16/12/25
Acteon and Merck win Gold at Brandon Hall Excellence Awards
We’re thrilled to announce that our partnership with Merck’s Center for Scientific Exchange Excellence (CSEE) has won a Gold Award at the prestigious Brandon Hall Group HCM Excellence Awards® 2025, in the category of Best Competencies and Skill Development.
The Brandon Hall Awards are widely regarded as the global benchmark for achievement in human capital management. They celebrate organisations that deliver real impact through innovative approaches to learning and development.
This award recognises the strength of our collaboration with Merck to create a programme that equips managers with the skills and confidence they need to lead effectively and coach their teams for success. It’s a powerful endorsement that our work doesn’t just look good on paper, it makes a genuine difference to people and organisations.
The challenge: Building soft skills in a scientific world
Managers of Merck’s field-based medical affairs teams play a pivotal role in enabling scientific exchange with healthcare professionals and decision-makers. Their teams provide insights that can influence drug development and improve patient outcomes. But these managers face challenges including heavy workloads, time pressure, competing priorities, and geographic separation from peers restricting opportunities for sharing best practice.
CSEE leaders recognised that improving managers’ ability to coach and lead their teams would unlock better team performance and stronger external engagement.
The solution: Practical, actionable learning
Acteon partnered with Merck to design a programme that was relevant, time-efficient, and easy to apply. The approach centred on five principles:
- Linking to organisational strategy: Highlighting to managers why the programme matters by aligning content with business priorities.
- Listening to managers’ needs: Designing resources based on real challenges and feedback.
- Making learning manageable and actionable: Short, focused resources and engaging interactions that fit into busy schedules.
- Using colleague voices: Sharing authentic experiences to build connection and trust.
- Creating a learning community: Building a community of practice for ongoing peer-to-peer support through a dedicated Teams channel.
The programme provides virtual workshops, alongside a learning blend of colleague videos, practical toolkits, and “workshop-in-a-box” resources for managers to use with their teams. Key topics include prioritisation, strategic planning, and coaching for listening behaviours.
The impact: Engagement and results
Results are impressive, with 86% increase in attendance at in-person training, and 67% rise in engagement on the informal learning community.
Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. 97% of participants said they were likely or extremely likely to apply the concepts.
“I love these short, focused training sessions as I can attend easily and apply learning immediately.”
“These tools and templates are very important to help us change our mindset and behaviours.”
Managers who once felt disconnected from soft skills training now have practical tools and a clear understanding of how these skills drive success. The programme has created a space for managers to learn from each other, despite differences in location, language, and time zone.
Philip Rooney, Director at Acteon, commented:
“Winning Gold at the Brandon Hall Awards is a proud moment for us. It reflects our commitment to creating learning experiences that deliver measurable impact and help people thrive in complex, fast-changing environments.”
Matthew John Rice, Learning Architect at Merck, added:
“We’re transforming how Medical Affairs managers learn—delivering immersive experiences that accelerate knowledge transfer, ignite peer learning, fuel collective problem‑solving, and drive real business impact— earning recognition with a Brandon Hall Gold Award.”
Looking ahead
The work continues. Building on this success, Merck and Acteon are already developing the next phase focused on Leading in Change, alongside initiatives to strengthen the learning community and foster psychological safety for peer-to-peer sharing.
Winning Gold at the Brandon Hall Awards is a proud moment for both Acteon and Merck. It reflects our shared commitment to creating learning experiences that deliver measurable impact, and to helping people thrive in complex, fast-changing environments.
