Sandoz: Cultivating independence: How a standalone company redefined culture and new ways of working post-spinoff

The separation was a perfect opportunity for Sandoz to define how the new organisation wanted to work in the future, starting from their unique DNA focused on access to patients, and to establish an innovative work model, with its foundations as a Novartis division, but its own path forward, its own values, purpose, strategy, and culture. This new work model was built based on the new culture and supported by the right spaces, technology and processes that enable it to permeate and be implemented successfully.

bicg presented a diagnosis based on an in-depth analysis composed of vision workshops, stakeholders’ interviews, and user workshops. With the official separation of the companies, in October 2024, Sandoz had the opportunity to build a new culture and a new way of working resulting from its vision of the future organisation:

• Driving simplification through empowering people: accelerating decision-making, empowering people to be owners, and making a more efficient use of resources.
• Increasing teamwork through connecting and sharing in hybrid: exchanging knowledge between teams and business areas and increasing contact in a hybrid setting.
• Leveraging new values and spaces for innovation: using spaces, technology, and team dynamics to encourage new ways of working, integrating innovation as part of the new Sandoz culture.
• Keeping motivation high through a shared purpose: working together to make change happen, maintaining the right work-life balance during and after the transition, and living up to the high expectations for the future.

A New Ways of Working model was designed in order to accompany Sandoz in its journey to an independent company with initiatives to support the organization with the challenges and goals identified. Initiatives were categorized based on main activities to be conducted and the main stakeholders involved, and the following vectors defined the future path of the organisation.

1. Our Community, Our Purpose
2. Birth of Gen 0
3. Sandoz Global
4. Hybrid Model Breakthrough
5. Lean Process Mapping Strategies
6. New Leadership Coordinates