Novartis wanted to strengthen something deceptively simple: the quality of the everyday conversations through which people learn, perform and grow.
The starting point was Feedback2Feedforward. Internal data showed that associates valued the support they received from managers, but wanted feedback that was more honest, more timely and more useful in helping them improve. There were also harder questions underneath: does it feel safe to offer constructive feedback upwards? Do managers genuinely want to understand the impact they have on other people?
MJA worked with Novartis to turn those questions into a practical developmental experience. The aim was not to make people better at an occasional performance conversation. It was to shift feedback from an episodic event towards an everyday way of learning — giving, seeking and using feedback while the work is happening.
Coach2Grow extended the same philosophy. Coaching was framed not as an HR initiative or a specialist activity, but as a leadership skill for complexity: listening deeply, asking better questions, resisting the urge to solve, creating psychological safety and helping other people become more capable of making their own good choices.
The development itself reflected that intent. Participants explored their own motivations and assumptions, practised real conversations, received feedback, tested different behaviours and returned to work to use them. Practice spaces created enough safety to stretch, while the real test was whether a different quality of conversation began to appear in the flow of work.
Together, Feedback2Feedforward and Coach2Grow show how culture is shaped in repeated interactions. More curiosity, learning, accountability and growth become possible when the everyday conversations between people start to change — not because the organisation has found better slogans.
Development, in that sense, is not something that happens away from work. It becomes part of how people work with one another every day.