Amy Cairns
I've heard it time and time again; “We can’t do
that, you know how regulated we are”, “Yeah, but Pharma is different”, or
“That’s just not how we do business”. For
many, the pharmaceutical industry is a seemingly insurmountable wall of legal, regulatory,
medical, and bureaucracy and has thus remained in the dinosaur era when it
comes to change. The digital age has
certainly forced some adoption, but overall Pharma lags far behind other industries such as Telecom, Retail, Banking,
and Travel and Hospitality.
Disrupt or be disrupted.
I suspect that part of the reason some Pharmaceutical
companies haven’t led the charge in rethinking the way they operate is the relatively healthy
revenue stream generated from mass marketing of medications. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? But
what happens if you’re being forced into early retirement? Times are changing, and much like the shift
to personalized advertising, healthcare is evolving rapidly. Just this year, the FDA approved the first
3D-printed prescription pill for consumer use and personalized medicine is
gearing up to disrupt healthcare as we know it today. According to one US based market research
company, the global personalized medicinemarket valued at 1,007.88 Billion USD in 2014, is expected to reach 2,452.50billion in 2022, growing at a compounding annual growth rate of 11.8%.
No small chunk of change. And if that
wasn’t enough to send a chill up the pharmaceutical spine, millennials are
moving into physician offices and doors are closing fast. The up-and-coming physician doesn’t want to
meet with a Pharmaceutical Representative for various reasons, including lack
of trust and the inability to see the value behind such interactions. Marry that with the general distrust of the pharmaceutical
industry, and you now have enough ingredients for a serious crisis.
So where does that leave us?
That question should be easy enough to answer,
but if you still aren't sure you need to act, ask yourself how the taxi industry
is feeling these days. Uber has disrupted the transportation industry in a way
few could have predicted. There are
other examples, of course. Take Airbnb or the effect of e-commerce on
brick-and-mortar outlets. There are clear
warning signs that traditional pharma will soon face insurmountable challenges
if they don’t adapt their current approach to doing business. Key areas such as research and communication need
to be flipped upside down, and a serious look at redefining the core value
proposition is required. Doing this
entails a massive culture shift to one where innovation is openly
embraced. This era of disruption is like global warming;
work quickly to shift your company culture to one that encourages innovative
thought and ideas, or face the reality that “to do nothing” may mean you’ll
require a life boat sooner than you think.
How can organizations successfully create an innovative culture?
It’s been said before, and resonates well here;
culture kills strategy. If you don’t
have the right company culture to support innovation, then you can’t expect to
have a creative, free-thinking environment. Here are some crucial steps to
foster employee engagement, encourage creative ideation and move your
organization to become a leader in innovative thinking.
1. Leadership Buy-In. Change can be difficult on many,
especially when those leading the company are comfortable with maintaining the status
quo. Proposing new ways of doing business can cause many people stress, fear
and anxiety. When top management isn’t
on board, you’ll find that discussing new ideas will lead to excuses (business
planning process has already passed, maybe next year though!) or straight out
attempts at killing them off (Oh no, we can’t do that, legal will never allow
it so there’s no point in discussing). It
takes a strong leader to move the organization past this, gaining support and
buy-in from top management. Be prepared
to let non-believers go, because having them on the team will undermine efforts
and cause more damage than good.
2. Sharing is safe! Employees need to feel confident
that if they speak up, they won’t be penalized for it. Fostering that kind of
an environment takes time and effort, or it will undoubtedly fail. Provide constructive feedback; all ideas will
not necessarily be implemented, but by listening to them you’ll ensure that
they continue to provide thoughts and insight.
In a culture where employees feel safe speaking up equates to increased
engagement, a sense of loyalty, and a feeling that they are part of the bigger
picture. Ideas will flow more freely
and quickly, and more employees will be willing to put their hand up without
fear of repercussion.
3.Facilitate idea sharing with new ways of
communicating. Create an idea board, use
an enterprise social network (Chatter, Yammer…), host a workshop, or create a
challenge. All are potential ways of
crowdsourcing thoughts and ideas from your employees. The goal here is to introduce new channels
were employees will be motivated and encouraged to participate.
4. Reward ideas from employees giving them
motivation to speak-up. This type of
recognition can come in all forms such as a simple thank you, an email, a gift
certificate, to more elaborate ones like a cash bonus or weekend get-away. Looking for more ideas? See 101-super effective ways to
reward your employees, by Peter Economy.
5. Dedicate time to
innovate. We all have busy schedules,
meetings, deadlines, employees to manage, objectives to meet. If time isn’t set aside for creative thinking
and brainstorming, it will likely go to the wayside when other more immediate
needs take precedence. One idea may be
to create an innovation committee, comprised of your most innovative thinkers
(hint: not always senior management).
With a committee in place, and meeting times scheduled, the likelihood
of success will increase substantially.
6. Put aside any mental barriers that stifle creativity. You can worry about the regulations and legal
aspect later on, what’s important is getting the ideas flowing. Constantly
worrying about whether you can or can’t do something will only prevent good
concepts from seeing the light of day.
7. Accept failure as a possibility, and try again. With every good idea comes
risk, and without risk there is no innovation. Having a positive view of failure will allow
you to pick back up and get back to the drawing board. What went wrong? Why?
What learnings can you take from the experience? This attitude is important and a must for any
credible innovative person. To be
cynical will silence and prevent you from reaching that next level. Check
out this article from the WSJ “Better Ideas Through Failure”.
Hopefully these steps
inspire you to take serious strides in changing your company culture to a more
free thinking and innovative one. Or perhaps not... Perhaps you still feel that
there is something to be said about maintaining the status quo? Just know that there
are only so many seats in a lifeboat and that they will fill up fast the minute
our industry comes face-to-face with its own healthy dose of disruption.
