Ipsen’s Commercial Learning & Development program keeps employees engaged 

When Ioana Parsons, General Manager of the UK & Ireland, thinks about continuous learning, she sees one part of a larger puzzle. “Business performance reflects overall organizational health,” she says. “Plenty of data shows that ‘healthy’ organizations perform better – and to be healthy, a company needs equal parts hard and soft skills, working together.”

For Ipsen, this means taking the time to invest in the growth and success of our field force through Commercial Learning & Development. These programs equip employees with the product knowledge, skills and mindset needed to build valuable relationships with healthcare professionals (HCPs) and empower them to answer key questions.

Available at the global level, these programs can also be adapted locally. The goal is to embed continuous improvement within our teams and company, helping employees learn relevant skills at their own pace and build knowledge over time.

Flexible programs tailored to employee needs

“Ipsen has a culture of collaboration and excellence,” notes Ioana Parsons. “We aim to ensure that both our field force and office-based teams are knowledgeable about our products.”

This is part of Ipsen’s commitment to being a High-Performance Learning Organization (HPLO), a core element of the company’s strategy. HPLOs often outperform other organizations by being more innovative, better at meeting customer demands and having higher employee engagement. “This means training our field force on more than just communicating with HCPs,” says Ioana Parsons. “They need to know how to collaborate with our office-based teams and use the learning tools we provide.”

For this reason, Ipsen’s innovative Commercial Learning & Development programs are designed to develop employees’ skills from any starting point. “They work for senior employees and new hires alike,” says Vasilis Vasilikis, Business Excellence Lead in Greece, “and can be easily adapted to local needs. That’s one of Ipsen’s greatest strengths – the ability to recognize that each field force faces different challenges and needs tailored support.”

Combining technical innovation with best practice

As technology has changed, so has the healthcare industry. “The medical field is very saturated,” says Ioana Parsons, “so our field force needs to closely follow the latest trends, innovating, exploring and upskilling.”

Ipsen’s programs are designed to meet those needs, being co-constructed with the people and countries who use them. Built around the latest developments in neuroscience and best practices for adult learning, program content is practical, adaptive and applicable to real-life interactions with HCPs. For example, our microlearning program draws on best practices around spaced repetition and the forgetting curve by repeating questions over intervals to improve knowledge retention.

“The microlearning platform is fun and user friendly,” says Michael Grant, Head of Strategy and Business Excellence, Australia & New Zealand. “It has made it simple to measure knowledge retention and keep people motivated by showing them their progress.”

Encouragement and engagement are key features of the Learning & Development programs. “We want our programs to provide a positive experience, for employees to find them enjoyable and empowering,” notes Vasilis Vasilikis. “And so far, so good. Our field force is always asking for more – I have to keep telling them to wait for the next installment.”

These updates are never long in coming. Ipsen has been at the frontier of innovation in pharmaceutical learning & development for several years, leveraging the latest technologies to support teams. When long-distance, app-based learning appeared, Ipsen was a first-mover, bringing new learning options to our field force. Now, as the market turns toward artificial intelligence (AI), we are exploring AI’s potential to offer personalized, role-play-based training to employees.

“We’re equipping our teams with next-generation skills,” says Michael Grant. “By embedding AI into our training, we can help field forces acquire the knowledge they need to present the right information to HCPs accurately, concisely and effectively.”

Through these kinds of company-wide innovations, Ipsen is enabling employees to meaningfully engage with HCPs to focus on what matters for patients. “I’ve been with Ipsen for 23 years,” says Vasilis Vasilikis, “and the Commercial Learning & Development programs are one of our best initiatives. Commercial Learning & Development programs are purposeful and targeted, supporting our field teams at every turn.”

“We’re lucky to have a global Commercial Learning & Development team dedicated to our field force,” concludes Michael Grant. “In the healthcare world, technology is always changing, the market is always moving and it’s your job to keep up. Having in-house experts available to train you at any moment is invaluable.”

To explore careers opportunities at Ipsen, visit our Careers page HERE.