What will make or break the future of companies today?
By The Team 19 May 2010.
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Across all industries, companies are facing unprecedented challenges to secure their survival. No company can succeed today unless they improve their effectiveness and engage their employees with stepping up to the challenge. Companies are streamlining their business models, facing huge pressure to do more with less, and as a result are breaking down silos and working in a more collaborative way. These changes are having a huge impact on the role of leaders, managers and employees themselves.
I’ve seen this shift in the UK Pharma sector over the past few years. It’s not just the economic crisis that’s been the catalyst for change in this industry however. Patents for major blockbuster drugs are expiring, emerging replacement products are lacking, and the industry is facing huge generic competition. So how will the pharma sector get through the changing times ahead?
What’s all too easy for large companies to overlook is their biggest asset – their employees. We know from experience that when employees care about their company, they are motivated to work harder and remain loyal. Our recent experience with an international pharma has seen some incredible results. We have been working closely with leaders of the organisation using powerful and compelling stories to effect changes in behaviour. The leaders have been sharing the right kind of stories at the right time to ignite action and to illustrate the types of behaviours they want people to adopt to drive higher levels of performance.
Take John Lewis, the nation’s favourite retailer. Despite the deepest financial and economic crisis since the second world war they announce profits are up 20%. Unlike most companies, John Lewis is owned by a trust on behalf of its employees; each of them has a say in its running and in its profits. Many of the people they recruit don’t have retail experience but what everyone has is the right behaviour and attitude. This attitude brings together the team towards a collective goal. They believe that you can train anyone to do things but you can’t teach someone how to be. What makes them so successful is the emphasis they put on their people, building relationships and sharing knowledge.
Whilst it’s not possible for every company to work in the same way as John Lewis, what is possible is for all companies to look after the employees who in turn look after the customers and the profit. We have found the solution lies in getting underneath the DNA of an organisation’s culture, understanding why people take pride in what they do. Following our recent employee engagement research at a UK-based pharma, we know the answer in this industry lies in the pride people feel for doing something that improves the quality of life of customers and patients. By tapping into this pride the organisation is starting to work together better, and leaders are more confident about making decisions for the good of the team, rather than just silo defence strategies.
Finally and importantly, measuring and rewarding the types of behaviours that deliver results encourages everyone to manage and improve their performance in support of business priorities.
