Empowering Leadership: QuVa Pharmaceuticals' Journey to Growth and Innovation
QuVa Pharmaceuticals is a founder-led pharmaceutical company poised for rapid growth. As a mid-sized provider of injectable pharmaceutical devices, QuVa delivers in an industry with incredible product demand – and the organization moves quickly to keep up with that demand. While the company’s growth trajectory will bring it to new heights, the team at QuVa knew the anticipated growth could only be achieved with strong people leaders – leaders capable of further motivating their already strong and talented employees.
QuVa knew that the only way the organization could grow is if its leaders were working well together at all levels. And they recognized that driving a sense of empowerment and accountability was a top priority, as was building a pipeline of talent that could make decisions and continue to be innovative. The goal of working with the C Suite is to enable them to push decision-making downwards and find new and better ways of working as a team. For QuVa Directors, the focus was on increasing self-awareness and enhancing skills like delegation and leading through uncertainty. And for People Managers, foundational skill development was key.
“In a fast-paced environment like QuVa, it can be easy to skip over leadership skills because it feels like there are so many higher priority things to deal with,” said Shannon Johnston, VP of Human Resources, “but the team had the foresight to recognize that enhancing team dynamics and improving leadership skills would help us achieve the challenging goals we set for ourselves. The only way we could reach our goals is if every employee feels they are an integral part of our work – because they are. Fostering this type of environment starts with our leaders.”
Shannon’s request of LeaderConnect to support the Executive Team’s work using DiSC to understand their communication styles quickly morphed into a blended learning journey tailored to address all leadership levels.
The Executive Team approach included an organizational redesign at the top, which resulted in two leadership teams: a C-Suite and an executive team of Vice Presidents. This enabled faster and more strategic decisions and approvals. It also included an assessment of team performance at the VP level and a session focused on redistributing authority, empowerment, and enablement. Lastly, it included individual coaching sessions for leaders to adapt to their new roles and relationships. What resulted was a more streamlined organizational structure, founders more equipped to step back and let others lead, and leaders better prepared to step up and take the reins.
The Executive Team approach included an organizational redesign at the top, which resulted in two leadership teams: a C-Suite and an executive team of Vice Presidents. This enabled faster and more strategic decisions and approvals. It also included an assessment of team performance at the VP level, along with a session focused on redistributing authority, empowerment, and enablement. Lastly, it included individual coaching sessions for leaders to adapt to their new roles and relationships. What resulted was a more streamlined organizational structure, founders more equipped to step back and let others lead, and leaders better prepared to step up and take the reins.
The Directors at QuVa benefitted from an Emotional Intelligence Assessment, a one-on-one coaching session to debrief on the assessment, and four virtual workshops on skills including EI, Growth Mindset, Leading Through Uncertainty, and Delegation. They also participated in small group coaching circles and created Action Plans to help them track their focused areas for growth and development. The result was a group of senior leaders with increased awareness for the impact they have on others and increased confidence about how to lead teams effectively.
Managers at QuVa participated in five virtual webinars that were “short, sharp, and relevant” – designed to maximize learners' time and work with this frontline leader group on key leadership skills. Learners were able to participate in virtual cohorts to learn from a LeaderConnect expert and from each other how to continue to motivate and engage their teams.
QuVa stands for quality and innovation, neither of which is possible without its people. QuVa leaders have never been more focused on working well together and encouraging the same in their teams, so the QuVa promise of quality and innovation never wavers.
