In community pharmacies we do not have the luxury to choose not to be a leader. Leadership is about change, and we are in an era of change that is unprecedented. Dispensing will remain the backbone of community pharmacy, but its value to the NHS is low. Dispensing will provide access to patients to allow us to deliver services and this will be valued by a primary care led NHS.

Our service proposition, operating model and professional approach must change. Without engaging in change, and leading that change upon whatever canvas we work, will result in community pharmacies losing significance within primary care.

If you have realised that you don’t do much leadership, make a commitment to start in a small way. Commit to spending 30 minutes at the start of each week to reflect on the previous week; what went well, what didn’t go so well and what you want to do differently. Think about the week to come. What do you want to achieve? What tasks are you going to delegate?

Will you will develop a member of your team by giving them some feedback, coaching them to improve their performance or training them to undertake a new task? Think about what you are going to do to ‘sharpen the saw’ and develop yourself to become more effective.

If you own your business, could you plan to take half a day per month just to focus on being a leader; reflecting on successes and progress, identifying opportunities inside and outside your business, networking, planning how you can use your team effectively or creating some thinking time, perhaps with the support of a coach? How would this be an investment for you rather than a cost?

If you do take this leadership time, don’t succumb to the pressures of management tasks because they seem pressing. You won’t replace your leadership time, and your opportunity will be lost.

Don’t be afraid of building up your leadership role. A little leadership goes a long way and the more leadership you do, the more time you will have to be a leader.