To design, implement and then manage a flexible workforce program requires a team. Not one person can do everything, however the program does require a strong leader to form a team, guide, protect and nurture the program while it’s transforming. 

Leadership can be the difference between success or failure. Anyone that has led a transformation program within an organisation will understand what I’m talking about. That leader is the rudder that navigates the transformation to make sure all stays on the right course.

Madelyn Abreu has this leadership responsibility for the delivery of a global Flexible Workforce program in a large pharmaceutical company. I’ve been wanting to interview Madelyn for a while, but she kept dodging me 😊. Getting married seemed to be more important than my questions, but finally we have found some time to discuss the reality of what it’s like to lead a Flexible Workforce transformation program.

Tell me about your passion?

“I like to find solutions to problems and finding ways to make solutions even better! Identifying challenges, selling it back to others & taking it all the way to success! I get a lot of happiness and satisfaction from being a fixer!

Connecting with people also gives me a lot of energy. I’ve lived in so many places around the world and I love dealing with the diversity of different cultures socially and at work.”

Where did you start your career?

“I started my Procurement career in Venezuela then made my way across to the UK, Argentina and then to central Europe, where I worked in both the public and private sector.

My roles have been mainly focused around the Procurement of Workforce, with increasing levels of responsibility. Throughout my career I have worked in different industries e.g. Public sector, IT, Construction, Professional Services and Pharma.

Moving into a Workforce Program Leadership role, I saw it as a challenge that I wanted, and a natural progression in my career.”

What were the main differences between working public and private procurement?

“Public Procurement has a lot of regulations. Once you understand the rules, it is easy. However sometimes it is hard to be agile and flexible due to the legislative restrictions (the guard rails are tight). In the Private sector, there is a more flexibility to think outside the box which can make it easier to innovate.”

Tell me about your mindset change when you 1st took on the program leadership?

“Active listening, being able to guide the program team, making decisions to support moving forward and escalating as necessary is a big part of my job. I’ve always been able to do this, but when you are managing a large program, it’s done at a more grand and critical scale.   

There are so many moving pieces within, and a lot of it, you must learn as you go. It’s important to understand and be able to communicate the big picture, but my big picture view has changed a little over time. The more we communicate with the local teams, the clearer it becomes that you need to understand the local market and build a solution that will work for them. Maintaining a Global Framework is still important, but it’s only the framework and not a set drop box solution that the local market has to align to (we build the right solution for the market!). We still try to minimise change as much as possible!”

 Were there any challenges to find support for the changes?

“Yes!”

How do you get the change message across?

“Selling a clear vision of where you want to go and what success benefits looks like is key. I’m certified Prosci in Change Management which helped me to ensure that I leveraged the right skills and tools to support me and my communications.

Listen, show you understand and if you don’t have an answer, find the answer. This a good way to build a trust connection with the local stakeholders. You need to ensure that the local current situation is understood, local stakeholders have had the opportunity to provide feedback on what is coming and if they have specific local requirements, that they have been considered into the solution. 

Being upfront and honest on the impact of change (positive and negative).

We also have created a clear Governance structure, so if we ever did get stuck, we could take it up to management to make the final decision.”

Where do you get inspiration?

“When I first started, I attended conferences, round tables and webinars for insights.

Now though, I seek companies out directly that have a level of maturity where we can learn from. There are thought leaders (like yourself 😉) out there that are creating next generation programs and it’s great to have an open forum with them, where I can share insights into what we have done and collaborate on innovating the industry with new ideas on alternative talent solutions.

I also have built great relationships with my business stakeholders. We strategise together, understanding real business problems and we look to create buy, build or borrow Workforce solutions.

Looking around at the world too and identifying how all is changing also provides an insight. You need to pay attention to the changes that are happening which provides opportunity and inspiration to find solutions.”

What type of people do you surround yourself with?

“People from different areas of expertise that can help create pragmatic and rounded ideas and solutions. The IT team within my business are a big support and consumers of Workforce. They provide a wealth of knowledge and a communications network to help get the program message across the business.

At home, I have a lot of friends that help distract me, not to think about work 😉. Having the ownership of a program is a big job and can be quite stressful, so it’s important to have some down time where you can think about something different. For a while, the main distraction was finding the right Wedding dress!”

What’s the hardest part of the job?

“To keep it simple. Workforce is a very complex topic. We find challenges and obstacles everyday but need to keep bringing it back to keeping it simple! It’s the only way to get people on board with the change.”

In relation to the Flexible Workforce program, what are you most proud of?

“Growing from having no solution in place to manage fragmented environments, with multiple ways of doing, thinking & working with a lot of missed synergies and opportunities. Every day we have a new challenge and we deal with it in an Agile manner to deliver!

We are still on our journey, however I am extremely proud of how far we have moved forwards.”

In general, where do you see the future of external Workforce management going?

“We are going to continue being challenged by new needs (skills, capabilities and adaption on new ways of engagement)

Also, I really think the boarders between different types of workforce are blurring more”. We are going to need to respond faster which will be a big challenge due to legislation is not so flexible.

One day, we will get to Total Workforce Management!”

What advice would you give to someone thinking to step into that Flexible Workforce program leadership position?

“Pragmatism is important. You need to find the balance, listen to everybody and respond to most while being pragmatic and respond in right way. Patience and resilience will help you get to delivery”

Why do you think some organisations ignore their Flexible Workforce?

“The problem is individuals find their way in anyway – work still gets done! If you close a door they will come in through the window. It may not be so visible to some businesses and others may just be ignoring due to it being to hard to get there heads around. My view is, you need to create a program that people want to use. Empower, simplify and help them get their work done!”

Madelyn and I also had an interesting conversation about the focus in the industry, how we are trying to solution for today with some limited focus on the future. We both see that there is a lot of content out there philosophising on what the future could look like but no examples of real delivery e.g. Total Talent Management. This is not to say that no one is doing it, or that no organisation is focussing to create, but we just haven’t seen that a company is fully live with a full core function within an organisation. If you know of a company that is doing this, please comment. We would love to learn!

I would like to thank Madelyn for taking the time to talk to me. It’s always fun to catch-up but also great to get an understanding of how people got into the Flexible Workforce game 😉.

“I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.” – (Douglas Adams)