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Case studies - AAH Pharmaceuticals

AAH Pharmaceuticals: Using the MBTI tool to make the company’s people its USP

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Executive summary Looking for a unique selling point to differentiate itself from its competitors, AAH Pharmaceuticals decided to focus on their people as the driving force of the organisation, acknowledging their crucial role in making the AAH service quicker and better than the rest. AAH decided on a leadership development programme supported by the MBTI tool. The organisation was already using the MBTI instrument, but its interpretation was not really helping to strengthen working relationships or encourage optimal performance. There was a fear that the MBTI framework was being used to stereotype people, rather than to appreciate difference. AAH’s Training and Development Team implemented a series of 90-minutes modules that focused first on getting a true understanding of the MBTI framework, then applying this knowledge to improve communication, decision-making, change-management and leadership skills. They had the full buy-in of their board members, with the goal of creating optimal performance levels across the business. Not only have visible benefits been seen across the leadership team relating directly to these modules, but the organisation has witnessed a groundswell of enthusiasm for the MBTI tool, resulting in an even more energised, more committed and more effective working population.

Business need: Standing out from the pack

Pharmaceuticals wholesaler AAH wanted to maintain their position as the best provider of pharmacy supply chain management solutions in the UK, distributing healthcare products to doctors, hospitals and pharmacists throughout the UK. With suppliers competing to keep up with change and flux within the health service, AAH needed to stand out from the crowd.

Realising that their supply chain logistics model could potentially be copied by a competitor, AAH decided that their people were the real differentiator when it came to providing excellence, enthusiasm and dedication in all that they did.

Product choice: MBTI-powered self-awareness

Following a tightly knit discussion across their Board and senior management, AAH realised that investment in people via a structured and far-reaching programme of performance-enhancing training and development was absolutely fundamental to achieving results. This realisation formed the foundations of an MBTI-based awareness-raising exercise that was to produce tangible benefits for the organisation.

As AAH’s Leadership and Management Development Manager Elizabeth Timms explains, “individuals need to raise their own level of self-awareness, realising how to flex and develop their working style so as to adapt and do different things.” The MBTI instrument provided an accessible framework for people to take control of their own development and to translate their learning into practice, providing a springboard for the organisation to energise its leadership team, empower its employees and ultimately to differentiate itself from the competition.

The solution: Creating a culture of positive difference The idea AAH had already been using the MBTI Step I tool for some years, but it was felt that the ideas were only understood in a superficial way, being used ineffectively as a way of justifying entrenched behaviour rather streamlining working relationships or encouraging optimal performance. There was a fear that the MBTI framework was being used to stereotype people, rather than to appreciate difference. AAH wanted to combat this trend and to build on people’s existing knowledge of MBTI type, opening a more constructive dialogue that would fit with organisational behaviours and priorities – ultimately influencing AAH’s position in the marketplace. The process Buy-in began at the top. Endorsement was immediately given by the Board for an organisation-wide reinterpretation of the MBTI Step I theory, and for a structured plan to turn the initial ideas from T&D into concrete improvements in the way people interacted. The senior leadership team were won over by the idea of making people not just more self-aware for its own sake, but also more productive in real terms, in a way that would show a clear return on investment by meeting the corporate needs of the business. The Board responded positively to the proposed development and corporate-driven outcomes, as they observed a cohort of 24 senior managers become ambassadors for the ideas. “We realised early on the potential of the enthusiasm of these 24 managers,” reports Dean Pearson, Training and Development Manager. “They acted as advocates for our initiative, cascading down a wave of interest in and practical use of the MBTI tool.” This cohort began to challenge the historical view of the MBTI tool, moving away from using the framework to stereotype and instead encouraging people to appreciate the more complex and meaningful insights Myers-Briggs has to offer. Complementing this growing enthusiasm, a 90-minute module on type dynamics was scheduled, looking at the interaction of the different elements of type and how this plays out differently within each individual.

Overview Organisation size: 3,800 employees in 20 different UK locations Organisation profile: AAH is the largest distributor of healthcare products to professionals and retail outlets in the UK, making over 100,000 deliveries every week Business needs: Market differentiation Communication Decision-making Energising leaders Embracing change Solution: MBTI engagement programme to encourage optimal performance: Company-wide MBTI refresher Type dynamics session Series of 90-minute modules for senior leaders Upskilling of AAH in-house T&D team Benefits: Quicker, more efficient communication with colleagues and customers More flexible approach to change and difference Higher-quality decisions Enthusiastic commitment at all levels

Building knowledge

Four core business needs were integrated into the programme: leadership style, decision-making, approach to change, and communication. Four 90-minute modules were created, focusing on applying newfound knowledge of type dynamics in a way that fitted directly with key desirable behaviours in these four areas.

Up-skilling staff

In order to embed an MBTI approach across the organisation over the long term, AAH’s own T&D Team were trained to run the MBTI modules themselves. This successful transfer of knowledge from OPP to AAH is seen as an essential part of the cultural shift within the organisation towards internalising the MBTI framework, enabled by ongoing support from OPP. Dean tells us: "I don’t think I would have got to this place without working alongside OPP; working in tandem with them in the early phases gave me the confidence to really convince people of the business benefits of using the Myers-Briggs framework. Its success is driven by people within AAH, but we couldn’t have done it without OPP."

Benefits: A fruitful and prosperous outcome

“AAH has seen a direct return on investment from the people development work we have done – this is what helps us be more successful than our competitors. It is why at AAH, people development is given equal standing with other corporate initiatives, such as technology advancement and process management.”

Most of all, people development is seen as directly beneficial. “AAH has seen a return on investment from the people-development work we have done – this is what helps us be more successful than our competitors.” says Elizabeth. “It is why at AAH, people development is given equal standing with other corporate initiatives such as technology and process management.”

Communication is more streamlined; better decisions are being made encompassing more viewpoints; people are better equipped to adapt to shifting contexts and priorities

Because the individual participants were encouraged to take responsibility for their own development, MBTI-related discussions ended up being highly relevant and taking action came naturally. Many people now approach Dean to ask for advice about their use of the MBTI tool. Managers are directly cascading the knowledge they had gained through their teams, using the learning in everyday situations such as meetings, interactions with different colleagues and via the performance and development review process. Communication is more streamlined, better decisions are being made encompassing more viewpoints, people are better equipped to adapt to shifting contexts and priorities, and the leadership of the organisation has a real focus and energy.

Conclusion: Keeping up the momentum

So impressed are AAH with the far-reaching versatility of the MBTI tool that they have embarked on a programme of MBTI Step II development. “We continually strive to do what we do really well – and now that the MBTI is totally on the agenda as a business tool, we are building on this as part of our overall development plan across the business. This means that we are working as a whole organisation, not only as functional directorates – and are best placed to continue to succeed, however tough the industry gets.”

For information about how OPP could work with your organisation for individual, team or leadership development, please contact our Sales Team on +44 (0)845 603 9958 or by email at enquiry@opp.eu.com.