Talent development
Novo Nordisk’s long-term business success depends on engaging and developing the employees in Novo Nordisk. Talent development prepares tomorrow’s leaders and promotes continued innovation. It also helps us attract and retain the right people to maintain a competitive edge in an increasingly global marketplace. More than ever, talented people expect companies to provide opportunities for growth and development.
Employee education can also help preserve jobs and workplaces in a globalised company such as Novo Nordisk, where more production increasingly is taking place at sites outside Denmark. In learning new skills, employees prepare themselves for new job requirements and help the company achieve the organisational flexibility needed to meet its business challenges.
Leadership and talent programmes
Novo Nordisk is passionate about developing leadership talent. Novo Nordisk’s leadership programmes are offered to managers at all levels, while the talent programmes accelerate the development of high-performing individuals with leadership potential. The objective of these activities is to ensure the development of high performers who can improve the company’s ability to address business challenges across national and organisational borders.
Novo Nordisk’s leadership development programmes include the following:
New Department Managers programme
This programme is mandatory for all newly appointed department managers. Its purpose is to develop the competence, confidence and performance of new managers in the critical transition from contributing individually to contributing through others. Included in this programme is the development of coaching, motivational and feedback skills. The programme also focuses on how to develop a leadership style that takes situational demands into account. In 2007, 144 managers took part in this programme.
The Spotlight programme
From September 2006 to November 2007 a total of 276 vice presidents and general managers took part in the Spotlight programme which focuses on personal leadership. The programme focus was on each participant’s key individual leadership challenge and how to drive performance by engaging and developing others through authentic leadership practice. To match the maturity level of the participants the programme was light on theory, and heavy on exercises, reflection and feedback.
Click here to download the People put values to work article from the printed 2007 Annual Report.
Talent programmes include the following:
The Greenhouse programme:
The purpose of the Greenhouse programme is to accelerate the development of managers with one to two years of leadership or project management experience who have demonstrated high performance and a readiness to take on new management challenges. The programme helps clarify participants’ strengths and needs, and facilitates their transition to the next leadership challenge. Development activities include a personality test, mentoring and feedback sessions, and optional project assignments and network meetings. End 2007, a total of 202 managers have participated in the Greenhouse programme.
The Lighthouse programme:
The Lighthouse programme aims to provide challenging and unique development opportunities for experienced vice presidents and general managers who have demonstrated high performance and general leadership potential. Lighthouse participants have at least five years’ leadership experience and one of the criteria for participants is that they are role models for the Novo Nordisk Way of Management. Since 2005, a total of 75 selected vice presidents and general managers have attended the programme which is designed to teach personal leadership and social and environmental responsibility in a non-traditional manner by meeting people from diverse backgrounds who can stimulate new thinking. In recent years, this has meant talking to Native American Indian leaders, visiting the favelas of Rio de Janeiro and climbing the Great Wall of China.
Training and courses for all
Leadership programmes are just one aspect of the way Novo Nordisk develops the talent of its people. The first training every new Novo Nordisk employee receives is a mandatory course to familiarise them with their new workplace. Beyond this, company-sponsored courses and training that better equip employees to match business goals are available throughout the organisation. Educational programmes are offered via the relevant HR unit.
In Denmark, where a little less than half of Novo Nordisk’s employees are based, the Novo Nordisk course catalogue includes subjects such as languages, project management, statistics, business understanding, R&D-related skills, diabetes training, and a master's programme in industrial drug development.
In the Product Supply organisation, some 4,000 operators at Danish production sites have in recent years been developing new competences through company-sponsored educational programmes covering such subjects as PC proficiency and the principles and mindset of LEAN production. Some operators have completed journeyman-level education as industrial operators. In 2006 an agreement was reached between management and trade union representatives allowing operators to learn tasks previously performed by skilled craftsmen. A major goal of this education programme is to preserve jobs in Denmark while increasing productivity.
A common understanding of the Novo Nordisk Way of Management
Training for Novo Nordisk’s worldwide corps of medical reps is tailored to specific market needs and legal requirements in the countries or regions in which they work. A common denominator across all borders, however, is the training they receive in the values and culture of the Novo Nordisk Way of Management. This was a particular focus area also in 2007, when major expansions in the sales force either took place or were planned; in the US alone, for example, the number of sales representatives within diabetes care increased with 700 employees from 1,200 in 2006 to 1,900 in 2007. To ensure that Novo Nordisk's values remain strong as the company expands, an added emphasis has been placed on them as well as cultural integration in sales training around the world.
Novo Nordisk's representatives typically also receive training in a wide variety of competences such as market and business understanding, selling and communication skills, product knowledge, problem-solving, planning and organising, customer focus and teamwork.
This page has been reviewed by PricewaterhouseCoopers as part of its assurance of Novo Nordisk’s non-financial reporting. Please refer to Audit and assurance for a full description of the conclusions and the nature of assurance offered.
