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The Pharma Career Ladder · The first-line manager · Step 4: Coaching · Lesson 12

The development plan that is used

One page, one skill, one date

By Ahmed El Menshawy · 20 years in pharma, from medical rep to country manager in the UAE. Founder of RepPharma. LinkedIn
Published

I have read a lot of development plans.

Most were written in the week before the annual appraisal. Five development areas, a training course against each one, signed by both sides. Then closed until the next appraisal.

The rep did not change. Nobody expected them to.

The plans that actually work in my teams are much smaller. They fit on one screen:

  • The one skill. Chosen by the rep for this cycle.
  • What good looks like. What I would see on a call when the skill is in place.
  • Where to practise. Which calls, which doctors, straight from the call plan.
  • The review date. When we look at progress together.

Three habits keep it alive.

  • The rep writes it, in their own words. If I write it, it is my plan.
  • We open it at the start of every double visit. It sets what I watch that day.
  • When the skill is in place, we choose the next one together.

It is not paperwork for HR. It is the agenda for every coaching conversation until the skill is there.

“A development plan nobody opens is a document, not a plan.”
The development plan that is used: One page, one skill, one date

Lesson 12 of 23 in Step 4: Coaching, with the full guide and a checklist for this week.

More lessons in step 4: Coaching

Lesson 1The 10-minute debriefUsing the GROW model in the car after a doctor callLesson 2Ask before you tellWhy the rep who finds the answer keeps itLesson 3One skill at a timeWhy a double visit needs a single focusLesson 4Feedback that changes behaviourSituation, behaviour, impact after a double visitLesson 5Praise that means somethingSpecific, timely and namedLesson 6The coaching logOne line per call, patterns over a monthLesson 7Coaching a strong repStretch, not correctionLesson 8Coaching a struggling repDiagnose skill or will before you actLesson 9When the rep does not want coachingResistance is informationLesson 10Coaching by phoneWhen you cannot be in the field togetherLesson 11Modelling the call yourselfWhen to show it and when to stay quietLesson 13Coaching the openingThe thirty seconds most worth fixingLesson 14Coaching questioningTeaching a rep to stop pitchingLesson 15Coaching objection handlingRehearsal beats adviceLesson 16Role play without humiliationMaking practice safe and usefulLesson 17The seven-day follow-upCoaching without follow-up is only a conversationLesson 18Coaching across a cycleWhat to work on in month one, two and threeLesson 19Group coaching in a cycle meetingTeaching twelve reps without boring tenLesson 20Measuring whether coaching workedBehaviour seen on calls, not sessions heldLesson 21Coaching yourselfReviewing your own day as honestly as a rep's callLesson 22The coaching conversation nobody wantsWhen the issue is attitude, not abilityLesson 23Building a coaching habitSame day, same rhythm, every cycle

Coaching, in RepPharma

Plans approved in one click

Each rep’s monthly plan is drafted from doctor priority and visit frequency; you review and approve it in one click.

Team reviews that assemble themselves

Monthly team reviews are built from field data, and a month-end checklist shows which reps have next month’s plan, forecast and expenses in.

Forecasts graded against real sales

Bottom-up forecasts per account and product are graded against real sales every month.

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