Simon Forsyth - Quality Director at GSK

We have launched a series of events designed to help businesses attract, engage and retain top talent in the region. People 2023: The Series, will kick off with a half day conference, developed in partnership with NEPIC and created specifically for HR professionals, business leaders and senior managers looking to innovate and improve their people strategy. Our Rewriting The Rules – Unlocking People Potential conference on 27 March 2023, includes a keynote address by Simon Forsyth, who is leading culture change across the GSK Pharmaceutical supply chain.

With a passion for organisational and personal development, Simon Forsyth has been leading culture change across the GSK Pharmaceutical supply chain operations for the past 18 months. Simon came to this role with strong credibility as a senior leader and a MSc in Organisational Psychology (Birkbeck University, 2019). Simon’s 30-year career history began in Operations at The Body Shop, before a 10-year period with Novartis across Planning, Compliance and Production, including SAP system implementation. Simon then moved to GSK in 2010, broadening his career in Operational Excellence and lean manufacturing, before taking the role of Quality Director for the multi-dose form Barnard Castle pharmaceutical facility, leading a team of 300 Quality personnel.

Simon’s interactive 45-minute session will combine theoretical concepts with shared learnings from industry, to explore leadership and motivation, and the importance of company culture in unlocking people potential. The session will focus on: Simon’s experience at GSK on bringing people and teams together from around the world; the science of motivation; and the role in which leaders play in motivating teams and building resilience.

Using the backdrop of a manufacturing site facing significant change, within a global organisation at the brink of transformation, the session gives practical ideas and personal reflection. It will consider the importance of personal flow, inclusion, resilience, and engagement, creating space for everyone to be themselves and the impact this has on individual and business performance. Culture matters in unlocking potential and this interactive session explains why.

Simon will focus on topical subjects such as how people can connect and learn from others and how fundamental this is to changing a company culture. Discussions will include the benefits of building your own networks, the importance of how many people you’re connected to and the benefits those connections bring. It will consider and discuss the link between a strong network and collaboration and how sharing problems results in sharing solutions and success. Additionally, the session will form a discussion around career coaching and how it isn’t prioritised in society and that more time needs to be dedicated to building on people’s strengths and passions so they can pass it onto their colleagues and pay it forward.

The session has been created to attract leaders of teams and senior leaders with a desire to do something different in their organisation and gain tools on how they can inspire people and make a difference. Attendees to the conference will leave with actionable guidance, hands-on techniques and tools, increased self-awareness, and the energy and understanding to implement the theory for themselves.