Chempro boss Bianca Olsen lifts lid on pandemic challenge, hard resets and finding balance

Gold Coast Bulletin ‘Women of the Year’ sponsor Chempro’s boss Bianca Olsen talks Covid era abuse of staff, leading a team under fire and running 150 franchises. Read her candid interview

The national boss of 150 Chempro pharmaceutical stores has lifted the lid on the tough times during the Covid pandemic, saying customer abuse cost her a lot of team leaders.

Chempro general manager Bianca Olsen, said team managers could only take so much and making sure staff were ok from a “wellness level” has become a top priority.

“During the pandemic, everything was reactive and you’re thinking ‘I don’t know how much more stores can take’ - free vaccines, masks, no Panadol left.

“We were one of the only industries that stayed open the whole entire time. And we lost a lot of retail team leaders who couldn’t take the criticism at the store level. People were super abusive, it was horrible.

“I thought, ‘Man, they’re doing it worse than us at head office’. We just have to keep turning up for them. Now there’s so much more that we can do for our teams from a corporate

level, but also from a wellness level.

Chempro general manager Bianca Olsen at Broadbeach: “During the pandemic, everything was reactive and you’re thinking ‘I don’t know how much more stores can take’ - free vaccines, masks, no Panadol left.” Picture: Glenn Hampson

“Which is how I want to turn up for my team and for the other owners of their businesses telling them to put themselves first. Making sure my team is turning up as the best version of themselves. Rest is important.”

Ms Olsen’s Chempro is sponsoring the ‘Wellness Warriors’ category of the Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year awards by Harvey Norman for a second year running.

“I have a lot of younger mums in my team, I actually don’t know how they do it. They are so resilient.

“They still turn up with a smile on their face after that horrific week. They still work.The key takeaway is developing your team to make sure they have balance and that our stores have balance. We can’t keep the community well if we’re not well ourselves.”

The award winners will be announced at a glittering function at The Star Gold Coast on September 16.

Bianca Olsen on her ever-expanding Chempro team: “I have a lot of younger mums in my team, I actually don’t know how they do it. They are so resilient.” Picture: Glenn Hampson

BORN LEADER

Chempro general manager Bianca Olsen - with 150 franchises across Queensland and NSW - is a natural leader and reveals thesecret to leading a team is about empowering and including those around you as well as putting wellness and balance at theforefront of everyone’s goals.

Bianca Olsen is a born leader.

Not only was she the oldest child in her family and also given leadership responsibility at a young age, she was surroundedby great examples.

“My granddad was a pharmacist, my other grandad was mayor and my family had businesses and were business orientated. I hadgreat aspirations to be a leader like them. Being the oldest child I always had leadership. I’ve always been a high achiever.I thought I could lead people and teach because I like teaching and showing.”

And so it has come to pass. Only in her 30s, but Ms Olsen is the general manager at thriving pharmaceutical franchise Chempro - the fastest-growing in Australia - and she leads all 150 stores in south-east Queensland and northern NSW and their ownershipteams.

Before Chempro, she had the opportunity aged 18 to lead, by managing her father’s hotel “and really strived in that - findingout about different people, personalities and managing from such a young age”.

“I felt leading and growing a team was something I was just born to do. I feel like I’ve always had that. I’m an advocatefor being an overachiever and try to tick all the boxes. It used to be hasty, fast and reactive – now it’s collaborative andinclusive, because you can’t do everything.”

“I felt leading and growing a team was something I was just born to do.” Picture: Glenn Hampson

‘WORK ETHIC BIGGEST KEY’

But nothing was ever handed to her on a plate and she emphasises she had to work to get where she is.

“When I moved away from our small town, I thought you shouldn’t build your life around what your family has given you or not...buildyour own life. I was fortunate enough my family gave me work ethics and morals to go out and achieve what I wanted on my own. Not have it handed to me.

“People always assume because your family is business orientated and successful, you’ll automatically get that, which is notthe case. Work ethic is probably the biggest key to my success.”

She adds: “When I work in an organisation, I turn up as though it is my own. Whether you own the company or not. Turn up likeit’s your own because that drives passion and that drives a team.”

Asked about the glorification of hustle in recent years and “girl bosses” out there juggling kids, career and relentless pursuitof goals and whether there has been a trade off for women to an unhealthy pursuit of trying to do it all at the expense ofwellness, Ms Olsen thinks for a moment and replies: “We have born a generation of ‘respond within 24 hours’, if not 24 minutes.Your phone’s always on. I’ll be the first to put my hand up, I’ve been guilty of messaging late at night to different managers.”

‘FINDING BALANCE’

Like all great leaders, she is reflective, adaptive and not afraid to embrace change.

“I really took a reflection the last few years and been like that’s not sustainable for anyone. It doesn’t matter how muchyou love the hustle or how much of an overachiever you are. That expectation and mentality needs to change across a lot of organisations. Wellness and balance are chucked around words. I don’t know how anyone really finds work life balance. I just need my team to take time for themselves and their families. There’s a clear boundary of what’s a great time to switch off and be present with your family, time to be present at work. It’s been a big mission of mine the last few years to make sure that everyone has that balance in building a team.”

She notes instilling the importance of balance in her team helped her to do the same.

“That’s what made it easy to step away and do my hard reset because I built a team knowing nobody would die or drown in the workload, that I got enough resources to make them accountable. And they shone. I couldn’t be prouder of them. I came back and felt like I’d never left. For me it’s just making sure they know it’s okay to take time out and do things for themselves and their family – that it’s not just that corporate hustle 24/7. Let’s breathe, enjoy life and still kick corporate goals - but focus on our wellness.”

That focus on wellness is realised by Chempro continuing to sponsor the Gold Coast Bulletin Women of the Year awards and inparticular the Wellness Warriors cateogory.

“If I’m being really transparent. I took a hard reset, and I took a month off. I focused on growing personally and developing myself.”

She even got a leadership mentorship coach.

“I believe once you get a title, you can’t just not keep developing. Now I set small milestones for myself each week of things I’m going to do to fill my cup up, and do check-ins with my team. That’s not micromanaging, that’s just checking in to see how they are personally and professionally, because we’ve got a great family culture at Chempro. I feel that’s attributed to checking in and making sure their cups are full.”

‘HARD RESET IS SOMETHING EVERYONE SHOULD DO’

Like anyone who leads from the front and works hard, taking her own proper long reset break wasn’t easy.

“It was super hard. I thought I could just take a week and it’ll be fine. People think every annual holiday or Christmas break,having those public holidays and the extra in between, will do it. But I am fully detached.

“I deleted emails on my phone, I deleted teams off my phone. That wasn’t to be a bad leader. I just felt I built my team toa level now where they were so confident, but it also gave them the ability to shine on their own two feet. The safety netof Bianca wasn’t there.”

The result was one she is proud of: “They collaborated more amongst themselves and then they got to really understand what amazing culture they have. The hardest thing for me was feeling like I was letting them down in taking the time off. A hard reset is something everyone should do. Not once a year, maybe every second year, and fully detach.

“For me, I’ve turned up stronger than I think I’ve ever been in my leadership career.”

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