Taking the Lead at UniChem
When UniChem wanted to develop future leaders to drive growth and success, they chose to work in partnership with Academee. The resulting leadership programme has quickly achieved its key goal of uncovering the leaders of tomorrow from within the organisation.
The Background
UniChem is a leading distributor and wholesaler of pharmaceutical, medical and healthcare products in the UK. Previously part of Alliance UniChem, following the merger with Boots in 2006, UniChem is now part of Alliance Boots.
The Challenge
UniChem is a successful organisation and a leader in its field, keen to ensure continued strong growth.
The company was keen to discover and nurture future leaders within UniChem, rather than relying entirely on external recruitment to fulfil key leadership roles. Although UniChem is a very people-centred organisation, there was limited formal succession planning or leadership development in place.
UniChem's aim was to identify high potential managers and then provide challenging learning opportunities for them. This learning needed to equip these individuals with the capability to deliver the core requirements of the organisation and, in the words of UniChem, 'bridge strategies to outcomes.'
The Solution
Sheena Webster, UniChem's head of human resources, was keen to bring in some external expertise on such a significant programme.
“As soon as I met Academee, I knew there was a cultural fit between our two organisations,” says Sheena. “Academee also understood our business, which was critical.”
UniChem was clear about the areas the leadership programme needed to focus on:
- Aligning performance for success
- Building a successful team
- Building partnerships
- Customer focus
- Facilitating change
- Initiating action
- Innovation
- Leading through vision and values
- Risk taking
- Strategic decision making
“We knew what we wanted to achieve, so we fully briefed Academee and they designed a learning programme to meet our needs,” says Sheena. “We were also clear that although we wanted external involvement, we also wanted to co-facilitate the programme in partnership with Academee.”
The programme Academee designed is called 'Take the Lead.' It is highly interactive, and aims to provide all delegates with the opportunity to develop in line with organisational capabilities and success indicators. The programme also includes real-life business scenarios, enabling each participant to put learning into practice and into context.
27 potential participants were identified by the board through UniChem's performance management process and invited to join 'Take the Lead.' They were divided into two cohorts and the programme was launched in September 2006.
This extensive programme is run over a 24 week period. Participants engage with three separate three-day workshops, held off-site at regular intervals. The first workshop focuses on the individual, the second on teams, and the third on the organisation and strategy. These are followed by a one-day workshop focused on implementing overall learning.
Academee's Tom Pounder is lead consultant on the programme and Sheena Webster works in partnership with Tom to co-facilitate each session.
“This works very well,” says Sheena. “Tom focuses on the theory, and during group discussion I can focus more on the reality of UniChem. It is important that participants have the opportunity to see the bigger picture. By helping to develop their thinking, I can help them take more of an all-round view.”
Alongside the workshops, each cohort works on two projects designed to address a strategic challenge within UniChem. Typically, these projects involve participants working in an area that is unfamiliar to them. For example, the first cohort addressed a sales challenge and only had one sales specialist on the team. The conclusions and recommendations of each project and are presented to the managing director and other board members.
The Benefits and the Future
'Take the Lead' has succeeded in achieving its core aim of developing future leaders from within the organisation. The first cohort completed the programme in April 2007 and of the 14 participants, 11 have already been promoted to new roles within UniChem.
The recommendations of the two projects presented by the first cohort to Unichem's managing director and board members were also positively received. Both were immediately implemented across the organisation.
For example, a revised approach to leadership and coaching has helped the IT department to become more closely aligned with the rest of the business. Following involvement in 'Take the Lead,' the head of IT has led by example and the team is realising the benefits of close collaboration with peers and business stakeholders, and taking a 'single team' approach to working with IT colleagues in Naples.
Overall feedback has been extremely positive.
”The programme has broadened people's perspectives of leadership,” says Sheena. “It is about seeing the bigger business picture and taking responsibility as leaders within our business, which is very important. An additional benefit is that the cohort has become a strong network. Those individuals use each other and each others' skills to do business at all levels.”
As well as continuing the 'Take the Lead' programme, Sheena is keen to build on its success: “We want to take this programme to next level of management, to equip them with coaching skills, enable them to manage change better and to understand performance management. We're going to roll this out in the Autumn.”
UniChem is also planning to implement elearning from Academee to create a sophisticated blended learning programme.
“The business really recognises the success of the co-facilitation,” adds Sheena. “Partnership is one of UniChem's core values, and we have a great partnership with Academee.”
A successful leadership programme at UniChem has swiftly and successfully achieved its key aim of developing future leaders from within the organisation.
