Healthcare: Leading In a VUCA World!

Situation/Problem

Our client who operates globally through 142 affiliates is one of the world’s top 20 leading pharmaceutical companies.

The affiliate in the Middle East is an emergent business unit with an emphasis on people development. The head of L&D, wanted to examine the prospects of enhancing the mental‐agility skills and behaviours of business managers. Historically, these Managers attended the company’s internal Leadership Journey that focuses on 5 leadership competencies:

Leading People, Leading innovation, Leading and Managing change, Setting Direction, Getting results

While operating closely to customers in an ever changing and volatile market, the company was facing these key challenges:

• Being able to adapt and respond fast in sometimes very ambiguous situations
• Needing to be proactive, and become more versatile and adaptable to change, before a change becomes a requirement
• Being able to think out of the box for new approaches and solutions, and make bold decisions to move forward during uncertain and high pressure situations

Influencing others and being more resilient when things don’t go as planned.

Client Needs

A situational analysis was carried out by the team of TTM associates together with the client, taking into consideration their competency framework. The process revealed that a behavioural leadership program was needed to deal with Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity and Ambiguity. According to the client’s strategic intent and vision, the organisation needed a mind-set changing program on Leading in a VUCA environment!

TTM Solution

TTM associates’ solution was implemented in three 3 phases.

Phase one:

Diagnosis & Benchmarking:  This phase was implemented via the Whole Brain technology assessment. This includes one-on-one interviews to streamline the company’s competencies on mental agility. The second step was data consolidation, setting the benchmark standards and translating them into meaningful behaviours according to the client’s culture and value definitions. From that point, the Consultants of TTM associates defined the benchmark gaps for each individual and also for each group. The results of the diagnosis process were identified in 3 categories, all under the VUCA competencies which needed to be clearly defined along with the corresponding behaviours.

These were:

• Change Driven
• Decisiveness Driven
• Influence Driven

Phase two:

During this phase, TTM associates and the client ran a 3-day experiential workshop on VUCA Prime. The participants engaged in provocative situations in group simulations where they practiced, established, and anchored the VUCA behaviours.

Phase three:

Following the workshop, the participants went through a behavioural development mode through executive coaching and webinars.

Outcome

The VUCA Leadership behaviours were defined and benchmarked, so the gaps were bridged. In addition, the participants’ capabilities to lead in a VUCA environment were enhanced. By practicing the desired set of skills and behaviours, the attendees gained a clear understanding of the leadership traits needed to thrive in the ever changing, unstable life cycle of the healthcare environment in the Middle East. Armed with the ability to make decisions in ambiguous environments, the participants were now able to inspire, lead and influence their people to sustain growth in a VUCA World!