Important Considerations When Developing Your Team

For Leaders in the Pharmaceutical, Biotech and Medical Device Industries

Is your team merely functioning, or are you proactively developing their skills and knowledge to help them excel?

The life sciences industry is a rapidly evolving and highly competitive field. To stay ahead of the competition, meet deadlines, and ensure successful project outcomes, teams and organisations must constantly develop and adapt.

A key principle of management and leadership is aligning individual achievements with organisational goals, fostering teamwork that enables ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results. This is particularly crucial in the life sciences, where the knowledge and expertise of employees drive business success.

With many competing responsibilities, meetings, and commitments, managers often overlook their team’s development, adopting a “business as usual” mindset. However, when executed effectively, team development can significantly improve performance.

Here are three key steps life science managers should consider when planning their team’s development:

 

1. Understanding the Team’s Needs

Effective team development starts with understanding the needs of both individuals and the team as a whole. Begin by evaluating each person’s strengths and weaknesses, as well as those of the team collectively. How do these strengths and weaknesses impact your objectives and projects for the year?

Engage with your team members to gather their input. Regularly discuss development during reviews and meetings, and consider using a needs analysis form to capture their goals and training needs. This may reveal interesting insights, as individuals often have different perceptions of their strengths, weaknesses, and development goals compared to the team’s overall objectives.

Another crucial but often overlooked aspect is future-proofing your team’s knowledge retention. Imagine being a football manager with only one striker, who unfortunately gets injured in the first game of the season. The rest of the season becomes challenging without a striker. Similarly, in a life sciences team, people may leave, become ill, go on maternity leave, or be unavailable for other reasons. It is essential to have others ready to step in and fill these gaps, ensuring continuity. Think about succession planning: What is the plan if a key person leaves the business? Identify who could take over that role and what skills and knowledge they need to acquire to transition seamlessly.

 

2. Leveraging Team Resources

Before seeking external training providers, consider the resources already available within your team. Often, significant development can occur by tapping into the expertise of team members.

Could someone in your team become a subject matter expert (SME) in a particular area, responsible for sharing their knowledge with others? You might also implement a mentorship programme or introduce ‘lunch and learn’ sessions, where team members take turns to present their areas of expertise. While this approach depends on the team’s dynamics and personalities, fostering a collaborative environment where team members support each other’s development can be immensely beneficial.

 

3. Matching Learning Methods with Team Needs

There are various tools, techniques, and methods for team development. However, it’s important to consider the preferences and learning styles of individual team members. Some may prefer classroom-based learning, while others prefer online modules. Some might enjoy working in groups on case studies, while others may find reading more effective. Additionally, consider people’s workloads: some may be too busy to attend a two-day training course but could participate in online bite-sized sessions.

Budget constraints also play a role in planning. Ask yourself: How specific are the training needs to individuals? Are there common themes across the team? What is the urgency? What is the availability of the team? Prioritise the areas that will enable your team to meet its objectives and targets. By considering individual needs and learning preferences, you can determine where to focus your time and budget and how best to deliver the training.

 

A successful team is not built by chance; it is continuously developed and fine-tuned for performance improvements. So, ask yourself again: Are you doing everything you can to develop your team?

 

Written by Daniel Harding

Daniel is a Director at Educo Life Sciences and has experience developing team training solutions for (bio)pharmaceutical and medical device clients. He has helped clients achieve business objectives with learning programmes that meet their specific needs and requirements.

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