Growing a Successful Business with a Trusted HR Partner
Case Study: DK Pierce and Associates

The Client
DK Pierce and Associates, a biopharmaceutical and medical device marketing consulting firm located in Zionsville, Indiana; DK Pierce helps healthcare organizations (such as biopharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, and medical societies) navigate the reimbursement process to best position their products and services in the marketplace.

The Situation
Given the growth of the biopharmaceutical and medical device industries, DK Pierce’s services are in high demand, and in the past few years it has added several staff members. Anticipating this development, the company president contacted FlashPoint to help her with her human resource needs. She wanted to be sure she had in place progressive and competitive programs that would serve as a strong foundation for DK Pierce’s growth.

FlashPoint's Approach
FlashPoint began building a relationship with DK Pierce by conducting a basic HR assessment. As part of that process, we looked at the company’s policies and procedures to be sure that it was compliant and following best practices. In the assessment report, we recommended that DK Pierce implement a number of initiatives, and the president asked us for further assistance.

The first area we focused on was building an employee handbook. We helped DK Pierce formalize and revise some of its policies and incorporated other essential ones. We also created key forms to help support the HR processes. Because the company doesn’t have a staff member dedicated to HR, we wanted to make things as easy as possible. Next we assisted with compensation; we compared DK Pierce’s jobs to the external market to determine competitive pay for each, looked at the effectiveness of the company’s total rewards programs and recommended revisions, and designed an incentive plan. As the company has grown, we have also recruited for some of its new positions, sourcing candidates, creating interview guides, screening and interviewing applicants, and overseeing background checks.

Once the HR foundation was in place, we began working with the company to redefine its organizational structure, making sure that it had systems in place to support its continued growth. Part of our efforts centered on defining consulting and administrative workflow. To do this we interviewed employees and reviewed all relevant documentation to fully understand the company’s processes and operating procedures. Using the data we gathered, we mapped out a new workflow, covering areas from prospect research to project startup, through project close and efficiency analysis. An important part of this project centered on building tools to support the workflow, including project kickoff and wrap-up checklists, document templates, a style guide, and more. In the end, consultants came away with a project management kit that clearly defines what is expected of them and assists them in each stage of a project.

In a similar vein, FlashPoint collaborated with DK Pierce team members to clearly outline the competencies that employees need to demonstrate in order to best serve clients, and we established specific behaviors that support the competencies. As part of this component, we helped evaluate the roles needed within the organization, reexamining current jobs and planning for future positions. For consulting roles, we established a number of levels (associate, consultant, senior consultant, and partner) and tied behaviors to each level so employees understand what is expected of them and have a well-defined career path. We aligned the competencies and behaviors to a new performance evaluation process, and we also created a development toolkit that discusses individual development plans and outlines internal and external training opportunities (such as mentoring programs, seminars, printed materials, and more).

The Results
The steps that DK Pierce took to better define processes and procedures and to build structure have had a significant impact on the organization. One key improvement is that staff members have in place resources to help them work more efficiently. In addition, DK Pierce now has a strong foundation on which to grow. The total rewards plan ensures that the company draws top candidates; the competencies and behaviors it put in place help it define what skills it needs from employees, both current and future; and the performance evaluation program and development toolkit provide support for team members’ continual improvement. Perhaps most important, the competency development process has allowed DK Pierce team members to collaborate more closely so that they provide high-quality results for clients and create ongoing demand for services. As a result, DK Pierce continues to grow business with confidence, adding staff and expanding services with the knowledge that it has a solid organizational structure and strong HR programs as support.