaching.com is a leading CPD resource.

I am proud to share that I have been selected as an Implementation Mastery Facilitator at this year's World Business and Executive Coach Summit (WBECS).  For your inspiration, I share the topics and speakers of the Implementation Mastery sessions I am facilitating in September.

I choose to participate fully in the WBECS Summit as one of the CPD activities I prioritise, as it enables me to intentionally create opportunities for me to deepen my ability to empower my clients to make truly informed decisions in ever more complex contexts.  It helps me stay at the cutting edge of best practice and the latest trends across a wide range of disciplines, critical to success as a pharmacist, as a coach and as a leader.   (I lead in diverse domains ranging parenting teenagers, professional leadership, business leadership and consciously living in deeper and deeper integrity with my own mission, vision and values).   

The WBECS Summit features global thought leaders across a range of disciplines related to leadership and organisational development, peak performance, productivity, neuroscience, psychology, wellbeing at work, team dynamics and business and technology trends.

As an Implementation Mastery Facilitator, I get to host deep-dive discussions, learning with and from business and executive coaches from around the globe.  We share insights and explore ways to apply insights gained from the expert session into their professional practice.  We often discuss how to support ourselves and our clients to address the gap between best practice and existing practice.  In lively discussion, we share experiences, challenges and successes we have discovered work in practice to empower our clients to successfully lead in a world of exponential change.  Given our global community, you can imagine perspectives, cultures and experiences differ.  We get to discern pros and cons of different points of view.  This creates a learning experience that expands perspectives and exposes previously unconscious biases.  By doing so, the quality of decision making improves. 

In pharmacy, in coaching, in leadership and in life, truly INFORMED decision making is an increasingly rare and yet ever more critical and valuable skill.  How do YOU continually create intentional CPD opportunities for you to deepen your ability to make truly informed decisions in ever more complex contexts?  

Register for Free to access top rated sessions at this year's Summit including Shirzad Chamine's Session 'Positive Intelligence - From Self-Sabotage to Self-Mastery': https://mbsy.co/6fNFPt

Some of the qualities required to confidently lead others include:

• an abundance of healthy energy, so that you have a positive (not negative) impact on those you wish to influence.
• deepening your capacity to be present with your Sage self, so you can be present with others (not distracted).
• mastering communication skills so you can create a learning environment that engages, equips, enables and empowers those you are responsible for influencing in positive ways.  

In order to bring out the best in others, you must be able to clearly and empathically receive what others communicate to you and also communicate clearly and empathically to others.  This is why the S, T and E parts of 4Front Pharmacy's STEPS Consultation Framework include Seek to Understand, Then be Understood and Empathise. To show up and lead at our best, we need to feed our Sage Wolf and starve our Saboteur Wolf.

I have found that incorporating yoga teacher training and personal practice in my Pharmacy and Coaching CPD plan continues to be a powerful way to nurture my Sage Wolf's physical energy, mental focus, emotional bandwidth and purposeful living.  In doing so, I continually deepen my professional capacity to embody

• personal skills (such as leadership, communication & informed decision making), 
• professional practice (such as adapting to change and innovation),
• organisation and management skills (including managing self, others, risks and quality),
• public health (including personally living a healthy life and advocating public wellbeing)
• client care (including education and coaching for personal and relational wellbeing) 

If you feel inspired to learn about how my yoga teachers approach developing leadership, confidence and voice from a yogic perspective CLICK HERE to join Happy Jack's Leadership, Confidence and Voice Training for Yogis. It includes a variety of transferrable leadership skills, including leadership mindset, core communication skills, voice projection tips, and skills to confidently express yourself in any environment, online and in-person.  

Tech Tools | Where does your attention go? 

Uses Brain-Machine Interface Technology to Help Us Discern between when we are feeding the Sage Wolf and when the Saboteur Wolf is getting the Lion's Share of our attention!

I have been deeply diving into how to optimise human potential for over a decade.  I have learned, practiced (and in some cases mastered) a wealth of evidence-based tools to help my clients live their life consciously, fulfil their potential and inspire others to do the same.

However, despite my progress, I still find it a challenge to help brilliant clients access the evidence they need to discern what is working FOR them, and what is holding them back. 

You can imagine how intrigued I was to learn about FocusCalm technology at my monthly EPIC Mastermind Call with Positive Prime.  I was so intrigued that I bought a FocusCalm device as a Christmas gift to myself, and started to use it daily as a neurofeedback tool.  How amazing is it that consumer technology has developed to the point where you and I can get real-time readings of the electrical activity in our brain? Click here to read the full post.

If your Sage feels inspired to take transformative action to master your mindset, so that you reap benefits in multiple areas of your life, including professionally, our Positive Leadership Academy could be a perfect fit for you.  Our next cohort starts on September 5, 2022. Learn more here. 

Celebrate World Pharmacist Day on September 25 #WPD2022

Theme: Pharmacy United in Action for a Healthier World

This year's theme aims to showcase pharmacy's positive impact on health around the world and to further strengthen solidarity among the profession.  

How are YOU planning to celebrate World Pharmacist Day?

To what degree do you proactively connect with individuals, colleagues and communities in a way that has a lasting positive effect on ALL parties' health and wellbeing?  How does your Saboteur Wolf get in the way?  How do you intentionally foster your Sage Wolf?

Imagine what could be different if you chose to fully engaged in CPD activities designed to intentionally foster your Sage Wolf?  

4FrontPharmacy Online offers all pharmacy staff OTC pharmacy specific training, in medical conditions, product knowledge and consultation skills.   4Front's STEPS™ Consultation Framework offers a proven strategy to host productive pharmacy consultations and reduce the risk of unproductive defensive, aggressive or passive consultations.  

Start your journey with 4Front Pharmacy Online for FREE and experience every course with four easy-to-follow steps:

• Step 1: Choose your course and review learning outcomes
• Step 2: Watch course video at your own pace
• Step 3: Review resources, references, and reading materials
• Step 4: Take the Course Assessment and get a certificate (Premium Membership required)

Once you are a registered member of 4FrontPharmacy Online, you can also enrol for 4Front's Positive Leadership Series - a free member benefit. 

The topic for our next LIVE Zoom Call is 'Preparing for ePortfolio Review.'  Click https://www.4frontpharmacy.ie/leadership-series to register to attend LIVE for free.   

 Article Download: A Prosperous Future for Pharmacy

IPN’s Pharmacy Business Excellence Series is for community pharmacists committed to growing their professional and business knowledge and skills to overcome challenges and thrive as a community pharmacist.

4Front Pharmacy is proud to partner with the Irish Pharmacy News (IPN) to bring you the ‘IPN/4Front Pharmacy Business Excellence Series.’ In this series, you will learn how to apply 4Front’s 6P’s of Pharmacy Excellence to navigate the ‘Future of Pharmacy.’

4Front’s 6P’s of Pharmacy Excellence are
1. Personal Leadership
2. Professional Practice
3. People (Patients/Customers/Staff/Other Healthcare Professionals)
4. Products and Services
5. Promotion
6. Prosperity (Profit and Time)

This month's download focuses on 'A Prosperous Future for Pharmacy ' and includes an example of a CPD Cycle that you could write based on your engagement with this article.  

Click here to download the full article.