Train for destination: SUCCESS

Historically, pharma has recruited the best of its salesforce into marketing and commercial roles. Although this is a widespread, cost-effective practice, the strategy is not without hurdles of its own; not least that an excellent salesman might not make an excellent marketer. Particularly during a recession-hit era, it is essential that the skill sets of key personnel are sufficient for the job-in-hand and adequate training is integral to ensuring that this is the case. However, with budgets under unprecedented pressure, training is often among the first resources to be cut.

"The challenge is that in times of tight budgets, variable expenditure on training is seen as a 'nice to have', not a 'must have'," explains Colin Wight, chief executive and owner of GalbraithWight and GalbraithWight Business School. "The need for training has never been greater, although this has been coupled with a general decline in training expenditure in some companies as budgets tighten: the opposite of what is needed if their teams are going to be effective in a challenging business environment."

Therefore, how can pharma companies continue to function effectively when training budgets are under threat? How has the training environment changed in response to economic pressures? And what can pharma companies do that will allow them to reduce expenditure while maintaining an ongoing commitment to training?

Training: current position
"I would challenge the idea that 'the need for training has never been greater'," says Eamon O'Brien, formerly a director at Bristol-Myers Squibb and an employee of GlaxoSmithKline, who now works as a facilitator, consultant and coach for the pharmaceutical industry.

"My view is that the need for training never changes. But when budgets are under pressure, people do often cut training. However, when you've made your cuts, you then have to still deliver; you still have to be able to give people the skills and competencies to do so."

Katie Rishi, director of Cetas Kinetic, agrees: "The important element is not that the need for training is greater than ever, but that the training being offered is right first time."

So how can it be ensured that the training delivered is right first time?

According to Rishi, there is a clear need to provide both technical and business skills to employees, so they are able to take advantage of all opportunities that are presented to them. "It is also important that, as pharma companies are moving their customers towards thinking about personalised medicine, those training companies working with pharma also move towards developing personalised learning programmes," she says.

The industry needs to develop solutions that fit not only with the business needs of the client company, but also with the culture and language, according to Wight. However, the greatest needs are around having training that is highly practical, up-to-date, flexible, cost-effective and measurable. He says: "There should be variable and exciting training formats that actively engage the delegate to ensure high attention levels, and that are designed with good employee attraction and retention in mind. The training should also be run by experienced and credible industry professionals as trainers."

O'Brien believes that training is about much more than just teaching people the four Ps of marketing. "What decision makers need from training resources is not just being able to give skills in terms of what people do, but also the competencies in terms of how people do them," he offers. "Good training should teach the right skills, knowledge and behaviours to be able to do the role, rather than just the skills."

Rishi explains that, for many, training is seen as a waste of time, a distraction from the work they are there to do. "The feedback is that often training does not do what they needed it to do, and it is frustrating and pitched at the wrong level. What there is a great need for is training companies to work alongside pharma, to design, manage and deliver the right training, to the right people, over the right timeframe, in an engaging manner."

Training evolution
So what is the right training to offer now, and how has that changed due to current constraints?

Wight says that his company's clients want more practical, 'how to' courses focused on the delegate's role. Also, there is more of a desire for 'blended' learning approaches, which do not involve such long periods of time sitting in a classroom and are infused with real customer involvement and role reversal components. "Additionally, we're noticing more of a focus on delegates gaining a 'proper' qualification at the end of training," he said. "We're also seeing more of a requirement for training for the full, cross-functional, team, to ensure all members – medical, regulatory affairs, government affairs, finance and sales – really understand what the marketing team is working to achieve."

Another change Rishi has noticed is that pharma training used to focus heavily around regulatory and data-driven training, but now there has been a shift towards providing business effectiveness training, including, for example, networking and time management. "Knowing the facts and figures is no longer enough in today's pharma companies," she comments.

This broadening of scope has also been reflected in the trend for pan-European marketing techniques, which has understandably impacted on companies' training needs. O'Brien notes that companies are becoming more selective and having fewer training providers, so that organisations can standardise their approach across Europe.
Wight agrees: "There is no point in companies duplicating work and cost in every country, but any training needs to be adapted so it can be applied at local country level. However, clients are looking at consistency in delivery and expect their training business partners to be able to deliver that training globally or regionally, as part of the service."

Rishi says that although Europe is often dictating the training budget, it needs to step away from dictating the specifics of the training package. "There is also a tendency to rely heavily on paper-based materials, as it is often difficult to get a Europe-dispersed workforce together. There is a need to move towards utilising the alternative approaches available: eLearning, mobile learning, social networking and so on. Companies need to think about these elements also when pulling together training packages."

In-house learning
Despite the economic constraints, Rishi, Wight and O'Brien all agree that it is possible for pharma companies to offer their employees thorough, up-to-date and effective training without incurring excess expenditure.

For companies with a small budget to spare, says Wight, it makes sense to utilise core training programmes, which they then adapt to their own needs. Maintaining a long-term view will allow companies to identify which training providers they can partner over a period of time, argues O'Brien, which will allow them to make a relatively small investment now and build a long-term relationship. But what about those companies with no financial resources available at all?

"To do it completely in-house, I would urge that companies formalise some sort of internal mentoring approach to align people with ever more experienced marketeers," suggests O'Brien. "You could also have formal sessions within the organisation where people actually share learning. If they did then have the resource to provide those people with mentors, you could provide them externally, and maybe you'd only need to use them for lesser periods of time, if you had an internal 'sounding board' structure in place."

He says that many of his clients often have some great training content lying around. However, this quite often needs updating and putting into the right form for delivery. "This can be a very cost-effective approach," O'Brien concludes.

"It is very tempting to reuse training packages that companies have been using for years," interjects Rishi. "This is surprisingly true of packages that are not well-received or focused on topics that seem 'boring'. Understandably, there is a reluctance to spend money on training that seems to have little ROI [return on investment]," she says, urging caution with this approach and emphasising again the possibilities for conducting training less expensively that she had mentioned earlier, such as through mobile learning.

Rishi states that it is imperative that cost not be the primary consideration when developing a training package, advising a long-term perspective. "Having a good quality training programme continues to pay back over the years. Finding the right training package is exactly like finding the right pair of shoes, balancing the need to find the perfect fit with the cost element and something that looks inviting."

Above all, it is essential not to view training as just another item on the checklist, she says. "For training to be of any use at all, it needs to be part of the wider company plan, embedded in everyday practice."

This sentiment is echoed by O'Brien, who says that companies should always consider the long-term consequences of tightening the training budget in the short-term. "It is essential to keep investing in staff to ensure that they have the right skills, knowledge and competencies to face current, and future, challenges," he concludes.

The Author
Victoria Farrell is a freelance healthcare journalist.

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