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Unleashing Pharma’s New Potential In Changing Market Dynamics

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Several pharma majors have started pondering in this space. This is evident from several recent developments, both in India, and also in other places of the world. One such articulation can be heard from the very top of the domestic pharma industry, which could be a pacesetter for many others.

The founder and Managing Director’s Message of India’s top pharma company – Sun pharmaceuticals, was released to the media on June 02, 2021. This speech is a part of the company’s Annual Report 2019-20. It is indeed interesting from overall pharma business operations’ perspective in India amid Covid-19 pandemic. It is also in sync with what many of his global counterparts have also expressed in recent times. To give a sense of Sun Pharma Chief’s reading and understanding of the fast-changing business dynamics, I am quoting below a few critical points of his above message:

  • There is a gradual realization that the COVID-19 virus is here to stay and that all of us will have to learn to coexist with the virus till an effective treatment or vaccine becomes available.
  • There will be far-reaching changes in the way in which organizations are likely to operate going forward.
  • Consumer behavior and consumption patterns are also likely to change due to the global pandemic.
  • Social distancing and maintaining individual hygiene (like using masks and hand sanitizers) have become imperative.
  • Work-from-home (WFH) option has been exercised by most organizations for certain functions and there is a likelihood that it will continue for some more time till the viral infection comes under control.
  • There is a possibility that WFH may become the new-normal for certain categories of corporate work force even after COVID-19 comes under control.
  • Also, there is a higher focus on automation, digitalization as well as an increased dependence on analytical tools for decision making.

Overall, in the global pharma and biotech arena, one can now witness a varied response to opening-up – some quite bold, others are flexible and cautious – as the scenario unfolds. In this article, I shall dwell on the importance of framing a well-thought-out plan, with clearly stated Plan B, C and D in this area, to prevent any business opportunities to slip by due to delayed action.

Key questions to answer – what to open and when to open:

It goes without saying that remote working or WFH for all pharma employees can’t remain in-force for any indefinite period. It will mostly depend on two critical drivers, mainly to avoid any reckless decision with grave consequences. One – how fast several – reasonably strong preventive measures, such as, vaccinations, can provide a reasonable herd immunity to most people around. And also, how most other similar businesses successfully start carrying out their commercial operations in the same environment.

Pharma players would then need to have a clarity on the business functions where selective personal presence of the qualified staff is necessary, as no extent of technological interventions can compensate it. Then follows the question, when to start opening – without being reckless and following all prescribed Covid related health norms. The answer to these questions should be addressed along with Plan B, C and D ready – just in case something doesn’t work out or because of competitive reasons.

To elaborate this point, let me first give an example of what an Indian tech behemoth is planning to get back some employees in the workplace, based on a sophisticated digital model. Thereafter, we will have a glimpse on how several pharma and biotech players are planning in this space. The basic assumption is – the grand show must go on – with collective scientific learnings on how to coexist with the virus, for an indefinite period, if inevitable.

Integrated digital plan to get back more employees at the workplace by TCS: 

Lilly, Amgen, PfizerAs reported on June 02, Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) are working on a plan to get back more employees to the workplace. The tech giant is focusing more ‘on increasing talent fungibility as global clients increasingly require associates with niche skills to be deployed on projects at short notices.

Thus, to evaluate how it will get a certain percentage of people back, TCS has drawn up a risk assessment model, Intelligent Urban Exchange (IUX). To effectively address the new requirements for employees’ safety, regulatory compliance, and operational efficiency, the company has devised this system. It will help TCS to get real-time insights that will help restore operations and ensure safety, while becoming nimbler and more resilient in the new normal.

What some global companies are planning now:

One will witness a mixed approach of global pharma players to get back employees at the workplace, soon. This will be evident from a few examples, as below.

A Bloomberg report on April 27, 2021, highlighted: ‘As vaccine drives ramp up and open the possibility of a return to the office, a growing number of companies have pointed to a continued role for remote work — and less of a need for pricey office space.’ It quoted Novartis CEO saying: ‘“We’ve all learned from the pandemic that we can work from home and work from the office, and it will always be a combination going forward.”

Thus, in Novartis, “hybrid-based working environment” – at-home and in-office work, will persist for the long term – extending beyond the pandemic. The Company CEO also reiterated: “We think this is the future.” The flexibility should allow Novartis to “access talent pools we would not have been able to access in the past,” he believes.

Similar approach, but with specific dates for returning to the workplace: 

By an open announcement on Linkedin, the Chairman and CEO of Eli Lilly declared the Company’s plan at the current stage of Covid pandemic. He said: “More than a year later, I’m pleased to say that we’re actively planning Lilly’s return to our workplace in downtown Indianapolis, and other facilities around the world.”

He further said, on June 1, 2021, Lilly will begin reopening their Indianapolis offices, inviting 25 percent of our workforce back – with masking and distancing indoors, and a requirement for vaccination. Barring a change in the steady downward case rate in the community, the Company will then open to all Indianapolis-based employees on July 12, 2021.

The company’s new work model will be based on the requirements for each job. Some employees will be on site all the time, others most of the time, and some will have even more flexibility. As ‘individual work’, and some ‘transactional work’, is easier done remotely, employees in those roles can choose that option in consultation with their supervisor. But collaboration, innovation and learning are best done in-person at the Company facilities, the Chairman and CEO said.

He reiterated, Lilly is not taking these steps casually, but based on a data-based approach, and will continue to do so. If external factors change, Lilly will adapt. In other countries, the Company offices will continue to follow local guidelines and open as they are allowed based on local circumstances, the Company clarified.

More remote working being planned by many other global majors:

According to another report of May 07, 2021, many other global pharma and biotech majors are now planning in favor of long-term remote working for several critical business than ever before. For example, on May 07, 2021 Amgen announced that the Company will make working from home a permanent policy for much of its international workforce, including locally.

It said, “Most of our employees who are currently working remotely will continue to do so for a majority of their time, even after the pandemic ends. Our intent is to create a more flexible environment that intentionally combines the benefits of remote and in-person working.” The statement further added. “We are not initiating any changes to our Thousand Oaks campus at the time. Though some staff may come to campus less frequently.”

As reported on April 27, 2021, Pfizer has put its large Philadelphia-area campus up for sale, as it considers the future of work. According to the company, as revealed by Fierce Pharma, “The decision to do so is primarily being driven by the company’s evolving – flexible working model, providing employees with greater flexibility to work remotely while still maintaining the ability to connect and collaborate regularly on-site.”

Conclusion:

It’s over a year of business disruptions within the pharmaceutical industry, at varying intensity and in different phases, though. For example, after more than a year since the pandemic hit India, Covid 2.0 has, reportedly, pushed up Indian pharmaceutical sales to a new high. It recorded an exponential growth of 59% year on year in April 2021, against 16 per cent – year on year in March 2021. This is obviously an outlier and is apparently unsustainable. Thus, for a sustainable good growth with greater certainty, Indian pharma players would require working out a well-researched digital blueprint of the future working framework of business operations with ‘what if’ options.

As has been revealed, remote working, wherever it makes robust business sense, will help getting hard-to-reach talent pools regardless of geography. This opportunity needs to be leveraged. However, it’s also a fact that for various reasons, everyone may not be too comfortable to work from home. Thus, the future work plan may call for a balanced and employee specific approaches.

Which is why, the process will require in-depth analysis of key functions where the personal presence of qualified staff is necessary, mainly because, no extent of technological interventions can compensate the human presence. Then follows the question – when to start opening in a responsible way – following all prescribed Covid related health norms. A representative pilot trial may help in this area.

Some of the key factors to consider will include speed of getting the staff vaccinated. Besides, arrangement for quick identification of breakthrough Covid infections among staff through quick tracing, testing, and provisions for appropriate hospitalization, if necessary, need to be put in place. Thus, I reckon, it’s time for the domestic pharma companies to diligently plan for unleashing the new potential of the respective organizations – amid the pandemic-triggered changes in market dynamics.

By: Tapan J. Ray     

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.

 

 

Fostering EQ For Pharma’s Excellence In The New Normal

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On February 25, 2021, one of the top Indian business daily flashed a headline – “It will be working from home, post-pandemic too at many top companies.” It wrote, companies like, Tata Steel, Philips, Infosys and Maruti Suzuki are evaluating job roles to permanently enable employees working from home, or remotely – even after the pandemic. This is just one example, out of many unique outcomes of last year’s disruptive business turbulence, causing a potential mental or emotional impact on many employees.

Virtually across industries, many such significant changes have taken place in several facets of businesses including traditional operational processes. As has been widely witnessed, many desk-bound office jobs – temporarily, partly or fully – shifted to remote working – almost overnight, as it were. Such a shift is being contemplated in several work-areas by a number of drug companies, as well.

For understandable reasons, another concurrent and instant demand surfaced for a critical hard skill – involving applications digital tools and platforms. This was mostly to ensure that key business communications and customer engagements, at least, keep ticking during the crisis, despite unprecedented initial headwinds.

However, sans a catalytic soft skill that helps address several current-environment specific several organizational needs, even applications of digital skills are unlikely to be able to leverage the full potential of digitalization. While navigating through today’s uncharted frontiers, where there are no footsteps to follow, the organization will need flexibility and resilience among leadership, ensuring employee adaptability to change, and creating a new climate of fostering creativity with digital technology.

Interestingly, this soft skill – ‘Emotional Intelligence’ – often referred as ‘Emotional Quotient’ or EQ, wasn’t discussed, as much, for various reasons. In this article, I shall deliberate, why this much-known soft skill is indispensable for business excellence in the new normal – from the pharma industry perspective.

EI/EQ in business isn’t a new idea, but more important now than ever before:

Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer coined the term ‘Emotional Intelligence (EI)’ in 1990 describing it as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among them, and to use this information to guide one’s thinking and action”.

In 1995, Daniel Goleman in his book ‘Emotional Intelligence’ defined EI as the ability to:

  • Recognize, understand and manage our own emotions and,
  • Recognize, understand and influence the emotions of others.

In other words, ‘this means being aware that emotions can drive our behavior and impact people (positively and negatively) and learning how to manage those emotions – both our own and others.’The ability to manage emotions is measured through Emotional Quotient (EQ).

EQ – a cutting edge of excellence, especially in the new normal:

Much before the pandemic, in 2018, McKinsey & Company had projected that between 2016 and 2030, demand for people with high EQ would grow across all industries. Again, in May 2021, the Company reiterated: ‘To meet this challenge, companies should craft a talent strategy that develops employees’ critical digital and cognitive capabilities, their social and emotional skills, and their adaptability and resilience.’

However, with unprecedented changes in pharma business dynamics, the process has been further accelerated. EQ is now expected to be a cutting edge for performance excellence – in any organization. Hence, digital savviness may not be just enough in the new order for organizational turnaround aspirants. Sans people with high EQ, among both – the leadership and staff members, digital transformation alone may not be enough for commercial success.

Long ago, Daniel Goleman epitomized it in his article - ‘What Makes a Leader?’ This was published in the Harvard Business Review (HBR) in January 2004, where he wrote: ‘IQ and technical skills are important, but emotional intelligence is the sine qua non of leadership.’ This old advice assumes even greater importance, in the new normal. 

With emotions prevailing in workplaces, high EQ improves performance:

COVID pandemic has demonstrated to all, including highly tradition bound and slow to change – the pharma industry that the name of the game of survival, particularly when a crisis strikes as a bolt from blue, is quickly adapting to changes. A time came as ‘national lockdown’ started – when a sense of losing control and confusion, virtually engulfed the work environment, which is so necessary for livelihood. A key example of these changes include, a sudden shift from remote working, related to remaining engaged with customers.

Alongside, home life and work life got merged for many. New ways of remaining in touch with customers, sometimes gave rise to a sense of seclusion or alienation, causing mental or emotional stress. Many employees’ keen desire and expectation of the return of the old normal – in the same form, are causing more emotional complications with them.

A study by EQ training provider TalentSmart also found that emotional intelligence is responsible for 58% of one’s job performance. Thus, any pharma company’s ability to be in sync with all employees, at the emotional level, is one the key requirements to boost performance. It will determine the effectiveness of digital tools given to employees to deliver the deliverables. Further, as other studies established, ‘the ability to connect with people on an emotional level – is crucial to maintaining strong and resilient teams.’

Some telltale signs of low EQ in an organization:

Some common telltale signs of low EQ in an organization, were well captured in an article with Covid pandemic in the backdrop. This was published in Inside HR on September 01, 2020. The manifestations of low EQ include, when employees:

  • Don’t want to take responsibility for their own feelings, but blame others for those,
  • Let things build up and then blow up,
  • Often overreact to life’s minor events while struggling to remain in emotional control.
  • Lack empathy and compassion,
  • Tend not to consider others’ feelings before acting,
  • Lack self-awareness of their own emotions and the emotions of others around them.

Such signals, if not addressed promptly, can lead to a number of adverse business outcomes. Especially when, quick adaptation to fundamental changes in the business environment, business operations and key customer behavior, is the name of the game. People’s EQ in an organization, could often stand between business success and failure – in the new normal, more than ever before.

Conclusion:

As pharma industry has started navigating through the new normal with wide-scale application of digital technology, employees also need to keep pace with these changes, and come on board. In such a ‘never before’ situation, emotional needs of both internal and external customers are to be properly understood, and effectively addressed, just as the need for digitalization within the organization.

Notably, low or high EQ are not genetic, neither are these pre-implanted in the brain by God. EQ comes as one learns through ongoing experience in life, and also from the advices of elderly, interaction with peers, superiors and training by professionals. This is a lifelong process of learning, which is continuously honed through practice in real life situations. It’s not bizarre, at all, if EQ of an individual has changed before, during and after the pandemic. What really matters is fathoming, how is the employee EQ today, monitor it continuously, and help the individual as and when required – to help the organization.

Several studies have established high employee EQ as a stronger predictor of success, that helps strengthen hard skills like digitalization by helping to think more creatively while using the tech tools and platforms. Thus, amid unparalleled changes in business operations, customer behavior and the need for quick adaptation to digital technology, fostering employee EQ to encourage them committing to the corporate shared goal, is an imperative for pharma’s performance excellence - more than ever before.

By: Tapan J. Ray      

Disclaimer: The views/opinions expressed in this article are entirely my own, written in my individual and personal capacity. I do not represent any other person or organization for this opinion.