(205) A “focus on the positive” may negatively affect students’ future influence in the pharmacy profession

Objective : To analyze students' most predominant characteristics according to the Gallup CliftonStrengths® assessment and the Student Leadership Practices Inventory® 360 (SLPI) outcomes and the implications these may have on the pharmacy profession.

Methods: Two colleges of pharmacy analyzed 6 years of data from the CliftonStrengths® assessment and SLPI in an exploratory effort to identify possible trends or themes.1,2 All enrolled first-year students from the classes of 2020-2026 were surveyed. Inductive reasoning was applied to the results, along with existing research, to generate possible explanations or hypotheses of these data.

Results: Out of the top 5 CliftonStrengths, 4 were consistent across the majority of student cohorts: Achiever, Learner, Harmony, and Restorative. These CliftonStrengths are in 3 of Gallup’s four Domains of Leadership Strength: Executing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking, with none in the Influencing domain.3 The top 5 CliftonStrengths remained consistent from previous published works to today.4,5 SLPI results concluded students' rankings (from self-evaluation and blind reviews of observers) were lowest in the two of the five practices: Inspire a Shared Vision and Challenge the Process.

Conclusions: Students across six cohorts have a self-identified weakness in their ability to challenge a process and inspire a vision, which aligns with a lack of CliftonStrengths identified influencing strengths. These limitations may affect students’ ability to advance an agenda with healthcare stakeholders to promote changes in pharmacy practice where an ability to influence is critical to reach a broad audience. With this in mind, one is left to wonder if future pharmacists are “able to Advocate [sic] to promote the best interests of … the pharmacy profession within healthcare settings at the community, state, or national level.”6