Zoetis is the world’s leading animal health company providing medicines, vaccines, diagnostics, and technologies that make a difference in more than 100 countries. Within this multi-award winning, Fortune 500 listed organisation, the Global Manufacturing and Supply (GMS) division is responsible for more than 1,000 active projects and programmes, representing an investment portfolio of over £1 billion.

In 2020, Eithne O’Riordan assumed the role of Head of the Global PMO for Zoetis’ GMS function. Eithne built a Programme Management Office (PMO) that, over four years, dramatically advanced project and portfolio management (PPM) maturity. A critical element of this transformation was the creation of a global project management training programme in partnership with Wellingtone, empowering teams and embedding excellence throughout the organisation.

Zoetis Logo

Overview

Customer

Zoetis

What did we do?

We delivered customised project management training and APM Accredited Sponsorship training.

Key Highlights

  • Transforming project management capabilities with customised training across a global audience.
  • Supporting sponsors with an enhanced understanding of how to execute their business-critical roles.
  • Culturally embedding the PMO’s role in driving change and enabling excellence.
  • Improving maturity across project delivery, programme execution, portfolio prioritisation, and change management.
  • Cross-pollinating the PMO’s skills and capabilities across the wider organisation.

As the PMO matured, its service offerings expanded to meet evolving business needs. In 2022, Helen Dunne joined the PMO team as Training and Communications Lead, strengthening the growing team of programme and portfolio management experts. The PMO’s evolution, however, has been about more than processes and tools. It has been about fostering cultural change, as Eithne and Helen explain.

Supporting the Business Case for Project Management Training

Eithne identified the need to standardise project execution, governance, and reporting upon assuming her role. Her first priority was implementing a formal project management tool to monitor and report on project execution consistently. “We decided to leverage an existing version of Project Online integrated with Power BI reporting to ensure consistent visibility into our most critical strategic projects,” she says.

During the tool’s pilot phase, Eithne conducted a discovery process, engaging stakeholders to explore pain points, project management needs, and opportunities for PMO support. This consultation shaped the PMO’s vision, mission, and roadmap. A consistent theme emerged: the need for training. “Zoetis is staffed by incredibly talented and capable individuals. However, colleagues repeatably identified the need for project management training to strengthen their knowledge, boost their confidence in delivering projects and ensure they could effectively utilise the new tools and processes being introduced. Leadership recognised the value of this initiative and proposed integrating formal certification into the training programme to enhance the professional development opportunities for our team.”

After evaluating several training providers, Zoetis chose Wellingtone for their alignment with Zoetis’ global training requirements. Eithne adds, “Wellingtone’s courses are accredited by APM (Association for Project Management) and PMI (Project Management Institute), making them ideal for our global needs. Their inclusion of APM’s Project Fundamentals Qualification (PFQ) offered a recognised standard that matched our ambitions.”“Initially, I contacted Vince (Vince Hines, Founder and Managing Director, Wellingtone), who generously gave his time to help us develop a pilot training session for our colleagues. This session was well-received within the organisation and helped build a strong case for future training initiatives. Coupled with the PMO’s advocacy, this effort garnered significant executive sponsorship for the training, highlighting how it would enhance the PMO’s focus on tools, frameworks, and programme execution. From that point, our momentum and impact began to grow substantially.”

Customising the Training Content for Meaningful Impact across a Global Audience

The training programme launched in 2021 with Wellingtone delivering multiple iterations of the ‘Running Successful Projects with PFQ’ course. This was supplemented by specialist sessions, including training on Project Online. To date, more than 150 GMS colleagues have been accredited in project management through this programme.

Crucially, all course content was fully customised to Zoetis’ priorities, challenges and ways of working. “Wellingtone’s attitude as a supplier is refreshing,” says Helen. “We are an agile, fast-moving organisation. Wellingtone’s team has the flexibility and the capacity to move with us at whatever pace we need. They go out of their way to make the training accessible – from restructuring content to match our priorities, to delivering in different time zones to cover our global audience. Our lead trainer, Karin Maule, builds relationships with people very quickly, ensuring that everyone in the virtual training room has confidence and a voice. She does a great job of relating the course content to our lived reality at Zoetis, while ensuring that best practice principles, standards, and terminology are consistently embedded. She constantly works with us to evolve the course content as our people’s level of project management skill and understanding matures. Everything is a conversation, everything is tailored to us, and adapted to provide bespoke support for our journey.”

  • The training is outstanding but, for us, it’s Wellingtone’s people who really make the difference. They act as our trusted advisers, approaching our challenges collaboratively, and celebrating our successes with us. We genuinely think of them as part of the extended Zoetis family. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to any organisation. In fact, I frequently do!

    Eithne O'Riordan, Head of Global PMO – Zoetis

Expanding and Embedding the PMO’s Impact Across the Wider Business

In parallel, plans were set in motion to introduce Wellingtone’s ‘Sponsoring Successful Projects’ course in 2023. “As anticipated, Wellingtone was proactive in supporting the business case and proof of concept for this initiative,” Eithne notes. “Vince generously offered his time, leading an initial call and travelling to deliver a presentation to our leadership team with a compelling business case. He emphasised the critical role of sponsorship in achieving successful projects and programmes. By that point, the impact of the project management training was becoming firmly established, and the PMO’s role was gaining wider recognition. It was logical to enhance our support for sponsors, and Vince’s presentation effectively illustrated the value of this initiative.”

The response to sponsorship training has been encouraging, says Helen. “We worked very hard to generate a high level of engagement before the training began. So far, we have enjoyed a >75% uptake, including C-suite delegates. The feedback has been positive, with sponsors indicating that the course content resonates with them and is helping them to execute their roles. Later this year, we will deliver a condensed version of this course to staff, again customised by Wellingtone. We want everyone in the organisation – from sponsors through the PMO and into our global teams – to understand project management from the different perspectives of delivery and sponsorship, so that we can mutually support each other. We are also working with Wellingtone to develop our change management capabilities. For us, this is all about how we invest effectively in change and bring our people on that journey. Wellingtone have already delivered two introductory sessions, generating widespread interest not just from within GMS, but from other areas of the business. It has generated another opportunity for the PMO to mature our service offering, expanding and synergising our role and impact across the business.”

Eithne agrees. “Our PMO has always aimed to be more than just a centralised project reporting function. Our mindset is about developing incredibly talented people who are experts in their field, and then pollinating those skills and expertise across the wider organisation to support and grow the business. That’s what we’re seeing now. Our PMO team is so skilled and passionate, and they are out there driving a huge amount of beneficial change across Zoetis. We are exceptionally proud of what we are achieving across Zoetis and Wellingtone has played an integral part in our PMO’s journey. The training is outstanding but, for us, it’s Wellingtone’s people who really make the difference. They act as our trusted advisers, approaching our challenges collaboratively, and celebrating our successes with us. We genuinely think of them as part of the extended Zoetis family. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend them to any organisation. In fact, I frequently do!”