Publications

ChangePace Consulting

Organizational Change Management at Work in the Global Pharmaceutical Industry

In 2009, after undergoing a merger and appointing a new CEO, global healthcare company GSK, in London, UK, decided to adopt a new organizational approach to change. GSK decided it needed to “change how it changed” and felt that the uniqueness of the organization—as one of the world’s largest pharmaceutical companies—required a customized approach.

To accomplish this, it launched the Accelerating Delivery and Performance (ADP) program in order to focus its efforts on performance improvement. This program combines approaches derived from project management as well as Organizational Development (OD) and Lean Six Sigma (Lean Sigma). By taking sections from each of these disciplines, GSK was able to create an approach that could sufficiently support its ambitious strategy. ADP’s mission is to “embed and grow a performance driven culture in GSK,” says Jacqui Alexander, vice president of ADP at GSK.

A New Prescription for Improving Business Performance at GlaxoSmithKline

OD Practitioner Journal

October 1, 2012

This article shares how we started, scaled up and began to embed a performance improvement culture between 2009 and 2012. It covers the background and objectives followed by a summary of the journey and lessons learned (generally about change and specifically as OD practitioners) in combining and applying together the disciplines of OD, Lean Six Sigma and Project Management. It then outlines the plans for the future, the significant learning and turning points as well as the overall impact on the business of this highly practical and contemporary approach to change. If you would like a copy of the article please contact Jacqui Alexander.

Changing How We Change. A New Prescription for Improving Business Performance at GlaxoSmithKline

Association of Project Management (APM)

January 13, 2015

Just over 300 professional project managers participated in the webinar, ‘Changing how we change. A new prescription for improving business performance at GlaxoSmithKline’ which was a repeat, by popular demand, of a previous ‘Enabling Change’ meeting held in June 2014.

The speakers, Jacqui Alexander and Margaret Huggins, initiated a poll early on in the webinar to explore what methodologies participants are currently applying in their practice. 53% (of the 89% who responded) use Project Management only, 15% use Lean with Project Management, 20% use Organisational Development with Project Management, and 12% use all three.

We had some opportunity to discuss a selection of the delegates’ questions covering such topics as what impact GSK’s change programme had had; how leaders are defined and identified for change projects; how GSK generated the momentum for change and from bottom-up as well as a top-down and how they addressed consistency versus a tailored approach for an international organisation and culture.

Answers to these as well as other questions will be found on the recording of the webinar.

Finally, delegates were asked for their take-away messages. These included:

You need leadership to make the approach work
Empowerment facilitates change
It’s all about people
Start where the energy is
Incorporate early learning
Keep it simple and make it an enjoyable journey