How Sanofi led transformation through leadership

In 2019, Sanofi launched its Play to Win strategy – an enterprise-wide transformation aimed at becoming the world’s leading immunology company. Focused on four strategic pillars – prioritising portfolio growth, leading with innovation, accelerating efficiency and reinventing how work gets done – the strategy set out to push the boundaries of science and deliver breakthrough medicines and vaccines that prevent or alter the course of chronic and infectious diseases.

Four and a half years in, Sanofi had achieved strong commercial and operational results, including 13 consecutive quarters of growth and a robust immunology and neuro-inflammation pipeline. To maintain this momentum, the company recognised the need to keep investing in its culture – especially in the learning and development of its people.

As transformation continued across every region, function and level, leaders were stepping into broader, more complex roles. Senior leaders were balancing strategic execution with cultural leadership; managers were operating in matrixed environments; and first-line leaders were guiding teams through constant change. Internal data also pointed to opportunities to strengthen employee confidence in navigating transformation.

By proactively developing leadership capability and embedding consistent behaviours across the organisation, Sanofi laid the cultural foundation needed to sustain its long-term, multi-billion-dollar strategy and to realise its ambition in a global immunology market projected to reach $286.38 billion by 2034. 

Sanofi wanted to transform:

• Purpose and motivation: identifying individual purpose and drivers to enhance performance
• Resilience and energy: managing energy effectively
• Personal effectiveness: smarter working tools for an accelerated/digital context
• Mindfulness: creating space and reflection to support personal perspective with self and others

Each journey followed MindGym’s science-backed Engage, Participate, Activate model – designed to turn insight into sustained behaviour change.

Participants explored key concepts, applied them in live sessions and reinforced learning through practical tools, peer discussion and follow-up activities.

A core part of the experience was building 'attunement' – a critical leadership meta-skill that helps leaders navigate competing priorities and organisational tensions by reading situations more accurately and responding with clarity and balance.

To enable scale, Sanofi adopted a train-the-trainer model. More than 80 internal facilitators were certified by MindGym to deliver the Leading Self experience, reaching nearly 2,700 employees by March 2025.

Sanofi’s Leadership Lab ensured the rollout was globally consistent yet locally adaptable, supported by:

• Regional alignment workshops
• Toolkits and communication templates
• Continuous feedback and agile iteration
• Senior leader sponsorship
• Localised content and flexible delivery formats
• Manager resources to embed learning

Thanks to this approach, the programme achieved its adoption targets across leadership levels, with particularly strong engagement in China and international markets.

Participant feedback confirmed that the learning experience was resonating:

• Senior leaders gave it a net promoter score (NPS) of 39, with 86% rating the experience Very Good or Excellent
• People managers rated it even higher, with an NPS of 43 and 87% positive ratings

Industry standards show that NPS scores between 30 and 50 typically indicate a strong programme with satisfied participants.

Leaders described the sessions as practical, relevant and a valuable space for reflection with peers. Their input also helped shape ongoing improvements, such as expanded virtual options and better localisation for regional audiences.

To measure wider impact, Sanofi analysed data from its global Your Voice employee survey – a 10-point scale – comparing results before and after the programme. The findings were clear: leaders felt more confident, and their teams noticed a difference. 

Participating leaders reported:

• 1.3 point increase in satisfaction with how they lead through change and transformation

Employees reporting to those leaders reported:

• 1.2 point increase in their own confidence navigating change
• 1.1 point improvement in perceptions of their manager’s openness and honesty
• 1.0 point uplift in their intent to stay at Sanofi
• 1.1 point increase in likelihood to recommend Sanofi as a great place to work

All results were statistically significant at the 95% confidence level and consistent across regions, functions and levels of experience.