Healthcare · pharmacy leadership coaching · open conversation
The Phone Number Conversation
You're Marcus again. A different technician, a different error pattern. Same skill: explore before you interpret.
You are Marcus Delgado
Confident pharmacy manager. Already runs coaching conversations but cuts corners on exploration.
Gap: Execution. He tells instead of asks.
Support: Hints only if you ask. Hints are recorded.
Objective
Given a pharmacy performance scenario involving a technician error pattern, investigate by posing at least two open, exploratory questions before stating any interpretation, with zero leading questions, scored on a GROW investigation rubric.
What is GROW? (optional for Marcus Delgado)
A four-stage structure for a coaching conversation. The manager asks. The employee does most of the thinking.
Goal
Agree on what a good outcome looks like, for this conversation and for the work.
Reality
Find out what is actually happening before you decide what it means.
Options
Ask the employee what could work. Their ideas come before yours.
Way forward
Agree on a first step, who owns it and when you will check in. Some versions call this Will.
Naming the stages earns no credit here. The criteria score the questions you ask and when you ask them.
Before you start
- This is a fictional coaching conversation at a fictional pharmacy. Ana is not a real person.
- There are no scripted choices. Type or say what you would actually say. Ana only knows what's in the case, and only tells you what your questions earn.
- It is not clinical decision support. It won't answer medication, dosing or patient-care questions.
- Do not enter real employee, patient or customer information.
- You have about 12 turns before the evening rush. Nothing is timed. You can pause or end the conversation at any point.
- Each reply goes to an AI model (Anthropic's Claude, through the Anthropic API) up to three times: once to label what you did, once to write Ana's answer, and once to check that answer doesn't give away something you haven't asked about. This app keeps no transcript, no account and no analytics. What happens to your data
For designers: how this scenario was scoped
Three questions came before any dialogue: how long the practice should take, the moment the skill breaks down on the job, and what learners already know. Each answer set a limit on what the scenario tries to do.
- How long should this be?
- 10 to 15 minutes, up to 12 turns. Enough for one skill: exploring before interpreting.
- When does the skill break down?
- Pharmacy techs juggle prescription-filling accuracy with customer service. The skill breaks down when a manager sees an error pattern and tells instead of asks.
- What's the learner's experience level?
- Leaders with some experience but inconsistent coaching approaches. Marcus doesn't need the idea of coaching. He needs to hold back his interpretation.