At Foundation Medicine, we believe that great people management is one of the golden keys to enabling our mission of transforming cancer care. When Foundation Medicine people managers are at their best, they create the best possible, personalized employee experience and help unlock the full potential of their direct reports.  

In recognition of the impact that great people management has on our mission, we created the Foundation Medicine People Manager Development Program (PMDP). Through PMDP, all people managers have access to customized training programs, forums, mentor/mentee opportunities, and unique tools and management practices that drive high engagement and performance. The goal of PMDP is to enable Foundation Medicine to be the leader in clinical care and research by developing and enabling the best people managers in life sciences. Through our ANDEngage model (attract, nurture, develop, and engage) and our PMDP we are enabling our managers and their direct reports to do the most rewarding work of their lives. 

Fundamental for enabling our people managers to create a differentiated experience for their direct reports is a set of core competencies that the PMDP is designed to strengthen. No matter what location, function, or department one may work in, building strength in these core competencies ensures we are universally growing the skills and behaviors most essential for giving our employees a great experience and achieving our mission.

Our special people manager role orientation program gives all externally hired and internally promoted people managers a learning experience to accelerate acclimation to their new role, our expectations of them, the PMDP, and the essential people policies, practices, and programs. From the voice of a recent program participant, “This program was awesome – it was great to hear of all the support managers have in their role at Foundation Medicine. The materials covered were perfect…I loved the interactive components!” 

It’s critical that our people managers adapt their approach to meet the unique styles and preferences of their individual direct reports. For that reason, emotional intelligence training is foundational to PMDP. We also believe in fostering a manager as coach approach. To that end, in partnership with one of the most respected coaching firms in the country, our unique coaching certification program equips people managers with a set of highly practical coaching skills they can use in regular conversations to empower and develop their direct reports every day.

As for what’s ahead, we’re excited to launch a new program to all people managers this fall that will provide them with the skills to build a foundation of trust, psychological safety, and inclusion with special emphasis on effective delegation, feedback, and communication practices. 

If you're pursuing a people manager role, you can have confidence that Foundation Medicine will help you leverage your existing strengths and challenge you to get even stronger. If people management is something you're considering in the future, know that we are committed to equipping you with best-in-class, in-role development opportunities to set you up for success from the start. If you're pursuing an individual contributor role, in addition to trusting that your manager will be well trained to give you exceptional experience, you’ll have your own unique professional development opportunities through facilitated programs and unlimited access to the world’s largest digital course collection.