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Horizon Therapeutics

February 2022

In This Edition | High-Performance Teams

"Leading Through Growth: Horizon Therapeutics’ HR Chief on Building High-Performance Teams in a Rapidly Changing World"

Leader’s Corner:

Dean Patras –The High-Performance Prescription at Horizon Therapeutics

Howard Guttman:

If I Were You: Intentional New-Leader-and-Player Assimilation

Video:

Onboarding High-Performance Players
 

Dean Patras

 

Vice president, Human Resources, and Business Partner

Horizon Therapeutics


Dean Patras is the Vice President of Human Resources and Business Partner, Commercial and International, at Horizon Therapeutics, an international pharmaceutical organization. Horizon Therapeutics has U.S. headquarters in Deerfield, Illinois, and international headquarters in Dublin, Ireland. The company was founded in 2008 by CEO Tim Walbert, who was diagnosed with a rare autoimmune condition.

Horizon Therapeutics is committed to delivering medicines for rare, autoimmune, and severe inflammatory diseases, guided by a philosophy of making a meaningful difference for patients and communities in need.



Leader's Corner:

Dean Patras


As a senior HR leader at Horizon Therapeutics, what causes you to lose sleep at night?

We have been on an accelerated growth trajectory. Over the past two years, we more than doubled in size. The headcount during that time has grown by 40-to-50 percent. And that’s during the COVID-19 pandemic! The biggest question on my mind is: How do we sustain and accelerate that growth? And, from an HR perspective, how do we support it as we rapidly add more people to the team?


Many companies are considering going to a hybrid model as a way to balance in-office and virtual work during the COVID-19 era. What is Horizon Therapeutics planning?

We recently moved into a new facility in Deerfield, Illinois, at a cost of over $160 million. We have provided great amenities, including bowling alleys, virtual golf simulators, state-of-the-art workout facilities—you name it, we’ve got it! We believe that great things happen at Horizon when people get together to collaborate, whether formally in meetings or informally to simply connect as colleagues or take advantage of our health and wellness programs. Our goal is to have an ongoing office presence that enables our teams to make those in-person connections while maintaining a high degree of flexibility for those who need to work remotely.


What’s the key to balancing flexibility with in-office collaboration?

Creating an equitable and engaging experience for both in-office and remote employees. COVID has led to a significant shift in employee expectations, which most companies are working to address. While we believe there is value in collaborating in person, at the same time we want to continue our flexible work environment, ultimately providing a positive employee experience. We are actively engaging with our employees and listening to their needs, and we will then decide what makes the most sense for Horizon.


What’s your policy on COVID-19 vaccines for your workforce?

As a pharmaceutical company, we believe strongly in vaccines. In fact, we’ve mandated vaccines for the workforce, maintaining compliance with ADA standards and allowing for accommodations where we are able. Given the mission of our company, we cannot send unvaccinated salespeople into the offices of doctors who treat immuno-compromised patients.


What’s your strategy for acquiring and holding onto talent in the face of the Great Resignation or Big Quit?

It’s more important than ever that companies stay attuned and flexible to the needs of the workforce, both financially and in terms of health and well-being, especially during the pandemic. The relationship between employer and employee goes both ways, and it’s critical that leaders keep the lines of communication open so they can balance what their workforce needs with the demands of the business, while remaining consistent, fair, and flexible. It’s also become clear that COVID-19 has shifted expectations, and people are questioning why they are doing what they are doing and where they are doing it. There is no greater retention tool than finding purpose and passion for what you do. Fortunately, we have cultivated a strong patient-centric culture that has helped us bring that personal satisfaction to life in our mission to serve underserved patients with rare diseases and through our robust community-engagement efforts.


When did your journey to transform your organization to the horizontal, high-performance model begin?

We started the journey with HPT less than one year ago. We have experienced rapid growth in a short period of time and have nearly doubled our number of employees. Given the speed and pace at which we have grown, how things got done became a big challenge. At first, we thought that the challenge was with front-line employees, but as we dug deeper we realized that transformation had to start with the leadership team: how our leaders were behaving and how they could push decision-making down further in the organization. We needed to engage everyone’s head, heart, and hands.


Where in your organization has the high-performance team (HPT) approach taken root?

The HPT approach is just about everywhere within our U.S. commercial team and is just starting with our international team. Together, these teams constitute almost half the organization. The U.S. commercial team consists of five business units and a number of strategic commercial functions. The leaders of each of the U.S. business units sit on the U.S. Commercial Leadership Team. That team, along with the individual leadership teams of each of the five business units and a number of the strategic-function leadership teams, has been through the HPT process. Late last year, the international team held its initial [HPT] alignment session. We are already seeing HPT practices being applied within our business units and across the organization.


What’s been the biggest challenge during your HPT journey?

The biggest challenge early on was helping our leaders understand what HPT means and what it can do for the organization. Initially, the perception was, “HPT is another ‘thing’ that we need to do.” There had to be a mindset change, first among the leaders and then throughout the rest of the organization. The HPT approach is not some add-on. It’s really how you do what you do. It’s about the way you work. Most fundamentally, we had to let go of the notion that the job of leaders is to fix everything. Sustaining rapid growth requires distributing leadership and decision-making beyond a few people calling the shots. We had to empower people throughout the organization to step up and engage.


How do you change the “inner game” of how leaders think?

Our business had already doubled before we began the HPT journey, so we couldn’t attribute our growth to it. Instead, we had to ask ourselves: How do we continue to accelerate our growth? Prior to HPT, things got done in a kind of “squiggly line.” We were working in a newly formed, complicated matrix. We all knew that we were inefficient; everyone felt the pain. We had to smooth out that “squiggly line” so that rapid growth could continue. Each of us needed to rethink the fundamentals: How do I get things done? What are my responsibilities in the decision-making process? How do I influence people? Feeling these growing pains has a way of prompting change, and HPT has been critical to directing these conversations.


You’re only a few months into the HPT transformation. How do you see progress to date?

HPT is a journey. We’re integrating a new way of working into what we do. I see impressive one-on-one, individual behavior change. People are working together more transparently, more accountably, and more productively. We are growing so fast that our business is still being defined, and the way our leadership and teams work together is continuing to evolve, but now we have a framework for where we want to go as an organization and the structure we need to get there.


How do you plan to trigger organization-wide change?

First, leaders on our Commercial Team have to cascade HPT behaviors down through the organization. It begins with their serving as role models of HPT behaviors. At the senior-team level, we also have set a new standard of accountability. For example, at the end of leadership-team meetings, we have committed to doing a “reality check.” Did we behave as a high-performing team? Did we keep our commitments? Did we remain true to HPT protocols and ways of working? And, if not, let’s commit to calling it out! Beyond this, we’re planning to introduce HPT and key skills such as decision-making and influencing to our 90-plus field matrix teams. They are the front line of our business, and we are excited to see how the HPT model can help us unlock even greater potential in this important part of our organization.


Biggest aha! on the HPT journey?

It’s been exciting to watch leaders in the organization evolve their HPT leadership capabilities. It’s exciting to see the lights go on and our leaders grow!


Would you recommend the HPT process and why?

I’ve seen the results of HPT with several leadership teams, in different organizations, for almost a decade. The HPT process encourages leaders to commit to their own development and to the development of those who report to them. It creates a strong leadership backbone, which is instrumental in the sustainable success of any organization. But one caution: you can’t force HPT on an organization or team. It must be grounded in a leader’s understanding of the significant value that HPT brings to the business. Transforming the “how” things get done behind the “what” gets done is the magic of HPT, and it will continue to drive Horizon’s success…so, yes, I would recommend it!

If I Were You: Intentional New-Leader-and-Player Assimilation

by Howard M. Guttman

It’s a story too often told. And, too often, it’s one with an unhappy ending. A new leader or players join an existing team or come together to form a new team. Scant, if any, attention is paid to assimilating the new leader or players: building solid relationships between leader and team or among team members; getting to know the goals, aspirations, and fears of colleagues; getting the lay of the land; and gaining an understanding of “how business is done around here” versus “how it should be done.”


In many cases, a kind of Darwinian survival of the fittest, sink-or-swim approach prevails. And, given the omnipresence of virtual teams, there’s plenty of sinking happening these days. Forty percent of executives hired at the senior level are gone within 18 months, according to one study. Treat assimilation and attention to relationship building as some HR trinket, and you are likely to find an underperforming new leader and team.


We worked with a leader and new team in a start-up, venture-owned company. Turns out, the leader was unconsciously incompetent regarding the need to rapidly establish business relationships with and within the team. After the first 12 months, some members remained clueless about their colleagues. There was little trust; plenty of confusion about roles, accountabilities, and ways of working; and more “me” than “we” on the team. Not surprisingly, team performance sputtered and stalled; the Board of Directors was unhappy; and the “fittest” on the team began the hunt for greener pastures.


If I were you, I’d treat new-leader-and-team assimilation as a critical management challenge, requiring intentionality and thoughtful planning. This is especially important in today’s virtual environment, where relationships are frayed, and many are questioning how and why they are working—and whether they should be working at all. (Reddit’s subwork, “r/antiwork” has over 1.5 million self-described “idlers” who want to end work and opt for a work-free lifestyle.)


The GDS approach to the intentional assimilation of new leaders and players focuses on senior-team alignments, which begin with one-on-one meetings between team members and the leader. If I were you and were a new leader, I’d move with the GDS consultant’s prompts to open up and self-reveal to your team. Give team members a candid look at your leadership style, encourage questions from the team about your values and vision of the business, share what players should expect of you and vice versa, and dispel any going-in stories that players might have about you. The goal is to activate honest, two-way communication with the team from day one.


As the alignment process unfolds, from the team overview session to data collection and then to the full-team session, I’d look for telltale markers of assimilation issues: lack of directional and role clarity, fuzziness about ways of working and performance expectations, guardedness, increased decision-making “hang time,” sideline-sitting as players try to figure out what’s what; and discomfort with colleagues.


If assimilation is an issue, initial energy during the alignment session is spent on relationship creation and building, rather than on jumping to tasks. The team participates in a variety of structured applications that enable members to, in effect, open the window to reveal a three-dimensional view of themselves. The idea is to create a safe environment and build trust upfront, so people are more likely to express themselves, provide feedback, take risks, and perform full-throttle—unencumbered by doubt and second-guessing.


If I were you, I’d treat team alignment as a continuing process, not just a one-and-done event. This is especially true for new leaders and teams. You’ll know that you’re on track when you solicit and receive honest feedback from the team during and after the initial alignment session; when you see that there are follow-up, for-real conversations taking place between and among team members; and when commitments and next steps are happening as planned.


Longer term, you’ll know that the assimilation process is working by the accelerated speed of issue identification and resolution. The Darwinian approach of letting new leaders and teams fend for themselves is something of an anachronism. It’s akin to a leader encouraging team members to argue with one another to see who is strongest. Not a good idea! Intentional assimilation is a surer way to achieve rapid results and create lasting value in a user-friendly organization, whether you conduct business in-office or virtually.

Onboarding High-Performance Players

Howard M. Guttman

Thrusting new leaders and players into a high-performance culture without carefully laying the groundwork is a doomed undertaking. Far better to practice what Howard M. Guttman terms “intentional assimilation,” which begins before the first team meeting.


Howard’s video offers a short course in onboarding best practices, which give new players a high-performance edge, allowing them to get it right and get it fast.







400 Valley Road, Suite 103 Mt Arlington, NJ 07856


Call us @ 973.770.7177

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