Building a community of agile leaders across a global pharmaceutical company

A multinational pharmaceutical company was facing financial headwinds, the loss of exclusivity on a key product, and the need to reposition for long-term growth. Navigating that uncertainty meant teams making faster, evidence-based decisions, collaborating more effectively, and delivering more efficiently, and that depended on senior leaders championing agile ways of working rather than simply endorsing them.

The Agile for Leaders programme was designed for 2,000 senior leaders and rolled out globally as part of a wider transition to an agile operating model. It deepened understanding of the leader's role in helping teams adopt and excel in agile ways of working, directly supporting the company's strategic OKR to accelerate agile adoption and drive outcomes.

2,000 senior leaders in the target audience for the programme

Global rollout across the multinational programme

Four modules over four weeks, piloted and refined before full rollout

Our approach

Alirity created a practical leadership programme designed to build a community of agile leaders, not just train individuals. Four modules ran over four weeks, mixing insight, practice, and reflection, and tailored to the realities of busy global leadership roles.

Cross-functional cohorts brought leaders together from across the business, helping them connect and build a shared language for agile ways of working. The programme was made available to all leaders through the company's learning platform, with customised sessions offered by function, and was piloted first so content could be refined before rolling out more widely.

The result

The programme shifted how participants understood their role as leaders: from directing teams to enabling them, with the capabilities that make agile ways of working take hold. It reinforced the leadership qualities participants need to embody and role model for their teams, and built the practical capability to lead agile teams with confidence, equipping participants to carry those ways of working into the wider transformation.