Case Study
European Medicines Agency

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) is a decentralised body of the European Union and its main responsibility is the protection and promotion of public and animal health, through the evaluation and supervision of medicines for human and veterinary use.  Eliesha was awarded a contract to provide a range of personal and management development interventions to meet the training requirements of staff within Agency. 

The requirement was to provide a range of off the shelf courses that required partial adaptation to include EMA’s policies and procedures, although there was also a requirement for the creation of an additional range of learning interventions to meet the changing needs of the Agency and its staff.

EMA required a selection of learning interventions in order to train staff in the desired skills for the performance of their tasks and responsibilities as well as enable them to develop their existing and additional competencies. A core set of personal development workshops was required, with additional requests as and when required to support business activities.

Eliesha provided a range of off the shelf courses which were aligned to the objectives of the Agency.  Courses were adapted to include EMA policies and procedures and were fully re-branded in line with EMA branding.  Courses were aimed at all levels of staff within the Agency, as well as staff from other European Agencies. These courses included:

• Communication Skills
• Counselling at Work
• Customer Service
• Dealing with Difficult People
• Essential Skills for Training
• Harassment in the Workplace
• Influencing and Negotiating Skills
• Performance Evaluation for Appraisers
• Project Management
• Stress Management
• Time Management
• Change Management
• Interpersonal Skills
• Interviewing Skills
• Meeting, Contributing and Chairing
• Mentoring & Developing People
• Minutes and Agendas
• Objective Setting
• Organisational Skills for PA’s
• Presentation Skills
• Report Writing
• Stress Management for Managers
• Team Work
• Creative Thinking & Problem Solving

In order to support the additional needs of EMA, Eliesha also designed a range of bespoke training interventions as detailed below:

• Management Development Level 1: A 3 day course for first line managers
• Management Development Level 2: A 1 day course aimed at middle managers and also builds upon Level 1
• Management Development Level 3: A 1 day strategic course aimed at senior managers within EMA
• RACI: Responsible, Accountable, Consulted and Informed Training
• Supervisory Skills: A 1 day intensive course aimed at giving an introduction to the key supervisory skills required in EMA
• Mediation Skills: EMA requested a 1 day bespoke Mediation Skills course aimed at Listening Points and Staff Committee

Eliesha also supported EMA in a number of other areas including:

• Consultancy: Eliesha provided one to one consultancy to the senior management team in line with change management and organisational restructuring
• One to One Coaching: Eliesha provided a number of one to one coaching sessions with a member of the senior management team within EMA who had specifically requested coaching as part of their personal development in order to improve their current skills within their job role
• Facilitation of Head of Sector Training: Information gathered from a staff management survey in 2008 identified a requirement for short, sharp management training sessions delivered by managers to assist other managers in improving their core skills areas

In order to support EMA to gauge the impact of learning back in the workplace, Kirkpatrick Level 3 Evaluation was piloted on pre-selected courses delivered by Eliesha.  Telephone Interviews took place with both delegates and their line managers 3 months post the workshop to establish what affect the training had on both individual performance and, if applicable, team performance. The results were positive and indicated the learning had been successfully implemented back in the workplace and had an overall positive impact.  The process also provided feedback to Eliesha to assist in further developing learning interventions in line with current Agency requirements.

Eliesha developed an in-depth understanding of the Agency through adopting a partnership approach to ensure that when developing, designing and delivering interventions they were fit for purpose and met the training objectives of the organisation and its staff as well as offering a value for money service.