A global, multi-day development programme to help accelerate development of next generation talents

Ferring is a research-driven, specialty biopharmaceutical group committed to helping people build healthy families and live better lives. Ferring is a global leader in reproductive medicine and maternal health, and in specialty areas within gastroenterology and urology. The company has a direct local market presence in more than 50 countries worldwide and distribution in 110 countries as well as 14 R&D centres around the world.

Challenges

Ferring have been working with Talogy, both in Europe and the Middle East, since 2013. In March 2019 they asked Talogy to help design and run the Development Centre component of a ‘Talent – Next Generation’ programme that they were looking to run every two years. The programme aims to accelerate the development of managers who are currently in the company’s global Talent Pool to equip them for more senior roles in the future. With a group comprised of 30 talents from different parts of the business and from all around the world, it was important to ensure the development event was equally valuable for all participants.

Solution

We designed a three-day Development Centre with the goal of benchmarking the participants’ skills and producing an individual development plan for each of them. All of this was based on Ferring’s new Leadership Principles.

Day 1

The first day focused on measuring current skills and competencies. We ran three simulations: An analysis exercise, an interview simulation and a group discussion.
The simulations were delivered through our engaging, online Virtual AC platform, allowing observers and role players from around the world to participate without being physically present. To ensure the talents could be effectively observed by stakeholders within the Ferring business, we created bespoke observer guides and trained them to use the Virtual AC system to score the exercises, write the reports and provide objective, behavioural feedback.

Day 2

On the second, feedback-themed day, we started off with a session to help the participants to gain maximum value from the feedback they would be receiving later that day. In the afternoon, the participants received in-depth feedback on the exercises from the Ferring observers, as well as feedback on their Emotional Intelligence Profile pre-work.

Day 3

The third day focused on turning the feedback into development actions. We ran a Career Success Module to help the participants to gain further insights into their strengths and areas for development, as well as further sessions on emotional intelligence and resilience. Finally, we provided advice on how to design a personal development plan to maximise the impact of the development centre on their future career.

Outcomes

The three-day Development Centre experience turned out to be highly effective. Participants afterwards reported feeling empowered by the experience, and noticing permanent changes in their levels of self-awareness. The actionable feedback and development plans created during the assessment experience was also strongly appreciated by the participants, who reported that these tools provided them with a strong base for further leadership development