Identifying Leadership Competencies And Building An Assessment Program With An American Pharmaceutical Company

Our client is an Fortune 250 American pharmaceutical company which specializes in the manufacturing of prescription pharmaceuticals in a number of areas. These include; HIV/AIDS, cancer, diabetes, and many more.

There had been a long history of change and restructure within the organization since the early 2000s. The major transformation was borne from a shift in focus to biotechnology, and an effort to downsize and streamline the work as a result. Our client wished to focus on specific areas within the business with strong emphasis on R&D, oncology, and immunotherapy whilst also maintaining their work in other areas of the organization.

As a result of the major changes within the organization, there was a need to assess and develop the leadership talent to take the organization through these changes effectively. YSC Consulting’s expertise was called upon due to our impactful work with another client in the biopharmaceutical industry.

Individual assessments:

Prior to the assessments, YSC worked in partnership with the client to create four bespoke leadership competencies. This was an iterative process which included several hours of research, and the use of YSC’s own capability model for tailoring.

To support the transformation, YSC initially conducted 50 individual assessments of the heads of their regional offices. This consisted of a two and a half hour deep dive interview, exploring the individual’s key drivers, potential (matched with YSC’s JDI Model of Potential) as well as strengths and development areas.

This was followed by an individual report to share these insights with key stakeholders within the business. An initial one-page ‘flash’ report was shared, which included a summary of strengths and development areas, recommendations for development or promotion, and leadership capabilities.

To tailor to this client’s requirements, YSC committed to fast delivery for the assessments, with a one-business day turnaround for the ‘flash’ reports.

Following the client’s satisfaction in this initial phase, this opened the door for further assessment work for both selection and development purposes. The top four levels from the C-suite down were assessed across a two-year period with a total of 450 assessments to date.

Coaching:

Transition coaching followed the individual assessments to provide leaders with the necessary developmental support needed to achieve their personal and organizational goals.

Aggregate Analyses:

Following the assessments, YSC put together aggregate analyses and a round table with key stakeholders and sponsors of the program within the business. This consisted of a summary of psychometrics, JDI scores, and capability across the leadership cohorts (benchmarking) using data gathered during the individual assessment phase.

YSC used a number of consultants across the business to achieve the large-scale assessments required for this client. YSC offered a streamlined approach to assessments using a tailored but consistent format across all leadership levels. There was also global calibration of reports, which provided rigor around the insights provided by YSC Consulting.

The organization is currently achieving business results and are ensuring that the right leadership is put in place to make the best decisions for the future of business. The leadership team uses JDI to assess their team internally – the outcome enabled them to increase the level of engagement from 10% to 40% for readiness for critical roles. Following YSC’s coaching intervention post-assessment; the percentage of ‘ready now’ candidates increased to 80% for the top 20 critical roles.