(Written by Allie Sturm*) With the rapidly changing landscapes in industries from healthcare to technology, experienced leaders face questions, such as “will my knowledge and skills become obsolete and irrelevant?” “How will I keep up?” Seasoned pharmacy leaders moving into leadership roles outside of pharmacy likely ask themselves, “how can I be at my best when I know very little about this area?” Liz Wiseman, author of Rookie Smarts, explains the key to stay fresh and keep learning is to think like a rookie.
Wiseman urges us to “live on the learning curve.” Her research studied almost 400 workplace scenarios, comparing how rookies (someone who had never done that type of work) vs. versus veterans (someone who has done that type of work) tackled work assignments – regardless of age. Here are some of the findings:
- Rookies are strong performers
- −Rookies outperformed veterans in innovation and time to completion.
- Rookies have a unique success profile
- −Top-performing rookies sought out expertise in others, connected dots, experimented, learned from mistakes, and focused on incremental gains. Top-performing veterans were fast to act, marshaled resources, found simple solutions, focused on solving the right problem.
- Rookies aren’t always what they seem
- −They are more likely to ask for help, listen more, and work cautiously.
- Experience creates dangerous blind spots
- −With experience comes habits and once habits form, our brains stop working. As leaders begin to rely on experience, they tend to stop asking for feedback and exploring new domains and paths.
How can leaders think and lead more like rookies regardless of experience? Wiseman instructs leaders to put themselves into the rookie smarts mindset, characterized by four distinct modes. These modes are a component of how we should think and act when approaching assignments like a rookie.
- Be a Backpacker:
- −Rookies typically have nothing to weigh them down and nothing to lose. They have an unencumbered mindset.
- −Veterans can too easily act as caretakers. Having accumulated a track record and trophy case, they maintain the status quo, a protecting mindset.
- Be a Hunter-Gatherer:
- −Rookies are disoriented and are forced into a sense-making mode that causes them to pay close attention to their environment. Their mindset is alert and seeking.
- −Veterans are more confident and act like Local Guides with an advising mindset.
- Be a Firewalker:
- −Rookies lack situational confidence so they operate cautiously but quickly and take calculated steps, move fast and seek feedback to stay on track. They have a cautious and quick mindset.
- −Veterans feel capable and tend to operate like Marathoners running the long race. It’s a mindset of staying steady, pacing oneself, and plodding along.
- Be a Pioneer:
- −Rookies are traversing uncharted and often uncomfortable territory, they improvise and take ownership and create value as they push boundaries. They work with a mindset of hunger and relentless pursuit.
- −Veterans are well established and act like Settlers who have put down roots. They have a mindset of comfort and consumption.
Questions to Consider:
- Do you “live on the learning curve?”
- In your leadership roles, are you a backpacker or a caretaker? Do you push limits or do you tend to maintain status quo?
- Has your experience or time with an organization created blind spots? Where are those blind spots most likely to be?
- How can pharmacy leaders train the next generation to maintain their rookie mindset and encourage them to continue functioning within Wiseman’s 4 Rookie modes?
*Allison Sturm, PharmDPGY1/PGY2
Health-System Pharmacy Administration Resident
Nationwide Children's Hospital
M.S. Health-System Pharmacy Administration Candidate 2016
The Ohio State University College of Pharmacy
Email: Sturm.42@osu.edu
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