The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 275 No 7362 p210
13 August 2005

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Wholesale pharmacist influencing pharmacy

Mandeep Mudhar is a marketing director, managing a large team at AAH Pharmaceuticals. Dr Mudhar is a keen golf player and once a week, he goes to a gourmet cookery class at his local adult education college.

Reflection As I became more senior within AAH, I felt I needed to be more aware of how others perceived me and become more focused. By having a better awareness of myself I would be better at motivating others in a commercial environment and at understanding their challenges.

Planning I did a lot of research through the internet and spoke to a development coach. As a result, I chose to attend a course called “The seven habits of highly effective people”. This was a two-day residential course in Dublin. There are a huge number of management programmes and I tend to get a lot of information in the post. The big difference about this course was that it was not just about becoming a better manager. It also looked at becoming a better person — a holistic approach. To go on the course, I had to make a proposal to AAH.

Action A lot of work needed to be done beforehand. There was a book to read and a CD-ROM to use. In addition, I had to complete a self-evaluation questionnaire and give questionnaires to my peers (including my boss) to complete to be sent to the course organisers. This can be a searingly honest way of finding out your strengths and weaknesses. The course itself was intensive, going through each of the habits using interactive exercises.

Evaluation From feedback given by my team, the course has made me more composed — I do not let things take me too high or too low emotionally. I think I have become more considerate towards others and I look at planning differently. I am more aware of the challenges of my team so our activities are better planned. I am also better at switching off when I go home. One of the seven habits is to seek first to understand then to be understood. This helped me in one of my biggest recent wins: developing a primary care organisation service to be offered by AAH. Looking at how others would view the service helped me put the proposal together. It was accepted within half an hour.

Record I have not used “Plan and record” yet, but I have registered on the website. I found the site a bit difficult to navigate at first and asked a colleague who is used to it to help. Although I work on a computer, when it comes to writing, I like to use paper. However, I do think online recording is the way to go.

CPD is a personal thing, aligned to your environment and position. I read a lot of marketing and business material. Even though some of us in wholesale are not doing clinical pharmacy, we do influence the profession (for example, by developing tools for pharmacy) so keeping up to date is important.