Coaching Never Sleeps

Great people are critical to business success and they never stop looking for ways to improve while organizations must aspire to greater heights in the fast-changing pharmaceutical sector.

These twin drivers are fueling an expansion in staff coaching as an exercise in good business practice and progressive leadership that underscores a company’s values.

Innovation and developments across the pharma sector are traveling at warp speed and advantages are being seized and maximized across all aspects of business.

Empowering staff with personal and professional development through coaching is now seen as a core characteristic of agile, attractive organizations and the most productive pathway to ensuring employees feel valued and have the freedom to push their skill sets and careers forward.

Embedding coaching into a business opens doors to improved performance, better client engagement and satisfaction, cross-department collaboration, staff retention, improved patient outcomes, and a progressive atmosphere where critical thinking and innovation – aligned to business imperatives – can flourish.

This White Paper examines the principles of coaching and how they can energize a business across a range of metrics.

The engagement landscape has been subject to tectonic shifts since the pandemic and it is clear that field medical teams need new skills to open dialogues and develop rewarding relationships with HCPs.

Whether this is through digital channels or in-person, the way that connection is handled is of wide-ranging significance. It resonates through the business transaction to employee satisfaction and staff retention; each with a critical influence on commercial success.

A recent survey by Gallup of executives from a range of industries demonstrated that good quality coaching had a positive impact on elements such as productivity, absenteeism, customer loyalty, and sales and contributed an overall 23% boost in profitability. 1

The report emphasized that employee engagement and well-being was substantial factor in driving growth and productivity during times of change. “Companies constantly evolve, and they need new ideas all the time. Engaged employees are a lot closer to the best ideas. They’re thinking about the whole company and how they fit into it, and their ideas lead to better decisions,” stated Jim Harter, Gallup’s chief scientist of employee engagement and wellbeing.

The Transformative Edge

Jim Robinson is CEO of Urovant Sciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company that specializes in developing accessible treatments for people with urologic conditions. Urovant’s rapid growth to becoming an influential player in a challenging sector is built on a foundation of a ‘talented and motivated’ team that operates in a ‘culture of inclusion and empowerment’.

It is an ethos that takes commitment, investment, and strength of purpose.

Coaching is an important factor according to Robinson, a former President, of Americas Operations at Astellas Pharma. “A strong coaching culture ultimately demonstrates the commitment to driving engagement throughout the organization,” he says. “The act of coaching is a conscious act that demonstrates – and literally is the embodiment of – creating a culture of engagement because the engagement becomes a two-way dialogue. You are not only coaching in terms of skill development or coaching for the opportunity at hand, but you are observing the fruit in the outcome of that coaching. “

Robinson, who is passionate about employee development, believes that coaching needs to be agile and free from the constraints that often shackle in-house training systems. “One of the key elements of successful coaching is adaptability: Adapting to the opportunities, adapting to the issues and challenges you face, and creating approaches that adapt to the environment that you’re in – also known as developing a game plan for success. Having the ability to adapt and being able to act on the opportunities or challenges is essential.”

Pharma is awash with challenges as organizations recalibrate to meet new demands from HCPs and clients who want tailored content that is delivered with succinct and compelling narratives. Conventional scientific presentations and broad-based campaigns will fall flat so field representatives need to be skilled and confident in personal communications.

“Field medical teams get a lot of training in science but they don’t get the same level of training in external communication, especially when it comes to being brief,” says Linda Traylor, PhD, VP, Medical Excellence, Acceleration Point, who has 25 years of high-level MSL expertise.

“It is critical to become proficient in techniques such as developing elevator pitches, being succinct, telling stories with data, having resources available, and being able to practice it out loud. In the end, field medical is in the business of having practice-changing conversations. And that is a different skill that they have to develop.”

Sales excellence consultant René Enthoven, who has 35 years of experience developing sales performance through enhancing skills and capabilities, believes coaching is worthy of boardroom-level presence. “It is critical to reaching goals in a changing world,” he says. “Every company at the moment is experiencing some form of change or is in transition to new targets and building different ways of building new relationships.

“They are asking their employees to work hard to reach their goals but you need to help them to grow in their abilities and competencies to do whatever they need to do.”

Enthoven, who is also a consultant to coaching training app 60 Seconds, adds: “A lot of things have changed in the market, particularly the way people communicate and the pandemic experience has shown that we cannot just go on autopilot. We have to almost reinvent how we communicate with each other.

“Communication methods change with every generation and despite recent upheavals, one thing has not changed; people like to do business with people.”

Coaching: Challenge and Reward

Coaching and training both have a place in the corporate structure but they serve different purposes and should not be conflated into one approach. Training focuses on knowledge transfer such as learning the science and therapeutic detail of a product; coaching is personal development, with a focus on nurturing the skills and competencies to deliver that knowledge in a way that resonates and enhances relationships.

“Coaching, by definition, cannot be a workshop,” comments Traylor. “Coaching and training are separate entities. We should never convey that if you attend a workshop you are going to have a coaching experience.”

While training involves disciplined learning; coaching needs personal examination and reflection and, if done correctly, takes time, investment, and a willingness to step out of comfort zones, according to Traylor.

She adds: “If you’re not challenging somebody, and pushing the boundaries of their level of comfort to establish what is needed for growth, then you are not making the most of the coaching opportunity.

“It can be uncomfortable but I believe that employees deep down really want to be pushed to grow and get better at communicating and negotiating even if they think they are pretty good already because, when they go through coaching processes, they often find they have blind spots

“If they have a really good coach they should feel uncomfortable. The most important thing I could say about this is that if you are not getting pushed outside your comfort zone, then the coaching experience is not working. Some people thrive in it but others take time to adjust to the environment but once over that initial barrier they can get as much value as those who understand it immediately.”

The Trust Imperative

“Establishing trust between the coach and staff member is essential if it is to be effective,” says Linda Traylor, who has developed expertise in solving complex medical affairs challenges and has expertise spanning FDA-regulated drugs, devices, biologics, and non-FDA regulated laboratory-developed tests. “That way you can get down to having the hard conversations, without judgment, that will improve the individual.

“Without trust, it is just an exercise in futility.

“There is no magic wand for establishing trust overnight; it comes with the evolution of the relationship through honest and authentic conversations. Having frameworks and systems in place is critical but really good coaches know how to balance the relationship, the human component, with the technology, techniques, and systems.”

It is a sentiment endorsed by Jim Robinson, whose company mission statement stresses that ‘values create an engaging environment and unlimited potential for positive change’.

He says: “Part of the core of engaging is making people feel comfortable, that they are included, and you are treating people equitably. I believe in DEI, particularly when you define it in a way that connects not only to all our colleagues but contributes to our business success. It means recognizing the uniqueness of individuals, treating each person fairly and with dignity and respect, and valuing each person such that they are comfortable being who they are and using their voice to contribute their best.

“This supports engagement and wraps together with coaching to deliver tangible and sustainable results.”

Trust and engagement are woven into the fabric of Robinson’s leadership approach and he adds: “I do think that coaching is an essential part of leadership. I believe the attributes of a good coach stem as much from character traits as skills or competencies, and it demands a long-term view.

“A leader as a coach is focused on the team and their future. It’s about developing the organization and developing the person for both today and the future path they’re going to provide the organization. On the one hand, we help them be successful today, but even more importantly on the other hand, make them successful long-term.

“This means making sure you are covering the fundamentals of leadership: maintaining the highest levels of integrity; knowing your business inside and out; being authentic; being willing to pitch in; caring for your employees and having a ‘never quit’ attitude. From that, coaching will be a natural outcome.”

The coaching DNA of an organization needs to flow from the C-Suite level to have a real, sustained impact and business benefit, observes Traylor. “If that doesn’t exist then your program will struggle. Buy-in has to come from the leadership team but you also have to resource it appropriately with the right people and the right technology, techniques, and processes, and integrate that with the company’s goals and individuals’ goals.

“It’s not enough for leadership just to say we want this done and have it executed; we have an expectation that it is integrated into the performance goals.”

The Rewards

The theory and sentiment are clear and, many experts believe, that business rewards flow through corporate culture to commercial success.

A study in the Journal of Management Development 2 that surveyed 87 companies employing business coaches found that 99% reported a positive return on investment. It stated: “The results confirm findings from past research such as that reported by the Institute of Coaching that managers should not undervalue potential contributions to individual and company attributes from coaching.”

The point was underscored by the Centre for Creative Leadership, a non-profit provider of leadership development, which contends: “If your organization has a coaching culture, then you have a culture of truth and courage…. in corporate cultures that aren’t shaped by coaching mindsets and values, what’s true often goes unspoken, change only happens when a crisis takes place, and courage is a rare quality.”

Coaching in action on the front line

Omnichannel opportunities to reach HCPs are abundant but their time is at a premium so pharma companies are looking for a stand-out narrative that connects and lifts the science into actionable relevancy.

“The majority of a company’s growth comes from what happens in the field and that is where coaching in pharma is at its most potent,” says Linda Traylor. “It should lead to improved levels of engagement where you can see a real return on investment.

“Coaching can help field teams optimize their time and their ability to connect, whether it is virtual or in-person. MSLs have a lot of training in science but not so much coaching in people engagement and that is where a lot of the benefit is derived from putting these coaching tools into action to build new skill sets.

“MSLs often have to do virtual engagements where the visual non-verbal cues are not present so you have to switch to non-visual non-verbal cues such as intonation and word emphasis. These skills have to evolve to accommodate new methods of external engagement.

“Companies that invest in coaching are going to get a competitive advantage.”

An embedded, well-resourced coaching program is now expected by many employees, and René Enthoven comments: “Younger members of staff now expect that a company will invest in them to grow their abilities. People want to be coached because they can learn, grow and become better.

“If you don’t do it you are both not using your assets – your staff – and you run the risk of them leaving the company.”

The business benefit from coaching is emerging as a significant element of an organization’s success and ability to grow. In pharma, this reaches mission-critical status as companies need to showcase often complex, innovative therapies that defy blockbuster drugs standard commentary.

Pharma companies also have to understand and meet the expectations of HCPs, adds Enthoven, who states: “A company will have high expectations of its staff but so will the client. They do not want to be bothered with simple questions or things they can look up on the internet. They expect excellent communication skills.”

“Good coaching is not only expected, it is vital to future success.”

Break-Out Box

Jim Robinson, Urovant’s CEO, believes that leading a company is far more than being a figurehead visible at either product announcements or financial and regulatory reporting set-pieces.

For him, leadership is an all-consuming, all-pervading pursuit and he has a five-point plan to frame how leaders can establish and get the best from a dynamic, inclusive coaching culture.

He says: ‘First, paint a very clear picture of what you want to achieve. And when you paint that picture, make sure it connects both the head and the heart. That will start the buy-in process because people will begin to visualize in their own minds what must happen – and what they need to do individually – to achieve that outcome.

Second, always remember you are part of the team, not apart from the team. Everyone is in this together, collectively driving towards that outcome. There are no silos; there’s one team.

Third, you need to be brutally honest about your performance. You accelerate what’s working, fix what’s not and fix it quickly. You cannot let problems linger; you address them right away. Problems always get in the way, and they definitely impact performance.

Fourth, praise in public, and coach in private. Make sure you are always looking to find people doing the right thing. An extension of this is that you never tolerate jerks. There’s no quicker way to destroy the culture and morale of your company than if you tolerate jerks.

Finally, the best way to think about all of this is to create a virtuous cycle. Start by painting that picture to get the buy-in or alignment you need as a team to drive performance without exception, then foster engagement, and then actively build this approach into the culture of your company as a key to success.

About the Interviewees:

Jim Robinson

Jim is Chief Chief Executive Officer and Board Member of Urovant Sciences, responsible for overseeing the company’s operations. His career has touched every aspect of the industry, with a relentless drive to make a meaningful impact on the lives of patients and their families suffering from some of the most devastating diseases, including urological diseases such as overactive bladder.

He was the President and Chief Operating Officer at both Paragon Biosciences and Alkermes and worked for Astellas Pharma for 12 years where he held the positions of President of Astellas US and President of Americas Operations.

Linda Traylor

Linda Traylor, PhD, VP, Medical Excellence, Acceleration Point is a seasoned clinical research and medical affairs professional with over 25 years of experience in the healthcare industry, including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, biologics, and diagnostics. She has extensive cross-functional expertise covering the entire product lifecycle and has worked across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, infectious disease, diabetes, cardiovascular and kidney disease, as well as precision medicine.

Throughout her career, Linda has held various medical and clinical affairs positions, from Medical Science Liaison to Department Head for Clinical Development and Medical Affairs (CDMA). Her expertise lies in solving complex medical affairs challenges and developing data-driven narratives to support scientific exchange and thought leader development. As an adept people manager, Linda has built high-performing teams supporting all medical affairs functions. She is passionate about simplifying complex issues into straightforward, data-driven solutions for the healthcare industry.

René Enthoven

René has over 30 years of sales, sales management, and executive management experience in a variety of industries. He has held the positions of sales representative, sales & marketing manager, and director-owner.
He is a respected senior trainer and business consultant – for a number of companies including 60 Seconds – focusing on sales, service, and leadership. René leads certification workshops, and client presentations and coaches employees managers, and executives, and maintains that talent development and retention is a key success factor in business.

References:

About the Author:

I have directed 35 plays and coached performances for 30 years. I have worked with the likes of LA director, Robert Benedetti, US playwrights, Edward Albee and Will Eno, voice coaches, Kristin Linklater and Cicely Berry, Alexander teacher, Nadia Kevan, LA acting coach, Ivana Chubbuck, British playwright and screenwriter, Stephen Jeffreys, LA screenwriting master teachers, Steven Kaplan, Chris Vogler and Michael Hauge. I use these experiences with the world’s leading performing arts practitioners and my own background in theatre, to inform my work in presentation coaching. I work with a host of CEOs and their firms around Australia including KPMG, DLA Piper, CBA, QBE, Merck, and BOQ, as well as politicians and barristers, to help them present their message with punch. I am also a talent coach with Seven, Nine, SBS, ABC, and Fox Sports working with reporters and presenters on their presentation and storytelling skills, as well as many of Australia’s leading sportspeople. Clients have included Michael Slater, Wally Lewis, John Aloisi, Sharelle McMahon, Lara Bingle, Mark Ferguson, Ben Fordham, Allison Langdon, Mike Baird, Jonathon Brown, Glen Boss, and Tom Carroll.

In the past five years, I have created a new performance coaching app called 60 Seconds which is a crystallization of my experience.