The missing link

Several companies are evolving quickly, particularly in terms of implementing people management systems. But are they using the mentoring process as a critical people development lever? Is a mentorship culture prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry? How intensely is one working towards tapping its potential?

Now that I have thrown all these questions at you, let me share my experience of working with several clients in the industry. A majority of the organisations in this sector are increasingly realising the importance of robust people management systems as a critical lever to sustain/ enhance growth. People development, as a broader umbrella is clearly gaining ground. Systems and processes such as performance measurement systems are going beyond just focusing on financial metrics and are, therefore, focusing on goals related to employee/team development too. Also, organisations have commenced investing in developing its leadership pipeline and their overall talent pool.

However, mentorship is yet to establish its presence in its true form in Indian pharma organisations. At present, there are various instances of informal mentoring, I can refer to but these are prevalent in pockets and across select entities only. In fact, some of these are yet to be formalised and rolled out as a process. Mentoring of activities in the Indian pharma industry is nowhere close to its counterparts in other sectors, such as FMCG and IT. In these sectors, you will find formal systems and processes that enable a healthy mentor-mentee relationship. To frame it in one sentence, a fairly long journey has to be undertaken by the Indian pharma industry, before it reaches that level of process maturity.

Now, I've pointed out the follies in the mentorship culture in pharma companies. But, before you assume that nothing is going right within this dimension, let me remind you that there are exceptions. Yes, Indian pharma companies are at a nascent level when it comes to mentorship programmes. However, some of the Indian arms of MNC pharma companies do have fairly robust mentoring programmes for their employee population. These are mostly mandated by the regional and global teams and rolled out locally. A case in point is of a leading innovator organisation, where there is a structured mentoring programme for key talent in mid to senior levels across functions. This same organisation had also initiated a local programme recently for its front line sales to enable a rounded professional growth for the mentee. Another leading Indian MNC with an increasing global presence has just initiated a mentoring programme focused on high potential talent thrown up by the performance management system. At this point, the focus is on a select few employees spanning varied functions and businesses, who have displayed exemplary potential to take on larger responsibilities.

So, what role could mentorship serve in pharma? With increasing challenges in the form of tightening regulations, changes in technology, government policy, consumer expectations coupled with globalisation, sagging economy and shrinking R&D budgets, the ability to adapt to new environment becomes critical for pharma organisations in India. Mentoring can enable such a transition very smoothly. It can serve the best role, not in a particular function but more at a level and above, say mid-management and above. The reason behind this is that the success of a mentor-mentee relationship is hinged on the maturity levels of the participants. Clearly, it is lot more pronounced, post a particular management level, enabling enhanced returns.

Also, with so many issues surrounding sales effectiveness in the Indian pharma arena, sales as a function could be another area where mentoring can be strategically utilised. The objective would be to utilise it as a tool to strengthen an individual's identification, especially given the fact that the sales manpower is distributed and has limited connect with the organisation at large.

The author is Sudakshina Tyagi, consultant at Hay Group. Re-printed with permission.
Link: http://blog.haygroup.com/the-missing-link-time-to-tap-the-potential-of-mentorship-in-the-pharma-industry/