ANNOUNCING EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TRANSITION

West Chester, Pennsylvania (June 1, 2020) – The Brooks Group today announced an executive leadership transition: effective June 1, 2020, long-time President, Dan Brooks will become Managing Partner of The Brooks Group.

With that move, current Brooks Group, Sr. Partner Ryan Evans will be promoted, as the company’s new President. Today’s announcement represents the successful culmination of the board’s long-range leadership succession planning process. Since joining The Brooks Group in 2010, Ryan has been a key member of the team and has proven himself as a strong leader with extensive industry experience. Importantly, with the experience he has gained in the various roles he has held, Ryan is intimately familiar with Brooks business operations, evolving products, healthcare market landscape and customers.

Ryan has been responsible for overseeing all of Brooks business strategic advisory services, market research, and training with pharmaceutical companies and payers to enable them to position their value proposition in the era of Quadruple Aim.

“Ryan has been a consistent top performer since joining the Company ten years ago. His vision & strategy led to the hiring of a Chief Learning Officer & staff in 2019. With the advent of Covid-19, this strategy seems prescient and has positioned the Company well for the transformation now occurring. He is the ideal person to lead and prosper the Company into this rapidly evolving virtual environment and I’m proud to announce his promotion to President.”

Ryan said, “I am excited for the opportunity to lead The Brooks Group forward as its next president. We have a talented team, and I am honored to lead this team as we build on our momentum as an industry leader. Importantly, I want to thank Dan for his tremendous leadership, as well as his mentorship and friendship over the years. I look forward to transitioning with Dan, and I am appreciative of the opportunity to continue to benefit from his experience.”

Prior to joining The Brooks Group, Ryan held a variety of positions of increasing responsibility in sales, operations, training and general management during a 15-year career at Wyeth Pharmaceuticals.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2020/06/announcing-executive-leadership-transition/

BROOKS GROUP ANNOUNCEMENTS!

The Brooks Group is pleased to announce that Dan Donovan, Chief Learning Officer, has become a Partner at The Brooks Group.

Dan joined us in 2019 as Chief Learning Officer. He has proven to be a versatile training and digital media leader with many years of solid successes under his belt. He has identified and secured a diverse portfolio of clients spanning multiple vertical markets and a wide range of industries.

“In his first year with The Brooks Group, Dan has helped to drastically shift the deliverables provided by the Company through his instructional design leadership and ADDIE principals” stated Dan Brooks, President of The Brooks Group. “This shift has allowed customers to realize how training does not have to be tactical in nature, but part of a broader learning strategy. We have definitely seen that where Dan is engaged with our clients, he brings substantial value add”.

Dan is also leading the launch of Brooks Group University, an on-line platform which will revolutionize the way customers procure, access, and digest instructional learnings, both for market knowledge and business processes.

Dan has post graduate degrees in Instructional Technology and Instructional Systems Design.

Please join us in congratulating Dan in becoming a Partner at The Brooks Group. We look forward to his continued business success in the years to come.

 

---

 

The Brooks Group is also proud to announce the promotion of Matt Toresco to Executive Vice President of Learning & Development and Patient Advocacy.

Matt Toresco joined The Brooks Group in 2016 as Vice President of Account Management & Business Processes Training. Matt’s focus is on providing clients with programs that support strategic planning, executive level initiatives, account management training & development, and market research. He also heads up our syndicated market research initiative, THE ADVOCATE: Supporting the Patient Voice, which uncovers the needs of today’s advocacy community as they interact with their pharmaceutical counterparts. Matt designs, develops, and implements programs that drive success for customer facing personnel; while introducing new and innovative methods of implementing learning initiatives in the era of Quadruple Aim.

“In Matt’s first three years with The Brooks Group, he has developed deep relationships with customers to implement live and virtual training engagements. His facilitated programs are consistently given top marks, and his deep insights of the marketplace allow him to work with a diverse group of clients. His relationships have afforded him the opportunity to engage with multiple departments within single organizations, while also remaining strong through corporate turnover and management restructuring” stated Dan Brooks, President of The Brooks Group. Outside of his role as a sales leader, Matt has worked to revitalize our syndicated market research program turning THE ADVOCATE into a beacon for the advocacy community, patients, and their pharmaceutical counterparts. Matt has also proven to be an internal leader, reducing company expenses and improving operational efficiencies within The Brooks Group.

We commend Matt on his promotion to Executive Vice President of Learning & Development and Patient Advocacy and look forward to the continued business success of both Matt and his valued customers.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2020/05/brooks-group-announcements/

TIPS ON BUILDING A TRAINING BUDGET

It’s that dreaded time of year again to put together the training budget for next year.  It can be hard to project the needs for the following year.  Here are five tips around building a training budget:

1. Understand the budget process to include approval process, submission dates and when budgets are finalized. Reconcile outstanding invoices with vendors, outstanding projects or incomplete projects and what will be billed for the current year. Meet all finance cut-off dates for the current year.
2. Determine operational expenses; travel, new hire training, technology, supplies e.g.
3. Be a part of the development of the marketing brand planning. This will allow you a seat at the table and to get some insights into how training can support the brand.  One organization that I worked with was good at bring the entire matrix team together during the brand planning process.  Everyone had input and was given the opportunity to present portions of their plan for the following year. Because sales and marketing are involved in this process you will usually get to everyone you need to work with.
4. Begin to develop the training plan for the next year:
   1. Meet with your key stake holders discuss needs for the upcoming year to include Marketing, Sales Leadership, Medical, HEOR and other Matrix partners.
   2. Some of the plan will be a continuation from the previous plan.
   3. Internal training department initiatives.
5. Once you have your list of potential items, build your plan and talk to your vendors and get approximate cost for different projects. This can be important because if there are big ticket items you need to know how to find the budget money.  Often for launches the money will come from the brand or in some cases the training team will own the budget.

 

Remember us at The Brooks Group while you put together those 2020 Budgets.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/08/tips-on-building-a-training-budget/

3 TIPS FOR BUILDING CURRICULUM

Trainers are aware of the request to bring up-to-date curriculum to ensure advancement in skills of a sales team or the importance of developing curriculums from scratch.  Of late, I have been getting such requests from clients. This can be challenging as almost everybody wants it done within a short time, with the business requirements sometimes challenging. Since most have in mind what they want their curriculum to be, demands can be much on the training team.

Follow a procedure: An easy way to achieve this is through the Addie Model – an instructional design concept that ensures consistency in completion of training projects. The model was created to facilitate effective training with consistency for the military.  There are several variations of the models, nonetheless they all will produce identical results.  The five stages are: Analyze, Design, Develop, Implement and Evaluate. Each process requires some time.

My mantra in curriculum development is to use data which requires rich analysis.  There are a range of methods that can be used to conduct analysis.  A survey with the sales team and management can be simple and effective.  More dynamic approaches include benchmarking, formal needs analysis and others which can consist of Front-End Analysis (FEA), Media Analysis, Learner Analysis, Run-time Analysis – and nowadays, Gamification Analysis and Mobile Analysis. From experience, I would recommend using a vendor to perform them. Most of the time, the client thinks they know what would work for them, but their relationship with the learners and other variables can affect the analysis of the research.

Benchmarking allows insight from your customer base and a comparison with your competitors.  This tool is linked with either organizational competencies and behaviors to provide rich and valuable data. A formal needs analysis allows key stakeholders to be interviewed to determine organizational gaps.    

Identify the key stakeholders: Ordinarily, this should include sales leadership, operations, and marketing along with the end user.  Even though I focus mostly on pharma, you need to identify them in your field of expertise. Stakeholders are very significant if you want the best result. 

There is need to determine the scope of influence of each stakeholder. Also, there should be a communication strategy which can include normal touchpoints as a part of the project plan.

Measure the training:  Measuring training can help quantify the impact of workshops, curriculum or courses. To ensure a good outcome, develop a strategy for measurement while conducting your analysis. The Six Disciplines of Breakthrough Learning by Wick Jefferson, and Pollock describes in detail how to determine measurement in the initial periods of training development.  Using Kirkpatrick’s Evaluation model can help determine the best measurement approach.  I recommend going beyond level one and level two measurements. Agree on the outcome of the training and measure.  

Another measurement model is The Success Case Methodology, created by Robert Brinkerhoff. Interviews are done with participants based on their degree of success using the program.  This enables the training crew to dig into the information about success or non-success.

My focus in this post was the use of the Addie Model to develop a curriculum, the significance of vital stakeholders and creating a measurement approach. There are certainly other elements of curriculum development.

Here at The Brooks Group we have the expertise to develop a curriculum for your customer facing teams.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/05/3-tips-for-building-curriculum/

HEALTHCARE CONSOLIDATION

Consolidations continue to be the word in healthcare.  We ended 2018 with Takeda-Shire transaction closing for $62 billion with a primary focus on rare disease.  BMS topped this transaction early in January agreeing to buy Celgene and their Oncology portfolio for $74 Billion. Eli Lilly acquired Lexo Oncology for $8 billion expanding its oncology portfolio.

In late February Roche agreed with U.S.-based gene therapy specialist Spark Therapeutics for $4.3 billion. Basel-based Roche is buying Spark as rivals, including Novartis, also move aggressively into gene therapy, where treatments for rare, inherited diseases command some of the highest prices in medicine. Spark’s blindness therapy Luxturna is approximately $850,000 per patient.

Much of this consolidation has happened because of drug price pressures, looming patent cliff in 2024 with $251 Billion in drugs and the opportunity to strengthen drug pipelines especially in oncology and rare diseases.

Pharma isn’t the only place where consolidation is taking place.  In 2018 there were 90 healthcare system mergers which were close to the 115 transactions that occurred in 2017. Similar themes like the pharmaceutical industry to include financial pressures, value-based reimbursement, shrinking hospital margin and record healthcare spending.

Dignity Healthcare and Catholic Health Initiative finalized their deal early in 2019 with a new name Common Spirit Health. This system will have close to 139 hospitals and 700 sites of care in 28 states with $30 billion in revenue.

Baylor Scott and White called off their merger with Memorial Herman Health systems.  This would have been one of the largest healthcare systems in the country with 68 hospitals and $14 billion in revenue.  The decision to scrap the deal was not because of finances.  Some think it was because of the overlap of services and the mismatch of missions.  Many studies suggest that healthcare consolidation means increased medical cost.

Hackensack Meridian expands its behavioral health capabilities by finalizing its deal with Carrier Health based in Belle Meade, NJ. This will allow the health system to treat mental health and opioid addiction more effectively.

BioScrip, Inc. and Option Care Enterprises, Inc. the nation’s largest independent providers of home and alternate treatment site infusion therapy service are merging. The combination is expected to create a leading independent provider in the $100 billion U.S. infusion market. The home infusion market makes up approximately 12% of this market and is growing 5-7% a year.  Expected benefits include cost efficiencies, improved patient care, and more therapy offerings

A private equity firm will buy GE’s ambulatory care and workforce management software for $1.05 Billion in cash.  Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway & J.P Morgan healthcare venture finally has a name: “Haven.” The company said the name choice of “Haven” lines up with its mission to be a “partner” to care, providers, & to focus on healthcare.

A lot has happened in the 1st quarter of 2019 and expect more.  Follow the Brooks Group to stay up to date on the latest healthcare market trends. In this merger-frenzy era, The Brooks Group ensures your customer-facing team can still gain access to key healthcare stakeholders and proactively engage them in a process to uncover their critical issues business & clinical issues around Quadruple Aim. Armed with these superior insights your Team will be able to build and position the unique value proposition that delivers mutual benefit.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/03/healthcare-consolidation/

INTRODUCING THE BROOKS GROUP LEARNING EXPERIENCE

We are excited to announce the launch of our innovative instructional design center of excellence: The Brooks Group Learning eXperience (LX).

The Brooks Group Learning eXperience Team is a new instructional offering that creates high-end learning content for organizations. It’s great for adoption training as well as prerequisite, refresher and certification courses.

Why us? For one, it’s created by experts in instructional design theory. This ensures that all of the team’s courseware is sound. Elevating its products even further, the LX Team relies on a production team including 3D artists and animators with experience supporting major video game studios; graphic artists with background in advertising and marketing; and professional voiceover talent from radio shows.

The E-learning, mobile learning and video learning courses that the LX Team creates are one-of-a-kind. They are not your everyday “page turner” training; these are interactive, immersive modules that learners want to use. Even better: they help to make information sticky, improving organizations’ adherence to business processes while reducing costs associated with poor performance or long-distance in-person training.

In addition to learning products, The Brooks Group LX Team also has an analytics platform to track learners’ progress. The solution also includes a talent asset management capability to quickly capture and visualize workforce strengths, weaknesses and suggested remediation strategies.

For more information and to discuss details for your organization, please contact Dan Donovan at dan.donovan@brooksgroupinc.biz.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/05/introducing-the-brooks-group-learning-experience/

WHY DO TEAMS CONDUCT LEADERSHIP RETREATS?

Joel Gascoigne, CEO of software application company Buffer, says “I see our retreats as an essential part of the work we do together. I firmly believe that if we operated the company without these regular face-to-face gatherings, we would be less effective and feel less connected.” While you might not have a remote team or be the CEO of a multi-million-dollar company and voted by INC one of the best workplaces for 2018, a leadership retreat can act as a catalyst for bonding, learning, training and a change in perspective for the leadership team. A few strategies for retreats include determining what you want to achieve, what would people be doing differently after the retreat, who should be involved in the planning and should there be a facilitator.

What are you trying to achieve? The best retreats have a clearly stated purpose which you can work with the team to determine. What are the outcomes and what do you want people to do differently after the retreat? Is the purpose for team building, training, assessing progress or strategic direction?

Often having someone facilitate the retreat can be beneficial. There are several occasions when it’s best for you to consider outside help. A facilitator can act as a catalyst for stimulating and assessing progress with follow-up activities and can be an objective observer. It also allows the leader to be an active participant. The facilitator is there to help the business achieve their wanted results.

Here at The Brooks Group we offer Revolutionize Your Business: The Lessons of George Washington & The Largest Battle of the American Revolution. A flexible curriculum to building on the skills identified for business leadership, The Brooks Group has designed a two-day skill enhancement program that enables participants to understand their individual leadership strengths and weaknesses, assess their ability to forge and utilize a team to achieve their business objectives, establish performance expectations of themselves as well as their team, and practice these skills in a customized business simulation (that the participants actually build) which encourages them to think at the next level of management.

This blog was originally posted at https://thebrooksgrouponline.com/2019/02/why-do-teams-conduct-leadership-retreats/