Navigating changes in structure and responsibilities can present operational and cultural challenges for a team. Read how Vynamic partnered with a Global Pharmaceutical company’s centralized medical evidence generation and data dissemination team to support their evolution over several months, bringing clarity to the client’s complex challenges and helping them bond, create a new vision and strategy, and adapt to changes in their remit.
Vynamic was approached by the leader of a recently formed inflammation and immunology medical evidence generation and data dissemination team at a global life sciences company. With members based in different parts of the world, the team had undergone a series of changes to structure, roles, and responsibilities. As a result, the leader felt the team lacked a clear understanding of its vision and mission, which led to an unfocused approach to projects, team disconnectedness, and confusion among business stakeholders as to the value the team could deliver.
Over a period of about 18 months, the client team sought partnership with Vynamic to help create team cohesion, improve communication, optimize strategy, and later to shift and expand group capabilities. Vynamic was well positioned to support the team with this evolving program of work, thanks to its experience, expertise, and collaborative approach across Culture Curation, Strategic Planning & Mobilization, and Operating Models & Organization Design services.
This significant, multi-stage, multi-month program began with a focus on cultural reinvigoration, before moving onto a wider range of in-depth support:
Stage 1: DISC
Vynamic began with a Taking Flight with DISC workshop to help participants identify themselves as one of four personality styles: Dominant, Interactive, Supportive, or Conscientious. These are mapped to one of four birds – eagle, parrot, dove, and owl – which creates a fun, memorable way for individuals to understand and appreciate positive yet contrasting traits of colleagues, building greater team cohesion. These styles are used to help the team appreciate different approaches and communication habits, in order to more efficiently communicate and collaborate.
Stage 2: Purpose, vision, and ways of working
Following the team-building work, Vynamic was asked to help the team define its purpose and future vision and facilitated an intensive Strategy on a Page (SOAP) workshop for around 20 team members. Breaking into small groups, expert facilitators guided the team through activities that enabled them to define their purpose and vision and clarify the strategic imperatives critical for achieving that vision. The workshop helped the team uncover and align on shared values and define group norms and ways of working that would empower them to operate at their best.
Following the SOAP workshop, Vynamic led a “Telling Our Story” workshop to help the team practice articulating and communicating their strategy and value proposition. Facilitators introduced the foundational elements of storytelling and worked with the team to craft their individual elevator pitches, as well as practice sharing their team’s new strategy and value prop with stakeholders.
Throughout the workshops, Vynamic introduced games and lighter moments that not only gave the participants time to reflect and recharge, but were designed to nurture and strengthen team relationships.
Stage 3: Organization structure and operating model
About six months later, the team’s remit expanded to include brand content creation, and they once again turned to Vynamic for support. Vynamic began by interviewing the medical evidence generation and data dissemination team to understand their current workload and challenges, then followed a similar process with the medical affairs teams aligned to therapeutic areas who were key collaborators for the work. This enabled the client to fully understand the content creation activities involved and the challenges they would face, identifying process improvements.
From this starting point, Vynamic presented recommendations on how to reorganize the structure of the medical evidence generation and data dissemination team to absorb the work. Critical new roles were identified for the team to consider filling internally or externally.
For the final phase, Vynamic worked closely with leaders to create an operating model with different scenarios for how the team could work. This included outlining roles, responsibilities, and ways of working, along with a six-month roadmap for transitioning the work between the two teams.
Stage 4: New vision and strategy
With new team members and an enhanced scope of work, the team leader asked Vynamic to facilitate a final workshop to help ensure everyone was fully aligned and the vision and strategy reflected the latest changes. Vynamic brought the full international team of ~30 people together for an in-person session to re-evaluate and update their strategy and refine ways of working based on their expanded remit. New joiners were also introduced to DISC, and the full team practiced recognizing and responding to different communication styles.
This project was an excellent example of how clients can benefit from long-term partnerships with Vynamic. By focusing first on culture, the team developed a foundation of trust and mutual understanding that enabled them to better collaborate when defining their strategy and new operating model.
After the initial stages, the team had a clearly defined vision, mission, and strategy, and was fully aligned to organizational objectives. This enabled them to implement workstreams with clear accountability to deliver on key strategic projects. The team was also more cohesive, with better morale and a greater understanding of each other’s roles and styles.
As the medical evidence generation and data dissemination team took on a completely new scope of work, Vynamic helped them understand the full implications of the changes. Vynamic supported the creation and implementation of a new operating model that allowed them to quickly hire new team members, ensure everyone was fully aware of what was expected of them, and get in the best possible shape for the future.
The final vision and strategy workshop set the team up for future success. Feedback was overwhelmingly positive, with one senior director commenting: “This was the best session. We left yesterday feeling more energized than ever, and I actually wanted to stay longer to dig in. This has been the best workshop I’ve ever been a part of in my time here and we love partnering with the Vynamic team.”
Since this series of work, the team has adapted well to their new remit, has experienced improved communication within their team, and has benefited from their ability to effectively articulate their value to key stakeholders.
Vynamic, an Inizio Advisory company, is a leading management consulting partner to global health organizations across Life Sciences, Health Services, and Health Technology. Founded and headquartered in Philadelphia, Vynamic has offices in Boston, Durham NC, New York, and London. Our purpose is simple: We believe there is a better way. We are passionate about shaping the future of health, and for more than 20 years we’ve helped clients transform by connecting strategy to action.
Through a structured, yet flexible delivery model, our accomplished leaders work as an extension of client teams, enabling growth, performance, and culture. Vynamic has been recognized by organizations like Great Place to Work and Business Culture Awards for being leaders and innovators in consulting, company culture, and health. Visit Vynamic.com to discover how we can help transform your
organization or your career.
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