Focus Magazine - Summer 2013 - 19

COVERSTORY
The learning organization also
created country learning plans,
working in conjunction with those
particular business leaders, so it was
clear what services global would
provide and what would be provided
locally.
Wetzel and team also created a
learning effectiveness group to look at
services offered, review results and
metrics and determine service needs.
This approach also enabled learning to
take part in business reviews with
managing directors from those top 14
local markets. “It was a good way to
measure where we bring the highest
degree of value and impact,” Wetzel
said. “Were we sharing the
accountability and delivering on
helping them meet the business
needs?” That was a question for 200
global leaders, who were surveyed on
critical roles, immediate needs and
resources that would be required a few
years out. “This helped us get very
focused with our business partners on
putting resources and capacities behind
the most important organizational
priorities,” Wetzel said.

Senior Support
Naturally, a transformation of this
size and complexity doesn’t happen
entirely within learning. At Merck,
senior leadership had a voice in the
transformation in many ways,
including through Merck’s Global
Human Health Learning Council.
About a dozen senior leaders sit on the
council, all presidents of either country
regions or customer business lines.

Wetzel collaborating with members of her team to bring learning solutions through
innovative technology to business partners worldwide.
FROM LEFT TO RIGHT: Jim McIntosh, Jeff Sorensen, Trish Wetzel, and Melanie Lamarche.

“This body enables us to increase and
differentiate our learning investments
in key capabilities and key roles that
will drive priority business results,”
Iannetta said. “Together, we are making
very specific investment decisions and
we sharing accountability for the
outcomes of these investments.”
The end result of the transformation
to a world class learning organization is
the creation of a learning culture,
which helps Merck raise its standards
and attract top talent at all levels.
Creating this type of culture means
engaging members inside and outside
of Wetzel’s direct team. Wetzel and her
team engage more than 300
professionals worldwide and divisional
business leaders, working together to
create, instill and manage the
transformation.
”We have a diverse team which
makes it work,” Wetzel said. “They
come to the team with very different
backgrounds and experiences. People
come to us from all different areas of
the organization with many different
experiences whether it’s outside of

Merck and within Merck.” Their
commitment to our business partners
worldwide and results is unwavering.

What’s Next?
A job well-begun certainly isn’t
done. The transformation continues at
Merck, and both Wetzel and Iannetta
see success – and hard work – ahead.
“We have to continue to help the local
organizations build their capabilities.
It’s not about global just delivering
solutions to the market, we’ve got to
build their local capabilities,” Wetzel
said. “We’ve had a considerable effort in
this area and it’s something we need to
continue to do.” “It’s continuing to
drive toward those critical success
factors,” Iannetta added. “We came into
the markets both to partner with them
to understand business priorities more
holistically, but also to build their
capabilities. You can’t lose sight on
continuing to stand hand and hand
with the business. We’ve made great
progress and we need to not let up.” I

Tim Sosbe is editor of Focus magazine and editorial director for SPBT. Email Tim at tsosbe@spbt.org.

PETER JACOBS
Associate Director,
Global Learning
Systems Lead
Lucerne,
Switzerland
Drives the design, development and
delivery of learning technology
innovation programs across Europe
Canada and EEMEA. Consults and builds
capabilities across these geographies to
enable learning effectiveness through
technologies.

JESSICA
BRANNAN
Senior Specialist,
US Business
Management
Merck HQ,
United States

Consults across multiple US Business
stakeholders and executes integrated
brand, commercial skills learning
solutions in support of the Merck’s US
Vaccines and Medical Account Executive
teams.

FOCUS | SUMMER 2013 | www.spbt.org

SHARON CHIN
Senior Specialist,
Global Brand
Curriculum
Merck HQ,
United States
Consults across multiple Global and US
Business stakeholders to identify
performance goals for customer facing
roles and executes integrated brand,
commercial skills learning solutions in
support of Merck Brands.

JEAN
GRABOWSKI
Senior Specialist,
Global Marketing
Learning
Merck HQ,
United States

Executes global design and development
of learning in support of Merck’s Global
Brand Strategies, extending capabilities
across a blend of eLearning, face to face
and virtual learning modalities.

http://www.spbt.org

Focus Magazine - Summer 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Focus Magazine - Summer 2013