Advice You - Business

I am often hired to coach someone who has moved from a technical role to one of leadership. When I use the term "technical" I mean in the broadest sense of a functional expert, whether it be in the field of technology, accounting, legal, sales or other speci

According to USFDA, a combination product is one composed of any combination of a drug and device; biological product and device; drug and biological product

alised role. The call from the HR Department usually comes after the event, when things have started to go wrong.

So why do so many companies promote people into leadership roles who are unprepared for leading a team? Is it simply that there is no formal s

; or drug, device, and biological product and fixed dose combination would include two or more combinations of drug.

Examples of combination products may in

ccession plan? Not at all. An individual may be earmarked for promotion for what on the surface appear good, logical reasons. He or she has received consistently good performance appraisals, feedback from colleagues is positive on their expertise in the jo

lude drug-coated devices, drugs packaged with delivery devices in medical kits, and drugs and devices packaged separately but intended to be used together.

and they regularly meet or exceed their KPIs. All the right reasons for a well deserved promotion, one might think.

It seems quite logical to promote someone who is an expert in their field to head up a functional team. Surely a team with an expert at the

here is enormous increase in the number of combination products entering the market in the recent years. Combination products have proven advantages but fixe

head can only benefit from that wisdom and experience. The team will consider themselves lucky to have someone as their boss whose technical skills are highly regarded, won't they?

Promotions of technical experts without proper preparation for the challenge

d dose combinations are still in the process of convincing regulatory authority on their advantages over the single ingredient formulations.

Combination pro

of leadership often result in a demotivated team, lower performance, intra team conflicts and inter departmental tensions. The reason is simple, the individual has not recognised or been taught the difference between functional excellence and leadership. F

ucts have become life saving products for the pharmaceutical companies who doesn’t have many innovative molecules in their product pipeline and have been inc

nctional excellence is usually measured by results evidenced by hard facts and data, e.g. an IT network that works first time, a set of accounts that are true and accurate, a contract that withstands close scrutiny or the achievement of a sales target. Leade

easingly used in the product life cycle management. Even the companies having product patents are trying to extend their product life cycle through the combi

rship excellence is ultimately measured in the same way but the individual who has been used to achieving results through their own skills and ability suddenly has to achieve them through a medium that is unpredictable and sometimes fickle, i.e. other human b

nation products and maximize the revenues. But the companies involved in this practice are overlooking that they are burdening the patients both economically

ings.

Typical things that go wrong when a functional expert is thrust unprepared into a leadership position are:

Delegation: Functional experts have great trouble in delegating tasks they believe they could do better themselves. They may indeed delegate b

and physically. They need to rightly judge the benefits of the combination products and they have to even look at the risks involved when combining the produ

t then frustrate their team members by constantly dabbling in the delegated task and criticising the team's efforts. If this pattern is left unchecked team members will not waste time trying to do their best if they know the boss will end up doing it for the

ts. Some of the combination products were well accepted by physicians while others suffered. Companies involved in development of combination products are fi

anyway. Plus it serves to stifle the development and creativity of team members.

Strategic Vision: Functional experts will often fail to see the bigger picture. They have spent their career focusing on one aspect of the business and may not have taken th

ding difficulty in defining their combination products and facing various challenges from selecting a combination to marketing it.

Following aspects would a

trouble nor been encouraged to think about the organisation's wider vision and purpose. Worse still, because they continue to focus on the technical aspects of their field, they are unequipped to effectively communicate the organisation's vision and higher a

dd to the challenges in developing combination products:

Which markets to tap where the combination products can do fairly well?
Which combination prod

pirations. If the team can't see where they are going or why, then how can we expect them to commit to the journey?

System Thinking: Because they are not looking at the bigger picture and tend to be parochial in their view of their role and that of their t

cts are meaningful and rational?
Which therapeutic categories to select?
Which Combinations can address unmet needs of the patients?
Do combin

am, they often fail to spot the impact of decisions and communications on other departments. Decisions and actions can sometimes be inwardly focused on their own team and the protection of their functional territory. This can spark inter-departmental confli

tions increase the patient compliance?
What would be the developing cost?
How to tackle the risks encountered during combination product developmen

ct and be the trigger point for energy sapping political battles.

Communication: In most leadership coaching assignments, communication skills, both verbal and written are often areas that need attention. In the case of a functional expert, especially if t

t?

As combination products don't fit into the traditional categories of drugs, medical devices, or biological products, the USFDA is in the process of devel

ey are in a deeply technical field more used to dealing with numbers and data, the problem can be more pronounced. Issues range from communication style, sometimes abrupt and only enough to communicate essential facts and data, through to a complete EQ failu

ping new procedures for reviewing their safety, efficacy and quality.

Professional from academic institutions, pharmaceutical industries, health care indust

e. Some just fail to recognise the need to create rapport with the team and other departments and worse still, do not acknowledge that team morale and motivation is their responsibility.

So how can organisations avoid falling into the trap of failed leaders

y and representatives from various regulatory agencies are working out to design the regulatory requirements for manufacture and sale of combination products

ip promotions? First, recognise that a technical expert does not necessarily make a good leader. Second, if a succession plan is in place, start measuring high potentials in terms of leadership ability, not purely functional expertise and results. A traini

.

As there is an increasing trend of the combination products companies manufacturing such products should be able to tackle the problems involved in the de

g needs analysis must be done well in advance of promotion to prepare the individual to take on leadership responsibility. Such training is likely to include soft skills and self awareness exercises such as an MBTI assessment, coupled with professional coach

elopment. They need to be wiser in analyzing the market trends and the regulatory requirements.

Companies that provide selfless information through particip

ng. But most of all there needs to be a mind-set change on the part of the aspiring leader from one of focus on details and data to one of focus on the team, their development and above all their motivation. Once that is achieved, positive results will come

tion in industry events and feedback to regulatory authorities would be able to face the challenges and will be successful in developing combination products

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