Merz Aesthetics is an organisation growing at speed. It hires strong talent who are keen to grow and build the business – and develop their careers.

And the firm has been successful, seeing expansion in both its Therapeutics and Aesthetics businesses.

The company is focused on facing the future with confidence. Its rigorous talent processes support strategic and cultural objectives and are supported by the commitment and action of the leadership team. It means that it can develop and retain key employees and fill positions quickly to meet business needs as they evolve.

Business growth has been borne from strong client and clinic relationships, and investment in product development. And arm-in-arm with business growth, is the growth of its people.

While onboarding is critical to ensure culture, goal, and vision engagement, so too is investment in professional and personal growth: developing career agility, realising potential and acquiring future-essential skills.

Gillian Kennedy, Country Manager,

Merz Aesthetics UK and Ireland says;

“We’ve brought in super talented people who will be fundamental to our future success. They are our emerging leaders. However, our business is growing rapidly and we need to be agile with helping our people develop. CoDevelop Consulting were already a part of our extended team. They have coached and supported our leaders but were always more than this to us and I see them as true partners to me, the leadership team and the business. I always felt able to talk through my plans, our talent strategy and how best to deliver this and so it was natural to ask the CoDevelop team to work with us on the next phase of talent growth.”

For Gillian, the commitment to investing in the Merz team is very real. She firmly believes that, as a leader, it is her responsibility to prepare and develop talent for future roles – albeit those roles may initially be outside of Merz Aesthetics.

“Our people are super talented, and many are emerging as our future leaders - and I want to help them become great leaders. We need great leaders at Merz Aesthetics and I want all our strong talent to stay with us. Yet, sometimes people need to extend their experience by working with other businesses. While in building up our people we may lose some,I hope that they see our potential and return to us for the next stage of their career. For me, this is about treating our people not as a resource, but as individuals all striving to be their best self.”

It was with this commitment to its emerging leaders that Gillian and CoDevelop started to map out the Talent Development Programme for some of its rising stars.

With no formal succession planning approach in place, the Merz Aesthetics leadership team identified six high performers who were ready and hungry for their next challenge. This cohort became the pilot of the programme.

This was never going to be simply a short course to passively attend. Merz Aesthetics wanted to give its programme participants the gift of time and space; to explore their strengths, develop self-insight and take on a

stretch assignment.

Designed to run over eight months, it combined cohort-wide group learning to support each other and develop their network, with individual responsibility and ownership of their development.

The intention was clear; to provide the cohort with access to the tools it needed to self-navigate the opportunities available, without the formality of a classroom-based programme.

The CoDevelop team drew from its kitbag of exercises and tools and was able

to adapt and refocus the monthly workshop content when business need demanded it. Monthly individual coaching encouraged each person to reflect and build on what had been explored in the workshops and, importantly, each participant took ownership of a live business issue.

The programme was built around CoDevelop’s Five Ps of Career Development Planning – a model focused on owning and creating your career plan – and the essential building blocks of skills needed for leadership. Six of the group

workshops were held virtually and two were in-person.

Gillian comments:

“What excited us about the shape of our new programme was the blend of the cohort working alongside each other in monthly workshops, the focus gained through individual coaching and the business benefitting from a specific and business-critical project previously outside of the participants’ remit and knowledge base.

We wanted our key talent working on our most challenging and pressing business issues, while developing and growing as future leaders."

Through conversations with clients about their people, CoDevelop recognises how some in the early stages of their careers, find themselves in the ‘wilderness years’.

They are the strong and proven contributors to the business, looking to the future and their ‘next step’ but find themselves in the space between the initial on-boarding or structured entry programme and the access to more senior leadership development programmes.

Claire comments:

“This is a critical time in the career of young and high potential talent. They need to gain exposure across the company – and grow in confidence in their own capability. Merz Aesthetics has great managers who understand this and provide the guidance, mentoring and challenge these people need – but that isn’t the case at all firms. A more structured programme addressing their specific needs and demonstrating your investment in early career talent is what is required. This talent group is ripe for development – and critical to retain. It is so exciting to work with people at this stage of their career; they embrace everything.”

The results from any talent development programme are tough to measure.

Numerical data simply cannot reflect the

value created from increased confidence, skillset, impact and contribution. However, the ‘numbers’ for the Talent Development Programme are outstanding.

Five of the six of the original cohort were promoted into new positions either during or within one month of completing the programme. The sixth is ready to progress and is exploring options.

One of the most transformational aspects of the programme is how each of the participants shifted their view of their career path.

One of the firms most successful sales account managers, has moved into a national marketing role after initially believing marketing was not the career path for them.

Another brand manager has been promoted into an EMEA role, leading the marketing of a key brand across multiple markets.

Finally, two others have been promoted with additional regional or line management responsibilities.

• New skills embraced and learned. Programme cohort comfortably works outside of their usual function, enabling them to develop new business and interpersonal skills.

• A broader network established, and exposure reached. Greater reach across the organisation enables wider networks to be built.

• Discover more about the business. Participants are exposed to unfamiliar parts of the business - essential for future career progression.

• Completion of business-critical projects. The projects worked on are business critical

and require focus and commitment.

Those in the initial cohort are delighted with the programme. They talk of the coaches creating 'a supportive and safe space’ and of the 'individual journey each person has been on’.

For one participant, their greatest learning came from digging into what 'motivates and energises’ them.

For another, it was the ‘overwhelming message of grasping opportunities, building self-belief and challenging ourselves’.

The internal success of the programme in the UK has spread into other Merz regions.

An EMEAwide programme has begun, and a second European-based programme is being planned – and the buzz generated by the programme has spread right across the workforce.

Claire sums up the programme:

“The programme is about the future. But it’s also about the present. It’s about helping young and high-potential talent go beyond what they do right now and build the relevant skills and experiences to expand into new roles.”

Gillian concludes:

“This programme is about helping our most

talented people with the potential to move on to progress to a broader leadership role or move function entirely. The programme has delivered this beyond our expectations.”