Namita is a seasoned HR leader with over 20 years of experience across diverse industries, including BFSI, logistics, engineering, and construction. She has a strong track record in mergers and acquisitions, leadership development, and driving culture change. She is skilled in stakeholder management, HR strategy, and agile working, with a focus on transforming HR operations to align with organizational goals. She is also a passionate advocate for diversity, inclusion, and employee engagement. Currently, serving as the CHRO at Alembic Pharmaceuticals, she has expertise in organizational development, change management, talent acquisition, and performance management. Her leadership has earned her accolades, including the ‘Top Inspiring Women HR Leaders 2024’ at the Global HR Excellence Summit and Awards.

In a recent interaction with M R Yuvatha, Senior Correspondent at siliconindia, Namita Patwari shared her insights on ‘Hybrid Role Development: Cross-Skilling in Clinical and Commercial Domains’.


As we move towards 2025, organizations are undergoing significant transformations, driven by disruption across industries. One of the key strategies to navigate this change is fostering strong collaboration between the clinical and commercial teams. This collaboration is crucial for ensuring that both teams align on common goals and work towards the overall success of the organization. To achieve this, it is essential to establish a clear understanding between the commercial and clinical teams, emphasizing how this collaboration benefits everyone, not just one specific team.

A well-structured cross-functional training program can play a vital role in this process, offering employees the opportunity for job rotation and encouraging the use of digital tools. This will help generate innovative ideas and foster a mindset that embraces hybrid roles. Ultimately, aligning these elements will contribute to the organization's strategic goals and drive business growth.

AI-Driven Learning and Bridging Gaps in Hybrid Roles

Digitization and a digital mindset have become central to the development strategies of organizations, now recognized as core focus areas. In this context, AI plays a pivotal role by offering personalized learning pathways tailored to individuals, helping them identify areas for skill development and competence building, which are crucial for career advancement.

AI also provides immersive solutions, offering hands-on experiences. When combined with Augmented Reality (AR), these technologies create an experiential learning platform that allows individuals to explore new career paths, opportunities that were once unimaginable. Additionally, machine learning enables the analysis of historical data and future trends, providing predictive insights that support both clinical and commercial learning. These digitized, technology-driven platforms offer substantial benefits, driving learning and professional growth for individuals across various fields.

Any new development or change, by its nature, is never easy. It often brings numerous challenges within teams, leadership, and among coworkers. Just like any other transformation, the introduction of hybrid roles and new learning environments presents difficulties, particularly in terms of alignment and coordination between different functions.

This shift can create silos, where individuals or teams begin to operate within their own separate spheres. For instance, clinical teams may focus solely on their specific areas, while commercial teams work independently, with little interaction between them unless a clear framework and structure are in place. Moreover, external challenges further complicate the situation. Navigating through these obstacles while ensuring that business goals are met, particularly in developing hybrid roles, presents a significant challenge for organizations.

Building Resilient Leaders and Teams

Enhancement programs play a crucial role in helping leaders maintain a balanced perspective. These programs encourage leaders to consider diverse viewpoints while fostering inclusivity. They equip leaders with the knowledge necessary for well-informed decision-making, as data and analytics provide deeper insights and clarity on what actions need to be taken. Also, such programs enhance a leader's ability to anticipate potential outcomes based on specific actions or situations, allowing for better preparation and strategic planning. Ultimately, they contribute significantly to understanding how to optimize resources and utilize them to their fullest potential, ensuring the organization operates efficiently and effectively.

It is essential for HR leaders to develop the right programs that are inclusive of mentorship, development, coaching, intervention-based learning, and experiential learning.

Hybrid roles play a crucial role in ensuring adaptability to global disruptions and market changes. As the external work environment is increasingly shaped by factors like the VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) or BANI (Brittleness, Anxiety, Nonlinearity, and Incomprehensibility) world, employees particularly those on the frontlines must be continuously updated and trained in real-time to stay ahead.

Employees with cross-functional expertise are vital for effective change management. They not only enhance business operations and customer service by approaching challenges from diverse perspectives but also strengthen operational continuity during turbulent times. In such crises, these employees enable swift crisis management and enhance the overall resilience of the organization, ultimately improving decision-making across the board.

Transforming Culture Through Learning and Collaboration

Organizational culture, particularly within the pharmaceutical industry, plays a critical role in driving success. Promoting a culture of continuous learning, adaptability to new situations, and development is central to fostering a cultural shift, with development being the core element of this transformation.

The pharmaceutical industry, dedicated to research and the development of medicines for the greater good of society, places equal importance on fostering a strong internal culture. Leaders must break down silos between clinical and commercial teams, ensuring smooth collaboration across departments while encouraging open communication. Additionally, having the right structure, hierarchy, and accountability is key to building a culture that strengthens the organization. Reward and recognition programs, flexibility, and top-down leadership further support the creation of a positive culture, enabling the organization to perform better overall.

HR plays a dynamic role as the torchbearer and culture-promoting agent within any organization. It is essential for HR leaders to develop the right programs that are inclusive of mentorship, development, coaching, intervention-based learning, and experiential learning. Partnering with academic institutions and courses can further help individuals understand, develop, and grow in a structured manner.

Moreover, fostering a culture of respect and resolve is crucial for motivating individuals to cultivate a desire to learn more and continue growing. By creating an environment that encourages continuous development, HR leaders contribute significantly to shaping a culture that supports both personal and professional growth.

Looking Ahead

As the New Year 2025 approaches, it is crucial for organizations to focus on hybrid roles that bridge the clinical and commercial functions and departments. The days of single-stream work and growth are behind us. Today, the focus is on evolving and achieving exponential growth, which can only be realized with internal clarity, alignment, and resilience within the organization. The HR fraternity plays a key role in driving this change, working diligently to focus on such critical areas of development. Their efforts are essential for fostering growth and ensuring that organizations are well-positioned to adapt and thrive in the future.