Case: Pfizer
By Lisbeth Nedergaard
MAKING WINNERS
From frustration and disparities
to a common vision
In connection with a global reorganisation of the Pfizer
pharmaceutical corporation, the Medical & Access Department was established in Denmark in the spring of 2009.
Employees at Pfizer’s Danish branch had known for some
time that there would be changes in the organisation, but
did not know what the change was going to be. With the establishment of Medical & Access, the future finally became
clear for eight of the employees.
ple, supplies the Danish Prevention Commission with information on stop smoking products aimed at supporting the
government’s effort to increase Danish life expectancy. In
addition, the department employs professionals with qualifications in communication, regulatory work and quality assurance and development.
“The seminar started with a blank sheet of paper. We were
a somewhat mixed group with widely differing objectives
and directions, but with Lars at the helm we succeeded in
agreeing on vision and mission as well as action plans for
all levels of internal and external issues. It was really an
accomplishment,” says Troels Reiche.
“Theoretically we could have waited, but we wanted to prepare our own thoughts and ideas first. It is important to
be the driver of a project - in this way you can influence
things.”
In connection with Pfizer’s global reorganisation, Medical
& Access could easily have waited for an overall doctrine
The eight highly qualified professionals came from four
for vision and mission, but Troels Reiche was impatient and
widely different areas of activity, each with their own aswanted an early and constructive start to the new departsignments, histories and routines.
ment. He knew Lars H. Nielsen
They all pondered how and why
from earlier cooperation when they
they were going to work as a team.
headed a Corporate Image Process
”Precisely because
They had neither a common vision,
in connection with Pfizer’s acquisinor an established team spirit or a
tion of Pharmacia in 2003.
the employees are so
common direction and framework.
They simply lacked a strong Win“We all needed some specific and
knowledge-intensive,
ning Mindset™.
measureable visions. It is a chalthey don’t buy anything
lenge that we do completely different
In their search for inspiration, Medithings. After the global reorganisafrom any consultants.”
cal Director Troels Reiche contacttion which meant a goodbye – over
ed Lars H. Nielsen, and soon aftertwo rounds – to more than half of the
wards the team was embroiled in a
employees, we also needed to define
seminar facilitated by Lars H. Nielsen.
new rules for a completely new team,” says Troels Reiche.
Continues ...
“It went so well because Lars is so competent at facilitating a discussion that it led us in the right direction. He
structures the dialogue so well that we soon had the same
focus. He makes room for some sidetracking and deviation
but always returns to the essence and helps us come up
with the conclusions,” says Troels Reiche.
Knowledge-intensive professionals
All the employees at Medical & Access have completed
long studies and all have CVs that demonstrate their inquisitiveness, heavy theoretical foundation and major dedication. The department produces scientific publications
about Pfizer’s medical products, helps convert medical
data into applications for financial support and, for exam-
Troels Reiche, MD
Medical Director, Pfizer
Case: Pfizer
By Lisbeth Nedergaard
MAKING WINNERS
The seminar urged all the employees in the department
to focus on the joint platform and get a feeling for how
to build on the experiences, supplies and competences of
others in the department.
“Precisely because the employees are so knowledgeintensive, they don’t buy anything from any consultants.
But Lars challenges them in a constructive way and with
respect for the large amount of knowledge in the team.
He holds up the mirror in front of the individual employees
and then withdraws to let them discover their own thoughts
and attitudes,” says Troels Reiche. He explains how Lars H.
Nielsen facilitated an unusually open and honest dialogue
about how the individual employees felt about being part
of the unified department. With respect for the individual
employee he uncovered the core of thoughts and attitudes
in all of them. This is how the real work of creating a Winning Mindset™ began.
Creating a Winning Mindset™
A Winning Mindset™ does not come automatically. Lars
H. Nielsen’s Winning Mindset™ concept is based on 13
carefully defined principles. Once adapted to the individual
organisation, they constitute an efficient tool suitable for
identifying the right vision and mission, and for creating
and executing a genuine ownership of the whole process.
At Medical & Access at Pfizer, the principles were boiled
down to four razor-sharp approaches that everybody actively attends to in their day-to-day work.
“Our principles reflect who we are and how we want to
work. And we had not come as far as we are today without
the great effort of identifying the principles so that they
match us perfectly,” says Troels Reiche.
One of the concrete results of the seminar was a decision
to establish an overall website for all projects in Medical &
Access. Many of them are living documents for knowledge
sharing that require tight management of deadlines and a
definite ownership of each individual document. The new
openness and accessibility means that many meetings can
be avoided because the information is already available on
the department’s website.
Another innovation is the so-called “communication hat”. At
internal meetings, employees take turns as “gatekeeper”,
making sure that the department’s four values are brought
into play in the discussion. The hat rotates among the employees and encourages them to consider what the fields
of work of the others may also involve. This active use of
the values helps to keep them alive and continually forms
a common framework for work and projects in Medical &
Access.
Efficient visualisation
“Lars visualises and simplifies complex issues and uses
some extremely good allegories that really stick in your
mind. I am always thinking of the concept of timing on
the basis of a story he told us about a rowing team that
spent years and years preparing for the Olympics. They
came eight seconds late for start and were disqualified.
Many years of hard work were wasted in eight seconds,”
recounts Troels Reiche who used this story to ensure the
optimal timing in the preparations and execution of a meeting with Health Minister Jacob Axel Nielsen.
“It went really well. An important reason was that the whole
department contributed to the preparation with strong
teamwork,” says Troels Reiche.
“The process and the clarification have helped us in our
communication with the global organisation and have
turned out to be a key factor in our chance of impacting
the future.”
Strategy for Medical & Access
• We focus on all our stakeholders, and we
communicate our ambitions and results.
• We know what we are doing when we are doing
our best – and we believe in ‘us’.
• We cultivate inter-disciplinary cooperation.
• We remove barriers to the use of Pfizer’s
medical products for the benefit of patients
and society.
“Our dream is to become
an international Centre of Excellence!”