People and Leadership
North Highland partnered with Haleon to build a future-ready R&D workforce, co-creating a people-first learning ecosystem that embedded digital and AI fluency and empowered teams to lead innovation from within.
Haleon’s R&D function sits at the heart of the company’s ability to innovate and grow, but the pace of digital and AI disruption was outstripping existing approaches to workforce development. Teams were operating in silos, digital fluency varied widely, and the learning infrastructure was not equipped for rapid, enterprise-wide change. Without a new approach, Haleon risked falling behind competitors and missing critical opportunities for innovation.
Haleon’s R&D division recognised that sustainable transformation could not be imposed from above. It had to be led by the people closest to the work. The company needed a partner who could help build the right capabilities and behaviours for a future-ready workforce, while embedding a lasting culture of learning and innovation.
North Highland partnered with Haleon to co-create a comprehensive, people-first transformation programme. The work began with deep listening, through interviews and workshops with stakeholders at every level, from senior leaders to frontline scientists. The team analysed over 10,000 pages of internal and external research, including market intelligence, competitor benchmarks and best practice in digital learning, ensuring every decision was grounded in Haleon’s unique context and the realities of the sector.
Together, the teams designed a new learning architecture built around proficiency-based pathways tailored to R&D learning personas, Haleon’s governance, language and ways of working. The programme embedded digital and AI fluency, innovative thinking, impactful collaboration and strategic leadership as core capabilities. AI-enabled interventions and bespoke learning experiences were introduced to ensure the programme resonated with diverse audiences and addressed real-world needs.
North Highland shifted Haleon’s approach from traditional content delivery to a dynamic 70/20/10 hybrid model that prioritised adaptive learning and measurable outcomes. Robust measurement frameworks and change metrics were embedded from the outset, giving leadership real-time visibility of progress and adoption through weekly reporting cycles.
A key challenge was integrating the new learning model with Haleon’s new Learning Management System. North Highland’s team were selected as first adopters during the initial rollout, working closely with the LMS team to map integration requirements, test solutions and resolve issues as they arose. Compressed timelines and complex governance demanded agile delivery, with parallel workstreams enabling research, design and implementation to progress simultaneously.
Central to the programme’s success was building capability that would endure beyond the engagement. North Highland activated a network of change champions, upskilled line managers and internal facilitators through train-the-trainer sessions, and transferred ownership of the measurement framework, change metrics and learning architecture to Haleon’s teams with full documentation. Executive sponsors gained fluency in interpreting data and designing interventions, meaning future programme evolution will not rely on consultant input.
The programme has delivered measurable improvements in engagement and capability development, a cultural shift towards shared digital fluency and innovation, and a self-sustaining learning ecosystem fully integrated with Haleon’s LMS. Haleon’s R&D function is now positioned as a digital leader within the enterprise, with the confidence and capability to navigate future disruption. This is a story of what happens when you invest in people and trust them to lead change from within.
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