How IMS Health is Developing its Talent
Sandra Agnew, Director of Organisational Development, EMEA, at IMS Health, talks about some of the challenges faced by her team in the quest to develop talent and shares with us her experience in the development of a consolidated global management training initiative provided by Cegos UK.
IMS Health is the world’s leading provider of business intelligence and strategic consulting services for the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries. Operating in more than 100 countries and with revenues of US$2.2 billion, the company helps customers to shape strategies and achieve competitive advantage.
As Director of Organisational Development, EMEA, Sandra Agnew is responsible for training and development across 47 countries. With so many countries to look after, a key challenge for learning and development is scalability.
“We have to ensure training resources are not just focused on the company’s five major markets but on emerging markets too. These smaller markets offer tremendous potential and often have relatively few people on the ground. This presents a particular set of challenges as budget may not stretch to cover travel to workshops for example,” said Agnew.
The global healthcare and pharmaceutical market is in a period of major structural change. As a result of the marketplace dynamics all companies operating in the sector are under pressure to deliver more with less. This means it is more important than ever that training is used to maximum effect and that it delivers real value to the organisation. With the sector being global, fast-moving and competitive, training is an essential business tool for retaining the top talent and for long-term competitive advantage.
Luckily for IMS Health’s Organisational Development function, the senior executive team are forward thinking and committed to investing in their people during these pressurised times. This commitment is being borne out by a number of initiatives including the introduction of a single comprehensive global management training programme that is being rolled out over the next 12 months to all individuals who need to develop their management capability.
Having the right company culture and ensuring buy-in to training from the top-down is key to ensuring it is successfully embedded within the organisation says Agnew. “There is a good appetite for more and more development. People generally want training but sometimes fail to make the time to attend.” In order to tackle the issue, Agnew says that redeveloping a culture where people recognise a clear need for training, see the benefits it delivers, and come to demand training that is relevant to their personal needs is vital.
Agnew is helping to foster a culture that encourages individuals to take ownership for their own development. A good example of this is the company’s recently implemented “Bright Sparks” initiative. Bright Sparks is committed to growing the skills of the organisation’s more junior staff who one day will be the company’s future managers.
Under the Bright Sparks initiative, employees were encouraged to bid for part of a ‘pot’ of money that had been put aside specifically to nurture this talent. Individuals had to think about what training they would need in order to meet their personal career development goals. This approach was so popular across the different countries, says Agnew, that the budget was in fact doubled so that everybody with a clear training need could benefit. Bright Sparks runs on a bi-annual basis allowing people to coordinate their applications with the mid year and year end performance reviews.
Whilst IMS Health carries out some of its management training itself, the diverse set of country needs means that third party expertise is an essential part of the organisation’s learning and development strategy.
Cegos is one of two key learning and development partners that are contributing success to the organisation. Cegos is working with Sandra and her team to develop the organisation’s management capabilities and is also providing a dedicated sales skills development programme. Both programmes are using e-learning as a way to blend, extend and personalise the learning experience for all participants. The programmes have been designed to ensure that learners are fully engaged while being flexible and highly tailored to the organisation’s needs as well as the individuals taking part.
Back in April 2007, Agnew and her team undertook a comprehensive evaluation of the market in order to select a management development partner that could support the organisation’s needs. Agnew describes the process as being “forensic” in its meticulous approach.
“We looked at organisations all over the world and Cegos was head and shoulders above the competition. They clearly understood our issues and have articulated this into a highly customised training programme that doesn’t feel like a tailored off-the-shelf solution,“ said Agnew.
When Cegos came on board, IMS Health was running 58 different management workshops globally. There was a strong business case to define and develop one global approach for management capabilities.
Working with Agnew and her team, Cegos helped develop the “Global Fundamentals of Management” workshop programme. This is being rolled out to 1st line managers. Roll out in the Americas region began in June this year, followed by EMEA in July and Asia Pacific in August 2008.
“Our priority over the next 12 months is to ensure that all new managers as well as more experienced managers benefit from the ‘Fundamentals’ programme,” says Agnew. “While it is still early days in terms of rolling out the programmes, initial feedback has been very positive, with Cegos proving itself to be flexible and part of our team.”
One factor which has played an important role in the success of the initial roll out has been the presence of regional presidents and key members of the senior executive team at each pilot course.
So what lessons can other companies learn from IMS Health’s experience?
Most importantly you need to get leadership buy-in and commitment as early as possible in the process, Agnew says. Getting key stakeholders involved from all regions globally as well as the senior HR team has led to a successful development of the programmes. “If you can’t tap into senior management then you are going to be fighting a losing battle,” she warns. Good communication is key to gaining buy-in, says Agnew. “You need to make sure the benefits for both the individual and organisation are clearly communicated.”
Learner engagement - making sure you get buy-in from learners so that they own their own learning pathway - can have a measurable impact on the success of a programme. “Training needs to be relevant to the individual” says Agnew, to ensure learners are engaged. With a more flexible approach to training that combines e-learning with live sessions, individuals can learn at their own pace, enhancing their learning experience. Learner engagement also has a positive impact on personal development and growth, which in turn leads to a greater Return on Investment from the individual’s perspective as well as for the company in terms of long-term growth.
Agnew also believes it really pays to get to know your suppliers from the outset. "Make sure you know what you want to achieve. Challenge your vendors and let them challenge you. An open and honest relationship is essential in getting true learning needs and a fully engaging and measurable learning and development experience - that adds value to the organisation and to individuals."
