Personal Note from Rachel

Listening to Energy, Capacity, and Season

A Different Kind of Awareness

As spring springs, April often brings a different kind of awareness.

The initial push of the year has passed.
The pace is established.
Expectations are clearer.

And for many leaders, something more subtle begins to show itself.

Not collapse.
But contraction.

When Contraction Becomes the Default

In a system where pharmacists are being asked to do ever more clinically, lead more visibly, and carry increasing responsibility, contraction can quietly become the default.

Not as a failure.
But as an intelligent response to pressure.

In recent conversations with pharmacy leaders, I am hearing language like:

• “I’ve tightened things up.”
• “I’ve cut back.”
• “I’m just getting through this stretch.”
• “I’ll consider taking on new initiatives when things are a bit less hectic."

These responses make sense.

What Contraction Protects

When energy is under pressure, reducing exposure can be a wise, short-term strategy.

• Fewer meetings.
• Fewer decisions.
• Clearer boundaries.
• Less emotional availability.

This protects energy in the moment.

The Quieter Truth About Capacity

BUT.... capacity does not expand from a place of depletion.

What protects you in the short term cannot, on its own, restore what has been drained.

Many capable leaders do not get this wrong.

They simply stay in it too long.

If you are noticing this in your own leadership, it may not require a solution yet.

It may require space.

A 90-Minute Strategic Thinking Session offers a focused, confidential space to explore what is present, clarify what is being carried, and consider your next step with greater clarity and integrity.

This is not about fixing.

It is about understanding what your current leadership style is costing you.

If this feels relevant, you can schedule a session here: 90-Minute Strategic Thinking Session

Where Stoicism Gets Misunderstood

At its best, stoicism is about discernment.

Knowing what is (and what is not) within your control.
Acting with integrity.
Conserving energy for what matters.

It is not suppression.
It is not silent toleration.
And it is not continuing regardless of the costs.

How Contraction Shows Up Over Time

When endurance replaces awareness, leaders remain functional.

But they become smaller in how they lead.

This rarely looks like burnout.

More often, it looks like:

• reduced emotional range of what you tolerate, or allow yourself to feel!
• narrowed, anxious or more urgency focused thinking (less strategic or longer term innovation).
• chronic tightness, which might show up physically as tightness in the jaw, neck, shoulders or back.
• a sense of being on hold in your leadership.

The Energy Reality Beneath the Surface

At this stage, many leaders are operating at a net energy loss.

Across physical, mental, emotional, social, and spiritual domains, energy is being managed, but not restored.

The system contracts to conserve energy, but it does not replenish.

What Expands Capacity

Expanding capacity requires something different.

Not more discipline.
Not more resilience.

But a different quality of listening.

A Different Kind of Listening

One that is:

• supported
• relational
• sustained

This is where partnership begins to matter.

Partnership with your own body.  (Are you a good friend to your own body?)

Partnership with your team. (Do you really listen to what they are really saying, and not saying?)

Partnership with your sources of inspiration, expansion & hope within your network - family, community, mentors, coaches, advisors.  (Who are these partners for you?)

Remember - No-body likes to be taken for granted!

The Role of Partnership with Others

Not as motivation.
Not as intervention.

But as a steady external presence.

Someone who listens WITH you.

Who notices what you are too close to see.

Who helps you distinguish between:

• what needs to remain contained and
• what needs support to expand again.

Restoring Capacity

Despite our very best efforts to prove the contrary, through over 5000 hours of coaching multiple brilliant & talented leaders & their teams, I have found that leaders do not regain capacity by pushing themselves or their teams harder & harder & harder.

Nor by managing everything alone. 

They do so by creating conditions where energy can:

• circulate
• integrate
• recover

This takes time.

But it is possible.

A Point of Reflection

If your leadership has become smaller in order to remain afloat, it may be worth pausing with that.

Not to change it immediately.

But to understand what it is asking of you.

If This Reflection Is Pointing Somewhere

For some of you, this reflection is enough.

For others, it may be pointing to something that needs to be developed more consistently over time.

This is where a different level of support becomes useful.

At the Lead With Coaching Institute we offer a structured, relational space to deepen your listening, leadership, and capacity to sustain in complex environments.

Our Certificate & Diploma programmes are designed for leaders who want to integrate coaching, leadership, and professional responsibility in a way that is both practical and sustainable.

If you would like to explore the next cohort, you can learn more here: Lead With Coaching Institute.

Warmly,
Rachel

Rachel The Pharmacist Coach
MCC | ACTC | NBC-HWC | EMCC
Director of Education, LCI
Founder, 4Front Pharmacy Solutions

If these reflections resonate, you may wish to continue the conversation here:

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