Successful Strategies for Upskilling and Maintaining Pharma Talent

It’s a time of evolution for pharma and biotech leaders. New technologies and changing regulatory landscapes are forcing them to adjust their strategies, especially in how they manage and grow their own teams.

Elaine Ferguson, global president at Inizio Medical, spoke with Pharmaceutical Executive about the importance of both managing and growing talent. In today’s world, this requires people already in leadership positions to identify potential future-leaders and provide them with clear and direct paths up the career ladder.

As the executive sponsor for the company’s talent accelerator, she plays a key role in developing these pathways. According to her, this requires an understanding of the current system, along with the ability to reach potential leaders where they are already at.

Pharmaceutical Executive: What are successful strategies for upskilling and maintaining pharma talent?
Elaine Ferguson: Within Inizio, we have 10,500 employees worldwide. We are a people-based business, which means our people and our people strategies are critical to our overall success as an industry and as a business.

As part of our talent strategy, it is essential that we identify leading talent across the organization and have clear mechanisms in place to nurture those individuals — to provide them with the skills they need, and the opportunities to collaborate and connect with similarly high-potential talent across the entire organization.

We are made up of four distinct business units, and our promise to clients — to provide end-to-end service and solutions — depends on our ability to connect expertise and talent across all 10,500 employees. That cross-functional connectivity is not just a people strategy priority; it is fundamental to how we deliver value.