Development Dimensional International (DDI), a talent management consulting firm, sees a high demand for candidates of science, technology, engineering, mathematics (STEM) with leadership skills in the pharma and healthcare space. The company views this as the only winning combination which is difficult to get during a talent hunt drive.

Pharma and healthcare are among the fastest growing and require intellectual capital. The five key attributes for a candidate to lead the pharma and healthcare enterprises are emotional intelligence, ability to lead, mould teammates, entrepreneurship and be able to navigate complex situations, Amogh Deshmukh, member, key leadership team, DDI India told Pharmabiz in an email.

The company is engaged in talent acquisition of pharma and healthcare majors which include AstraZeneca, Phillips and Siemens for leadership development and ‘succession-management’ process. DDI takes into account the need at each level and enables companies to plug gaps by imparting various training methodologies required for each level of workforce.

“Most often the talent pool is a combination of STEM but lack the requisite leadership skills. At times, there are excellent leaders but technical know-how with the absence of STEM which in turn impacts decision making. A combination of STEM and leadership skills is hard to find. Hence organisations are on talent development mode in the early stages to plan, put a process in place for identifying promising candidates to groom them with suitable training methodologies and create leaders,” he added.

Age is not a criterion in leadership, but it is qualification which plays an important role. There are some young and dynamic leaders in the healthcare and pharmaceutical industry who are technically well equipped and have the right leadership skills. With healthcare and pharmaceutical industry consistently on the growth momentum, we see more of young leaders taking on the mantle. With right and timely talent development plans in place, we would be witnessing a number of bright young minds becoming the fulcrum of success for these sectors, observed Deshmukh.

For the evolving Indian pharma and healthcare industry managing talent is crucial. A visible trend is the implementation of a robust succession process in both the sectors. There is an aggressive move to scout for candidates with a perspective of the future. Therefore companies identify core competencies, observe personnel who define business challenges during an audit of talent pool and DDI works to help the pharma and healthcare sector hire and retain exceptional promising talent for future, he said.