A leading pharmaceutical company faced challenges related to employee burnout, productivity, and team communication issues. While the company had implemented resilience training, it needed to take it further by equipping its workforce with strategies for setting boundaries. They aimed to align these efforts with their core values of collaboration, entrepreneurial thinking, and patient-centricity.
CASE STUDY
Enhancing resilience and boundary setting for a leading pharmaceutical company
Background
Challenges
Employees felt overwhelmed by constant workplace demands and poor task prioritisation, leading to stress, burnout, and frequent friction during interactions with colleagues and stakeholders. Many struggled with having difficult conversations, whether with peers or management, which exacerbated these issues and negatively impacted team morale and productivity.
Objectives
- Equip employees with practical strategies for setting personal and professional boundaries to improve focus and reduce stress.
- Provide tools for managing difficult conversations with colleagues and stakeholders to foster more transparent, more productive communication.
- Align the training with the company’s strategic goals of building a collaborative, high-performance culture.
Approach
Team Dynamics Framework Component: Resilience and Workload Management
High levels of stress and burnout were addressed by focusing on resilience and boundary-setting as outlined in the Team Dynamics Framework.
Training Delivered:
I delivered tailored resilience-building sessions, helping employees manage workloads and set clear priorities. Workshops included techniques for boundary-setting, effective delegation, and stress reduction strategies and created a comprehensive and bespoke training programme, “Enhancing Resilience through Effective Boundary-Setting,” tailored to the pharmaceutical industry’s specific needs.
The programme included:
- Pre-Work: A targeted questionnaire that assessed participants’ challenges with boundary-setting and difficult conversations. Insights from this pre-work were used to shape scenarios for group discussions during the session.
- Interactive training sessions addressed the importance of setting clear boundaries and mastering strategic conversations. Employees learned practical techniques for handling workplace challenges, including cognitive reframing for adverse interactions and assertive communication for navigating difficult conversations. Methods like the Eisenhower Matrix for task prioritisation helped teams stay focused.
- Breakout sessions & action planning: Participants discussed real-life scenarios related to boundary-setting and difficult conversations. Senior leaders shared personal insights on maintaining boundaries and handling high-pressure situations, providing actionable steps for attendees.
Post-training follow-up: Two weeks later, a 60-minute session reinforced accountability and progress, focusing on how the participants applied difficult conversation strategies in their day-to-day roles.
Outcomes
- Enhanced communication: Employees felt more confident addressing difficult conversations directly, leading to reduced workplace friction and improved team collaboration.
- Improved productivity: With more explicit boundaries and better communication, teams reported a 20% increase in focus and efficiency.
- More robust team dynamics: Respect for individual boundaries and the ability to handle strategic conversations positively impacted workplace relationships, fostering a healthier, more collaborative environment.
Danny Blake Chief Operating Officer “I would highly recommend Adele’s services for your business. I spent just 30 minutes with Adele to help her understand the business and within 24 hours she completely nailed the brief and was able to put together a bespoke training plan to help coach key employees within the company. I was able to see clear results following Adele’s training and would recommend her services.”
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