Soft Skills Training
Johnson & Johnson UK partnered with Impact Factory to increase their performance with various soft-skills programmes.
The Client
Johnson & Johnson, one of the world’s largest healthcare companies, put science at the heart of everything they do. With more than 10,000 employees around the world, the organisation operates in three sectors: Pharmaceuticals, Medical Devices, and Consumers.
The Consumer division works with household brands in the UK such as Listerine, Calpol, Neutrogena to name but a few. And they are passionate about focusing on people and development and how to harvest a culture of learning and generative progression.
Tom Jackson, Business Unit Head Discount & Convenience Channel at Johnson & Johnson, explains the long relationship that Johnson & Johnson has established with Impact Factory which started in 2009 and now it’s stronger than ever.
The Brief
Johnson & Johnson has always had a clear understanding of the importance of developing fundamental and functional capabilities, hard skills if you prefer. An area that can sometimes get overlooked is soft skills communication. Soft or interpersonal skills can have a big impact on the effectiveness of delivery. They also help teams to work cohesively and increase productivity and revenue.
The company was looking for a training consultant open to developing bespoke programmes that were effective and refreshing for their team. The consultant also needed to be flexible to adapt the programme to continuously improve the outputs and keep content relevant in every session.
Their objective was to find a training partner that had no bias or engrained knowledge of the industry itself. But more importantly, one that would be able to listen and understand the development needs of the organisation. The aim was to drive and accelerate change for a sustainable and long-term behavioural shift in J&J’s people.
That’s why Johnson & Johnson partnered with Impact Factory.
Our Tailored Solution
Impact Factory’s training method is unique: fully experiential, strengths-based and personalised for every individual attending the session. The format is short, punchy and impactful which always goes down well when everyone is busy with daily jobs and deadlines. Impact Factory’s training method is endorsed by the most recent neuroscience studies as it reinforces long-term memory as the training exercises are Urgency, Repetition and Association based.
Johnson & Johnson has been on a bit of a journey with Impact Factory. The relationship started in 2009. Throughout the decade, and always in partnership, Johnson & Johnson and Impact Factory have been creating and delivering fully bespoke soft skill training programmes.
Training Programmes Include
- Influencing Skills
- How to Build a Strong Culture of Emotional Intelligence
- Building a Responsive and Savvy Personal Relationship
- Over-Arching Culture Programme
- Undercover Influencing
- Tenacious Conversations
- Presentations
- Facilitation Skills
In 2018, the Consumer Division of Johnson & Johnson and Impact Factory ran 6 sessions for 65 delegates to analyse and understand their people’s EQ, which measures communication and interpersonal skills, and numerous more sessions on presentations and how to facilitate more effective meetings.
Next Steps
Step 1:
To develop a three steps programme for individuals to enrol on and build into their goals and objectives.
Focus Programmes: Storytelling for Business, Presentation, Influencing and Facilitation
The aim of this is to have a step-by-step programme and ensure learnings from previous workshops have been embedded.
Step 2:
To create programmes to be rolled out across the division. Its aim is to provide Line Managers and newly appointed managers with the confidence to operate in this area.
It’s vital to maximise skills and support people who are promoted to managerial roles appropriately.
Focus Programmes: Leadership Coaching
Johnson & Johnson plans to run over 15 sessions training over 100 people, more than 70% of the Sales Department of the Commercial Division.
Feedback and Testimonials
The feedback from all the attendees was that Impact factory’s approach was very refreshing. and fun. With many different personalities to cater for, role-play and interactive games can at first feel daunting. But Impact Factory trainers are masters in making people feel at ease to share experiences and open to provide insight and feedback which facilitates learning.
The effectiveness of the training was clear from the beginning. Delegates were able to take away small tactics that they could put subtly into practice in their next meetings. Straight away, the Commercial Department was able to run more effective meetings. They could make decisions faster which had a huge impact on productivity and delivery. And the learning curve doesn’t finish there as the training sticks. It stays with the delegates long after the session is finished as they have created personalised associations with what they have learnt.
2018 left the Consumer Division team asking for more, with high demand to focus on even softer skills. It was also clear that the team needed to find ways to help embed the learning in their day-to-day once the workshop has finished. This also became a focus for the 2019 programme.
For 2019, Johnson & Johnson reviewed key skills gaps and learning and development needs, splitting this into two main focuses.
Johnson & Johnson Soft Skills Training
“Impact Factory’s flexibility to create fully bespoke programmes and their capability to adapt them, even on the day of the delivery to keep the content fresh and relevant for all delegates is Paramount. It really makes the training effective with a positive impact on productivity.
I would highly recommend Impact Factory due to its unique delivery of training. Many of the trainers come from the arts world rather than the corporate world, therefore focus on the people side of training – and forces us to step out of your day to day and approach training from a different perspective”
“Johnson & Johnson and Impact Factory have established a long and trusted relationship. We know each other well so we can provide deeper advice and recommendations for them to achieve their business goals. We can also move quickly and responsively, tailoring existing courses or delivering entirely new content. It’s always a pleasure to work with Tom and his team. They are fully committed to develop their people and understand the importance of people – the humans, with all their joys and complications – in the success of their business”.
