12 Top skills and distinguishing quality for being successful in the pharmaceutical world.
Skills are the proficiency or aptitude needed in order to accomplish a job or task. Many of you heard that to get job or promotions in the pharmaceutical industry, you have to have special skills. So, what are the skills required to be an industrial pharmacist? Nobody is born gifted, every talent requires practice and refining. Hard work, training and practice will help you to generally improve your skills.Following are the top 12 skills and distinguishing quality for being successful in the pharmaceutical worldCommunication:
Communication means passing information and understands what is said to us. The ability to communicate effectively with superiors, colleagues, customers, and service providers is essential irrespective of the industry you work. The skills which will help you to be an effective communicator are listening, nonverbal communication or body language, confidence, clarity in mind, empathy, respect, openness, give and receive feedback, and transparency. This skill is most important skills for successful in pharma.Teamwork:
The importance of teamwork is vital in a competitive world. Individuals possess various capacities, weaknesses, strengths, and skills. Working in a team provides ample learning opportunities, improve upon weakness, build confidence, and improve efficiency and productivity. When you work in a team, the chances of accomplishment of goals are highest. It will result in the enhancement and optimization of your performance, improve job satisfaction, and increases work speed. The inability to work in a team could delay success.Stress management:
Every professional in the job felt work-related pressure or stress. The source of stress could be meeting deadlines, new challenges, and to be best among all. One cannot avoid these situations on the job but can take steps to manage the stress. The most common sources of stress are workloads, fewer growth opportunities, not having control over job-related decisions, unclear demands, and expectations. The following are a few measures which will help to control and manage the stress on the job. a. Prioritization: Use tools such as urgent-important matrix, 80-20 rule by Pareto, for time management, and work prioritization. b. Monitor the conditions that may trigger stress: Accept the reality first. You can only manage your emotions and actions. Monitor and identify your stressors and find out the solutions for those which would relieve you from most of the stress conditions. c. Self-discipline: If the nature of work does not mandate you to work and act 24 X 7, avoid office work at home or checking mail outside working hours. Establish boundaries to manage your work life and family life. d. Take a break: Take a periodic pause to replenish yourself. e. Talk to your supervisor: If you have any difficulty, discuss it with your supervisor or boss. Communication is key to any solution. Healthy communication will always yield good results. Pharmaceutical business requires high level of attentiveness being a regulated environment. To deal with many complex situations, stress management is most desirable skills for successful in pharma environment.Timelines and targets:
Time and target have a significant role in the success of any task. The time limit for the work is applicable for all functions irrespective of the nature of the work it does. Production has a target to produce, quality assurance has a target to improve the systems, marketing has a target to increase the sale, and supply chain has a target to control the inventory and provide delivery on time. No one exempted from meeting the target and timeline. When you achieve targets within the timeline consistently, it will build confidence and trust for you in your team. You will be the first choice for your supervisor to give an important task, opportunity, or recommendation for your progress.Honesty:
For a healthcare professional, honesty is a necessary trait to have. Your one mistake can affect the life of any patient. During the recruitment process, any organization prefers an honest person first. When you are dealing in the business where it directly impact to the people life, honesty is a key for success. Being an honest is the most powerful skills for successful in pharma industry.Flexibility:
While working in a regulated environment, one will ask, where the scope of flexibility! We need to follow the regulations and standard procedures. Flexibility is the willingness and ability to respond to changes. In the real world, you will encounter many challenges and situations, which would be difficult to handle. You need to understand it, open with new ideas and suggestions to meet the expectations. Willingness to take new roles-beyond your skills and helping others play a vital role in your career path. These will help you to learn new skills and improve knowledge and will benefit you to grow faster in your profession.Interpersonal skills:
Interpersonal skill helps an individual to interact with others effectively, such as talking with the boss, colleague, assistant, client, or customer. In the professional world, it refers to an employee’s ability to work and interact well with others. Social intelligence or people skills are other terms of Interpersonal skills. While working in the profession such as the pharmaceutical industry, interpersonal skill is essential because you need to interact with multiple functions on a day to basis. It will help you to get your work done faster and to achieve your target on time. The skills include negotiating skills, problem-solving skills, knowledge-sharing, and building trust with colleagues.Positive attitude:
Maintaining a positive attitude will help you to keep yourself energetic at the workplace and enhance productivity. This attitude will reflect your leadership qualities and will help to grow in your career.Professionalism:
Professionalism is the conduct, behavior, and attitude of someone at the workplace. The expectation of organization from employees is to support in achieving their goal and in return organization helps you to grow in your career path. Here are ways you can practice and improve professionalism. Talk clearly, work ethically, take initiatives, be punctual, work with integrity, ensure fulfillment of commitments, participate in problem-solving, develop self-awareness, develop interpersonal skills, open to learn new skills, and be resilient.Take responsibility:
The person who fails to take responsibility becomes less productive and less successful. Being a healthcare professional, it is essential to take responsibility for every act which is done by us. Taking responsibility when things go wrong is critically important to building belief with an employer, collogue, supervisor, and assistance.Work ethics:
Work ethic is a valuable attribute of an individual. Maintaining moral values at the workplace is the work ethic. Work ethics plays an important role in professional success, employability, and position for better opportunities. Examples of work ethic skills are Honesty, Integrity, Accountability, Collaboration, Commitment, self-discipline, and Efficiency to produce. Similar to the honesty, work ethics is also a most important skills for successful in pharma industry.Leadership:
Leadership skills not only important for an individual who lead the team; it is essential for everyone irrespective of their job profile at the workplace. Everyone will be expected to show their leadership abilities at work at one point or the other. The chances of upliftment of an individual will increase who takes initiative, energetic at work, engage oneself in teamwork, exhibit a creative approach and enthusiasm to take up challenges.- Here are a few tips, which would help you to improve your leadership in the workplace.
- Effective communication
- Speaking at right time without hesitation
- Out-of-the-box thinking to resolve the problem
- Solve the problem with logic, valid reference, and science
- Ask a question to understand better
- Ready to learn from anyone
- Think like a leader
- Effective communication
- Understanding limitations and thinking toward resolution
