Category Project Management

Lately I hear more and more people complaining about the burden of meetings and actually stating that meetings are the no.1 barrier to productivity.

Even worse a lot of people claim to leave a meeting without a clear idea on what to do next. The result? More follow up meetings… Adding to the frustration, many meetings are simply used to disseminate information (couldn’t it have been an email?). As a consequence, we are ending up hating them so much that they are ineffective even for social aims, like collaborating with colleagues, brain storming or decision making.

How to solve this? There are serious studies on the topic as well as more humorous ones. The reality of organizational life in contemporary organizations involves many contradictions and the meeting load paradox is one of them. People need meetings. Teams need meetings. However, there are costs associated with having more or fewer meetings. It is these costs that organizations, their leaders, and their employees need to consider. At what point does the meeting load become a burden to employees and managers rather than lift them to better heights?

Put a French, a Dutch, an American and an Indian in the same room. Ask them to work together. What do you get? No, this is not the beginning of a funny joke! Tt is a typical example of a work reality in the pharmaceutical world and of the importance of navigating cultural differences.

Globalization has transformed the way we work: our companies are becoming more and more international. Cooperation with third parties a normality. As a consequence, cross cultural communication is something we deal with on daily basis. A new and softer side of negotiation is therefore needed. Sometimes cultures do not translate and we frequently split into separate camps that have an ‘us versus them’ reality.

After performing so many different tech transfers and having witnessed so many audits, I came to the conclusion that getting culture right should never be an afterthought. Even if English is the common language, it is easy to fall into cultural traps that endanger a project or a a cooperation.

Diversity: the art of thinking independently together

Malcolm Forbes

If you really have a French, a Dutch, an American and an Indian, how will they be able to work harmoniously together?

The Indian manager learns never to criticize a colleague openly in front of others, while Dutch managers learn always to be honest and to give the message straight! Americans are trained to wrap positive messages around negative ones, while the French are trained to criticize passionately and provide positive feedback sparingly. Having a clear understanding of these differences and strategies for navigating them is crucial for leaders of cross-cultural teams. How to reach that understanding? There are many courses you can follow, but also books you can read.

People in different countries reach to inputs differently, communicate differently and take decisions differently. When you look at your team’s culture map, consider not just the difficulties that might arise from the gaps but also the strengths that those differences may provide. Managed with care, the cultural and individual diversity can become your team’s greatest asset!!

Don’t forget to think carefully about your objectives before mixing cultures up. If your goal is innovation and creativity, the more cultural diversity the better, as long as the process is managed carefully. But if your goal is simple speed and efficiency, then monocultural is probably better than multicultural. Sometimes, it is simply better to leave Rome to the Romans.

These days I often get asked ‘what exactly is the role of a pharmaceutical project manager’? 

Pharmaceutical project managers oversee drug development from start to finish. Their general responsibilities overlap with those of project managers in other industries. For instance, they identify any technical requirements, set timelines and budgets, oversee other team members and create reports. However, nothing is guaranteed in the complex manufacturing process, and often, the best-laid plans need to be changed because of the nature of working with chemicals/biologicals. Moreover, if the risks associated with the uncertainties are not managed in a timely and effective manner, the complexity of the situation increases dramatically and it subsequently becomes a longer, costlier project. While changes are inevitable, it is natural that the stakeholders may internally or externally resist implementing a change. Creating an environment that embraces change is key in managing the stakeholders. 

The project manager has to continually evolve his or her style of approach in interacting with the stakeholders. Managing cultural differences within the team, within the host businesses, and on the customer side is a challenge that the project manager encounters regularly. Customer management adds another layer of challenges in managing projects that involve intercompany collaboration and contract manufacturing organizations (CMOs). Ineffective management of the customer needs can yield scope creeps, increasing the project budget and causing delays. 

In other words, in the Pharma world a good project manager has a solid scientific background with experience in the pharmaceutical industry, but also needs to be good in dealing with the business side of the project. A complex combination of technical and soft skills for a critical role, rich of challenges but also of fun.

Look into our course for Project Management if you want to know more.