Bausch & Lomb focuses on competency-based development

Citation

(2003), "Bausch & Lomb focuses on competency-based development", Journal of European Industrial Training, Vol. 27 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/jeit.2003.00327eab.001

Bausch & Lomb focuses on competency-based development

Bausch & Lomb focuses on competency-based development

Global eye-care company Bausch & Lomb has introduced a pan-Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) competency-based development programme for talented middle managers from all of its EMEA subsidiaries. As part of the programme, the participants form multinational learning sets that provide a broader awareness of the business context and enable best practice to be shared between the subsidiaries.

Founded in 1853, Bausch & Lomb develops, manufactures and markets eye-care products, pharmaceuticals and surgical equipment. The company developed ground-breaking sun-glasses for the military in the First World War, created the lenses used in the cameras that took the first satellite pictures of the moon and introduced the first soft contact lenses, in 1971. Today, Bausch & Lomb is the world's largest eye-care provider. With 12,000 employees and annual revenues of around £1.4 billion, it supplies products to more than 100 countries.

To complement its executive leadership programmes at the senior level, Bausch & Lomb has introduced a competency-based development programme for middle managers.

"Our middle managers are critical to delivering our strategic goals, but before 2000 we had not implemented any focused development activities for these key people," said Mike O'Connor, Bausch & Lomb's director of human resources. "We decided to supplement technical training in their specific functional areas with a programme centred on our global-competency framework that offered individuals the opportunity to grow and develop in the key areas that we have identified as important."

Mike O'Connor met executive-education and research organization, Roffey Park, to discuss the idea of running an EMEA-wide programme for selected middle managers from all Bausch & Lomb subsidiaries.

"We reviewed Bausch & Lomb's strategic objectives and the challenges the business was facing, so, when we started to develop the programme, Roffey Park had a good sense of our culture and our development needs," he said. "Roffey Park proposed a modular programme with learning sets and together we developed the content to make it a very specific programme, built around our competencies."

The European management-development programme first ran in December 2000. It has since been staged every three months, with 12 different managers attending each time.

Ann Crosland, HR manager at Bausch & Lomb UK, said: "The local HR teams and the managers of each subsidiary select the candidates from their country, right across the EMEA region. Before starting on the programme, the participants meet their managers to discuss and clarify their own specific learning needs and goals."

The programme is split into two development modules. The first lasts three days and covers the impact of change on people management, the role of a manager within Bausch & Lomb, effective leadership, building managerial and interpersonal competence and managing diversity. The module is always introduced by a senior leader from Bausch & Lomb who puts the programme into context and reinforces the strategic direction of the business. It also includes practical exercises in which the participants put the skills into action.

"The programme has a strong emphasis on self-analysis, feedback from colleagues and personal-development planning," said Ann Crosland. "Throughout the programme, the style of development is very different from a dry, classroom-based learning approach which would have had limited appeal. The tutors make the programme very interactive and they are able to respond to the needs of each cohort. Our people are very hands-on and feedback has shown that they welcome this more flexible approach."

As part of the first module, the participants form multinational learning sets – small groups of six managers from different countries who meet separately to provide one another with challenge and support. The sets meet twice, in different countries, after each of the two development modules. The manager from the host country arranges for the set members to tour his or her subsidiary company and the local general manager usually meets the group to review the local business strategy, priorities and challenges.

"Working in a set provides a whole learning experience on top of the programme content," said Ann Crosland. "The sets give people exposure to managers from other countries and other functions and this provides them with a greater understanding of our EMEA-wide priorities. They have been extremely well received because they create informal networks throughout the company and offer people a chance to learn more about the issues faced by other subsidiaries."

Around three months after completing the first development module, the participants regroup for module two, which lasts two days and covers strategic thinking, time management, motivation, handling conflict, delegation, managing from a distance and political behaviour in the workplace. The participants review their experiences of putting their learning into practice and refine their personal-development plans accordingly.

"By the end of the programme, the participants will have focused on the competencies that make people successful within Bausch & Lomb," said Mike O'Connor. "They will also have gained new perspectives on the different business issues faced by other subsidiaries in the company and they will have formed a strong, multinational, personal-support network across the EMEA region.

"The organization benefits from the transfer of the learning back into the local work environment and from having talented middle managers in place who are equipped with the competencies we need to go forward. The programme provides tremendous value and there are frequent calls from managers asking how they can get on it, which is a very positive indicator of its popularity internally."

Although products and times have changed, Bausch & Lomb still adheres to the legacy of dedication to innovation, quality and craftsmanship established by its founders, John Jacob Bausch and Henry Lomb. "The pan-EMEA development programme is definitely in tune with the whole vision of the company as it creates a broader awareness of the wider business context in which we are working," said Mike O'Connor. "Apart from the many personal benefits for participants, it provides an opportunity for our middle-management population to share best practice between the subsidiaries. This has proved very beneficial in helping us to meet our goal of exceeding customer expectations."