Respiratory Managers Meeting

I still have notes from Bob Ingram: “I will never tolerate management by fear or intimidation.” I thought I had died & gone to heaven...and he would spit to see how the “leadership team” has driven the morale into the pit. Which is where they all belong. Rutherford seems real, but Hornsucker needs to catch a train to Siberia where he can bark orders. Which is where coco was “proven” to work. What a sham. Karma, work your magic and SOON! Too many good people are suffering...stress keeps taking a toll, including a young lady in Iowa suffering a fatal MI from stress. This shitstorm needs to stop.

 

Leadership needs to hear this kind of stuff!!! They have to understand that in many instances doing nothing is the best option. They feel that when things are going great they need to "add" something. When things are not so great, they feel the need to "add" several things. They just get in the way. They constantly job justify and it hurts the bottom line. Correct, Horn-swallower needs to get the hell out of here. Completely out of touch! But break it down to our RSD and the FLLs. Do they push back or just take orders and execute a flawed plan? Then they add their negative management style. It's a vicious cycle. And that's why we have the worst corporate culture in the industry.

 

great comments, gsk is unable to improve its culture, this has been proven over the past decade. Proven. Accept it and figure a path out of the morass

 

Many have been preaching about the toxic culture here and looks like more ppl are removing their heads from the sand. There isn’t any need for the culture to be toxic as most of the field does their jobs. It’s been vastly over stated about any organization having bad reps. There isn’t really any justification for the toxic environment.

 

I've been reading cafe pharma for years but never posted a comment...until today. Been with GSK for quite awhile. Have had the pleasure of working with some really talented and bright individuals. I have also had the unpleasant experience of working with and for some terrible people. I would guess that is the case at most organizations. The problem that GSK has had and continues to have is the inability to identify true talent. Coupled with the inability to truly listen to their people. This has resulted in what has become a toxic corporate culture. GSK had the largest CIA settlement in pharmaceutical history. We had the Patient First Program..testing, Field Coaches, and Calibrations. A colossal failure! Now we have leadership who refuses to listen to the field. They use STEM surveys to guide their decisions. Even those results have been ignored to a certain extent. In my humble opinion, the only way to turn this culture around is to strategically remove field mangers and middle management. Remove half of the current FLLs and half of the RSDs. Replace them with qualified hungry employees from the field and some from outside the organization. Allow a fresh new take on how to motivate. On how to treat employees. Will this happen? It's doubtful at best. But that would be the best way. Think of it like cutting out a cancerous tumor and replacing it with healthy new cells. This company was once great...let's get back to that!

 

Post #66 is correct in that a radical change is needed. Being very familiar with the gsk culture, I have but one theme of questions to ask: how would those FLLs and other managers being replaced be identified? How to insure that the correct ones get booted? Who decides?

 

Answer to the question above. You could do it in a couple of ways. The decision would need to come from our CEO and new president. 1. By default you use age as a deciding factor. ( I realize that this is discriminatory but desperate times call for drastic measures). Offer them a deal they can't refuse. Two years severance for managers over the age of 59. They can take it or not. If not, they run the risk of PIP via field rep 180 reviews and overall performance reviews..more on this on my next step. . Why 59? Most FLLs at this age have been employed with GSK for well over 15 years. The 2 years severance gets them to retirement age of 62 where they can begin to draw on social security. Believe me, almost all FLLs in this position would rush to grab this offer. 2. Ever notice that almost no FLLs are ever on a PIP? When was the last time you saw an FLL severed from the company? Time to put performance management into action. If reps can have 20% of the sales force on PIPs, why not place 20% of FLLs on PIPs? These managers would not be offered the above two year severance. Rather they would fall into the current severance policy. Once this action is complete, you replace these FLLs with new reinvigorated FLLs...from the field. The caveat is that when hiring and placing these new talented folks they must come with a positive can-do attitude. Micro-management is an option based on specific need not a requirement in order to justify ones position. Threats are not tolerated. Simple and basic management techniques that have been used in every other industry will work just fine here. If you were to implement this, you would see GSKs culture change overnight...also, it would not just be FLLs that would be replaced..RSDs would be scrutinized as well. What do you all think about that?

 

I don’t know who has this plan but he/she needs a promotion pronto! I only know of 2 FLLs and 1 SLL (RVP) displaced during the last layoff. Accountability needs to be instituted. A set percentage for performance management for reps is ludicrous. Stop the madness and let us do our jobs.

 

Post #68 is a genius! I wish this plan would happen. Let's try to make this an issue on 180 feedback and annual surveys. Anonymous letters would work. Let's get some juevos and speak up at a townhall event. FLLs and SLLs are paid very very well and offer very very little. Time to thin the herd!

 

I left GSK after 25+ years of employment because of the virulent and toxic management system. I would like to see sales representatives refer to managers as managers, not first time leaders. True leaders teach, encourage and care about their sales representatives, something that has been missing at GSK for years. The present management system at GSK is based on favoritism, cronyism and who has the biggest lips to kiss a manager's ass. It is sad to see the company that brought innovative products such as Zantac, Zofran, Imitrex, Advair, etc. become the scourge of the pharmaceutical industry.
In one of the above posts there is a mentioning of the sales rep in Iowa that died from all of the stress brought on by her GSK manager. Life is short. It is not worth dying for GSK or being miserable at GSK.

 

I agree with the last post. Where have our "leaders" gone? There was a time when our District Managers..key word..managers..behaved liked leaders. They encouraged, coached, inspired and yes even pushed and sometimes pushed hard. But it was done in a way that motivated vs intimidated. I am in the Wetern part of the country. We have an RSD who is in way over his head. It trickles down to the FLLs. By the way, these FLLs never seem to leave. They have no aspirations to move up or out. They micro-mange which serves to job-justify as well as to point the finger when things are not going well. I love the above post that asks the question, when was the last time an RSD or FLL has been displaced outside of a layoff? Time to hold them accountable!!

 

Agree with the last posts, where did “coaching” go? Oh yes, it went to the performance management corporate bullshit manage out 20% or manage yourself out. So.. here we are... hello FLLs and SLLs... here you are looking yourself in the mirror... how well have you served your company? How well have you incorporated the team spirit? How well have you invested in your team? And more importantly, how well have you encouraged the core values? Has it increased the share value? To be honest, that’s all we care about, go back to managing out the “low performers”, meaning anyone above the age of 50...

 

When will you folks get it? Drug reppin is a job for 2 years max right after college until you find a real career. If you stay longer or over age 30, well your just a loser, plain and simple. Lousy do nothing job, you are professional ass kissers! No self respecting person does this job long. They’ll do you a favor to let you go!

 

Sorry you couldn’t hack it. I’m independently wealthy after 25+ years in the industry. People like you that can’t sell are weeded out early...

 

Well I’ve got 20 yrs in, make almost $200 k.....and have over a million so far saved for retirement. I’ll put in another 15 yrs and call it a day. Sorry you didn’t make it work

 

Sorry after 20 years you only have a paltry $1mm. You need to invest better Hiram!

 

So, Ive been "reppin" for four years now. What is this "other" career you speak of? I pull down 125K in salary + 22k in bonus + a car + a pension + 401k + benefits. I'm 31 years old. Where do you suggest I go?

 

Good luck putting in another 15 years. I’d have a back up plan and wouldn’t be so smug. A million saved for retirement might be ok if you are 65 years old.

 

Hate to say it, but 15 years is not realistic. If you can get three more years consider yourself extremely lucky. 2020 will see massive changes at GSK. In case you haven't noticed, headcount in the field has continually contracted for the last 15 years. You better pray that 1 million doubles by the time you are ready for retirement.