Defining your impact by Thinking Allowed

Can you define - and measure - your impact?

I enjoy listening to a BBC Radio 4 podcast - 'Thinking Allowed' where Laurie Taylor shares new research on how society works. The episode on 'Metrics' really made me think about our increasing desire to measure everything we do. The Thinking Allowed panel came to the conclusion that we are a target-driven society, increasingly placing heavy emphasis on measuring, whether it is rating a surgeon's outcomes via some kind of surgical league table or rating the dancing couples on 'Strictly Come Dancing'. Over the years I have learnt that Medical Affairs does not lend itself well to measurement in the business sense. By this, I mean that to remain credible, and to act as robust custodians of data and data dissemination we are cannot (indeed should not) tie our performance to sales and P&L. Medical Affairs KPIs and metrics are the subject of many webinars and white papers such as the McKinsey Medical Affairs report, the latest version published in June 2019. The report elegantly articulates the need for KPIs and measurement of the function as whole so I won't dwell further here. What I am interested to think about here is YOUR impact within a team:

Can you have personal impact? Thinking Allowed for the 'C's

Sometimes I hear the point of view that only leaders can have impact or engage in change transformation for their team. My response would be that we can all have impact - within the team and for the team, and for ourselves. As you know, I like to think in three's so here are my suggestions (based on experience in a variety of team settings) of how you can have impact:

Championing change - believe in the cause and your passion shines through

MSL field excellence is an area which can sometimes have a whole function devoted to it -but this is not always the case. In one organization we were a smallish team and knew this was an area we had to build upon and improve. I was lucky enough to work with a colleague who is passionate about this cause, she truly wants to build and cultivate an organization of MSLs who put scientific credibility infused with effective communication at the heart of what they do. She set about doing just this, one day at a time. Over the weeks I could see her plan coming together, it was a pleasure inputting and discussing how she should navigate the course. Backed by her belief in what she could achieve she was able to influence, getting country managers on side and coach, creating a cadre of field professionals who were energised by her vision. The impact? A top KOL told me she values the insights of this MSL team and can rely on her local MSL to share and discuss new data in a credible and balanced manner. I think this kind of recognition can be more valuable than simple 'number of KOL interactions', demonstrating the true value of what we bring as a function.

Creating chances to shine - for yourself and for others

Sometimes it is the work or project that you did not expect to do that can have real impact. A team member was leading the operations part of the a medical affairs function; I really needed someone to oversee medical information (MI), I wasn't looking for a radical overhaul, more like day-to-day management to keep us on an even keel. I suggested to our operations colleague that she take on the MI management, I was half-expecting her to push back, but she simply told me 'why not?' That growth mindset that we all say is so wonderful and that we should embrace - she embodies that. She told me recently that she is learning alot about the nuances of MI, how we can be more progressive in incorporating MI into Medical Affairs more strategically and how much she enjoys it. She thanked me for the chance to try something new, adding a bow to her already impressive skill set but also allowing her to flex. The impact? The MI team is flourishing, all the team are recognized and new metrics have already been established for the team. I also learnt a lot about the value of a team member's mindset when approaching new areas - this team member did not approach it with trepidation, she grabbed it by the horns and has not looked back, added value to her brand and for the team overall.

A culture of creativity

Being custodians of data and bringing about data dissemination is a huge and important responsibility within Medical Affairs. Sometimes, I think the gravity of this responsibility can make us feel that we need to be 'serious' in our scientific communications. I completely agree that for submission of data to peer-reviewed journals there is a need to conform to guidelines (although even these are becoming more flexible). However, when it comes to sharing data via other channels we can really unleash our creativity, tell a story, build it around a person or community - every medic will tell you, they do not remember lists of medical facts rote-learned to pass finals, but they can remember clearly a patient case or series that helped them to understand the symptoms and diagnosis of a condition, and that pinning these facts to a story or case is the real aide-memoire. Now more than ever we can have impact by finding new ways to share stories and present data - think about how the term 'flattening the curve' in 2020 has far more meaning and resonance for all of us then any amount of tables or figures. I have worked with teams where we have had great success and impact in delivering novel ways of data dissemination such as graphical abstracts - you can see an example from a review I wrote during my PhD here. The 'Quick Take' video concept popularized the New England Journal of Medicine can be adapted very well to share a data from Phase III/IV studies, especially when based around a patient case (see more here). In a previous post I've shared my love of Pecha Kucha to practice giving presentations as well as sharing information in a novel way. Two other recommendations that constantly provide food for thought for me on how to share data are Hans Rosling's Factfulness (here is his TED talk which always makes me laugh) and The Art of Statistics: Learning from Data by David Spiegelhalter which reminds me that data science is an art, thus we should be creative and visual in the presentation of data where appropriate.

A final 'C'...

I guess this is cheating (that's another C!) but it is probably the most important 'C' - have courage - be ready to show to the world what you can do and how you can have impact. If you can develop a way to measure it for our metrics-driven society that is great; if you can measure your own impact for yourself that is wonderful. When thinking is allowed (and encouraged) we can do amazing things for ourselves and for others - now, that is having impact.

....and for those who are interested - the link to 'Thinking Allowed' on Metrics is below -