Thoughts on the Next Chapter... "Go Make Yourself Useful"

The Irish saying, “May you live in interesting times” seems apropos – especially these past few weeks.  I know we will get through this difficult time, but I don’t believe we will return to where we were before; that chapter is firmly behind us. Move on. This next chapter will be different. 

Pulling from my life sciences experience, conversations with industry colleagues and what I’m seeing from my day job and from serving on several Boards, I’m seeing some trends and opportunities ahead and am excited about what it could bring. 

Here are my predictions on what will be different in how we work, the life sciences industry and as a society:

Accelerated Adoption of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) in the Workplace: With the sudden shift to remote work, many employers were caught flat footed with some of their employees not having access to hardware and software to enable remote work. I believe this will accelerate the adoption of bring your own device workplace policies that will add more flexibility for workers, albeit at a cost, and more complexity for internal IT teams to manage.

Remote Work Will Become “the New Normal” for Many: Gone are the days when remote work only happened on Friday and generally, not for Executives. The New York Times had a great piece on CEOs working remotely  – ever in search of the best wifi signal – even if it meant camping out in their laundry room. This will change how teams form and interact and may open up new talent pools that previously were off limit due to location. 

Talent Assessment and Leadership Skills Will Evolve: Effectively managing and leading a remote workforce is different from managing a team that is housed together on the same floor and building. People who are able to influence others while remote will be important leaders going forward. Being able to assess talent and coach people remotely is challenging and something that in my experience actually takes more time and effort than when you are in person. Trust is built over time and when you can use all your senses to interact. Remote working can limit this, and I’ve learned that spending more time on calls, on Video Chat connecting with remote teams can speed trust and effectiveness and frankly, without it you won’t get far. Look for companies to begin to assess talent and leadership differently to support new ways of working and managing teams. This may open up new opportunities for some and for others, it’s never to late to learn. Start today while we are all remote. Spend the first few minutes of a call/video conference building rapport – just like you would if you were sitting in a conference room waiting for everyone to arrive and start the meeting. The softer skills matter.

Work/Life Integration On a Grand Scale: Anyone that knows me well has heard me say that I don’t believe in “work-life balance” as I have never seen anyone do two things, simultaneously, equally well. It’s not possible. What I did believe in until now, is knowing what you are doing (work or life) and doing it to your absolute best – be 100% there. But now, we are seeing dogs joining calls, people juggling no day care with work, families struggling with wifi as we all remote work/learn and suddenly drop off due to bandwidth issues and the occasional (and always hilarious) real life interruption. We are getting a real-world window into real life and for me it’s building more empathy and understanding of my colleagues and collaborators. I think that we will continue to see people finding ways of putting the pieces of life and work together and some days we will have more success than others. But we will always know more about each other and our “lives” because of this time working differently. I believe it will free us to have more of an integrated and fluid approach to our lives, including work, going forward.

Business Continuity Will Become “Real”: I’ll admit that I may have been a bit of a casual participant in business continuity planning to this point; but no more. What was once a required corporate annual event is now real. How do we plan for and be ready for the unexpected with very little, if any, notice? We should all revisit our planning cycle and update business continuity plans with lessons learned from this experience and re-commit to spend additional time preparing for the unexpected. 

A Return to “Noah’s Ark”; aka Two of Every Kind: Over my career in pharma, the past few years has seen an increased focus on “simplifying” and reducing headcount in many key functions. Don’t get me wrong I’m a big proponent of getting the “right” people in the “right” role but over the past few re-orgs that I’ve been a part of, I believe in some cases we cut too deep. Many of my industry colleagues I’ve spoken with have observed the same thing at their respective organizations. Too often it’s resulted in one person managing what previously was managed by several people and often leads them to have to have an over reliance on an agency or third party. The external partner can only rely on this one internal point person and if they leave or are out sick, there is no one. Literally, no one. I believe that we will begin to see a change in this dynamic and while I don’t actually predict that there will be “two of every kind”, I do expect that there will be a re-assessment of critical roles and potential points of failure and an increase in staffing/resourcing in select cases.

Risk Factors and Scenario Planning Will Change: I’m already seeing additional language in financial filings about the impact of epidemics and am seeing many companies do some last minute scenario planning about the potential impact on supply chain, go to market strategy, fundraising and partnerships to name a few. The previously unthinkable and unlikely (“it could never happen here”) is now real. With that recognition comes responsibility to disclose and plan, with the wisdom gained so far, to be better prepared the next time. And there will be a next time.

Adopt a Mindset of “Survival” to Unleash New Solutions for Growth: I have the privilege of serving on some Boards of small to mid-sized growth companies that are on the front lines of this epidemic. Being able to quickly pivot their mindset from “how do we deliver the 2020 plan” to “how do we survive and get to the other side” has been a key to unleashing new solutions and creativity. For those of you reading this and mourning the losses you are seeing versus your perfect 2020 plan trend line, time to wake up and think differently. That plan isn’t going to happen – stick it on the shelf next to your kids’ fairy tale books. Free yourself from what was and embrace what is – and go do what it takes to solve your business and customer issues differently. Those who are successful may find themselves in a remarkably stronger position in the market and those that don’t or can’t, may cease operations.

I’m energized by what I see as changes that could stay with us in Life Sciences and Pharma:

New Commercial Models: For years we’ve been debating how many reps, and what if any digital and “non-personal promotion (NPP)” was needed. But it’s always been reps first. The care and planning that went into reps was extraordinary whereas the resourcing that went into digital and inside sales was always less than needed. The weeks of internal debates about “new commercial models” that I’ve endured over my career will never be regained. With most reps now working remotely I believe we are finally at an exciting pivot point that we will look back on as a watershed moment. We need both – reps AND digital and NPP. Neither one alone can be effective in today’s environment with fewer regulatory approvals, lower overall peak sales, more competition, increasingly closed to promotion health systems, to name a few of the challenges we face. Every company is now racing to figure this out. For some that have been pioneering and courageous enough to try and learn over the past few years, they are better prepared than most but still have work ahead. For others that have not yet invested in helping their reps use digital tools effectively and required their marketing teams and agencies to think and create campaigns that are digital first, this is a painful and potentially devastating time. It’s simply not enough to turn up existing advertising campaigns and spend as a surrogate for pulling reps, albeit for just a few weeks (so far). What we must do as an industry is embrace digital AND reps and help them work together to get information to people when then need it, in a way that is useful and backed by clinical and real-world evidence. Let’s turn all the energy we have been spending on debating internally what the new commercial model should be and instead look to what is happening in the world right now and courageously invest in new ways of working together. Don’t overlook the importance of training reps to confidently use digital tools and spend the time to integrate the teams across sales and digital, marketing, promotions and operations. Now more than ever, sharing insights and working together to solve pain points and serve patients and HCPs matters.

Role of Rep Will Change: A face to face interaction will always be the most valuable. However, reps will need to adapt to likely reduced access to offices and physicians. The need for relevant information will likely accelerate, but reps will need to evolve and we may see the emergence of different types of reps with specialized skills. This is the time to move away from highly rigid and structured call plans for reps that mandate the message, the position, and the frequency. If you don’t have reps that can use judgment and skill to educate, inform and exchange information with high integrity and conviction, then it’s time to rethink your approach. Might be better to have fewer but highly skilled and effective reps deployed against the biggest opportunities. Reps, now is the time to upskill. Many companies including Google offer great training and certification courses for free and don’t miss an opportunity to partner up with another remote worker to practice your use of video conferencing and remote detailing – practice makes perfect!

Training and Organizational Development Renaissance: For too long the training and organizational development teams have been easy targets for downsizing. Most courses outside of rep training have been abandoned. People are remarkably motivated to learn new skills when facing new challenges. This is the time to revisit the training and development groups and bolster their offerings so that people are well trained and ready for working across siloes, remotely, using digital tools and technology to enable work and improve our ability to identify, develop and commercialize important treatments. 

On Demand Data: It’s remarkable the speed with which we are able to view the number of COVID-19 tests and track patient outcomes at a global, regional, local and community level. Why is it then that our ability to mobilize and access data in ordinary times in healthcare remains so hard? I believe that the speed and transparency in our ability to track the impact of COVID-19 will set a new standard for what “good” looks like and data will need to be set free. For too long data and insight have been elusive and trapped in closed systems and siloed, unable to be used and consumed. 

Co-Morbid Conditions Must be Addressed with Real Data: As an industry we are scrambling to sort out how to advise patients that are immune compromised, that are being treated with immuno-oncology treatments to name a few on what they should do in the face of COVID-19. It’s not ok anymore to say “Insert treatment name’ wasn’t studied in that patient population”.  For too long we have been unable or quite limited in our ability as an industry to answer real world questions about how to treat co-morbid conditions. In the face of an epidemic, we need to find solutions so that people can make informed decisions. A person never has just one diagnosis in isolation. Not clear what the immediate solution is to address this given the complexity involved, but I am hopeful that our best minds will bring solutions to bear. 

Telemedicine and “Seeing the Doctor” Will Change Permanently: The ability to access a medical expert on demand is amazing. It frees you from sitting in a waiting room trying to steer clear of clearly sick and contagious people and moves the point of care to your home. Think about it. What could be possible if we also had a better ability to do home testing of viruses and then could simply reach out, dial up a medical expert via telemedicine and get treated? How many people could we keep from infecting? How much faster could we and those we care for, begin to feel better? It’s exciting stuff and it’s here to stay. The return of the doctor house call… enabled by technology. Sure there will still be trips to the physicians' office but I believe they will be for procedures that cannot be done remotely and in person visits for well and sick care will become less of the norm over time.

People Will Forever Think and Act Differently About Their Health: For years the healthcare industry has put their best efforts into helping people take control over their health and wellness. Some segments of people are super users of the information and resources available and others have instead taken a different approach of “fix it when it breaks”. The sudden and omnipresent reality that we have control over who we see, what we touch, how we clean, is forever etching in our minds that each and everyone of us has things in our control everyday that can make a difference in our health. I don’t think that awareness of our own accountability and responsibility will depart anytime soon and I’m hopeful that this experience ushers in a new era of greater engagement and ownership in our health.

I also see some challenges that will remain with us that include:

Unemployment/Skill Gaps: The impact of COVID-19 on retail, hospitality, travel, and small businesses is tragic. Many people are without work and may not be able to easily find work given the likely extended economic impact. For some they will only need to build new skills but for others, they may need to find work in a new industry as well and that can take time and determination – start today.

Younger Generations Will Carry This with Them: The under 25-ish generation generally has grown up in a period of amazing prosperity. Yes, they were likely alive during the 2008-2009 recession but were quite young. Many of these people are now, for the first time, experiencing significant changes to their worlds: valuable summer internships are vanishing, service trips are cancelled, schools are now remote for the lucky ones and for others, it’s still TBD, drivers’ permits and licenses on hold, HS and college graduations never to happen, sports events and seasons vanished and prom dresses hang in closets unworn. This is a group of people who are old enough to remember this and it will stay with them. If you have a young adult in your life, reach out and help them - be a source of encouragement and connection.

Finally, “Go Make Yourself Useful”

When I was a young girl I spent time every summer with my extended family and my Grandma used to command “Go make yourself useful” anytime she saw me or my siblings sit down and “hang out”. She had experienced the Great Depression first hand and it compelled her to improve her situation and surroundings.  Her command to “Go make yourself useful” pretty much sums up her life’s work. At first I was a bit offended, thinking what was the problem with taking a break over the summer? But then I realized what she was really challenging me to do wasn’t so much to keep busy, but to figure out what I was good at and apply it to make my surroundings and world better. Made me think about what I was good at and over the years, I’m proud to say, my skill set has evolved!

During this time I’ve seen so many people step up and offer to share their time, knowledge and skills to be “useful”. What a wonderful possibility this holds for all of us. We have more time now that our schedules aren’t as filled with travel, sports, kids’ events, socializing (don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying the remote cocktail hours I’ve been invited to!) and other things.

If you are still reading this, I’d like to “be useful” and offer my experience. I have expertise in establishing new ways to reach and engage customers and democratize health information and have extensive leadership in leading digital transformation and commercial operations. Happy to connect with you and be a resource as you work through whatever challenge you are facing in this new reality.

Stay healthy and well!