One of the keys to success with any change initiative is to ensure it is properly embedded, Natalie Woodford, SVP for talent, leadership and OD at pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline, told the CIPD annual conference.
“Execution is the new strategic; embed is the new “sexy”, said Woodford, who added that it is also essential to treat everything as an OD intervention to “leverage the power of the whole”.
Woodford outlined the transformation that has been taking place at GSK over the last few years, which has focused on simplifying the operating model and creating a more diversified business, as well as trust and empowerment.
“The pharmaceutical industry was and is going through a lot of change,” she said, describing the operating conditions for the company as a perfect storm in which the company saw itself as an oil tanker when it needed to be a yacht. “It continues to be stormy,” she said. “But we have a leaner and fitter crew.”
Among the initiatives that have been introduced are an accelerated delivery programme aimed at delivering business results faster and more effectively, a renewal of the senior talent pool - which has seen almost all of the top 200 people change or move role - and improvements to succession planning.
The company has also run a number of development programmes, including sending future members of the executive team to Kenya to work alongside NGOs and taking future general managers to the slums of Mumbai so that they can see the “sharp end” for themselves.
“These are all examples of how we are trying to make things embed. Everything needs to be part of a whole, not single interventions,” said Woodford. “The CEO once said ‘these are all great programmes but I want to see what difference they make’. That is the piece that we are absolutely working on.”