Client Cases
We have been fortunate to support our clients address a variety of business situations, opportunities, and challenges across our three highly inter-related core services.
Strategic Clarity
Org Design: Scaling a Global Medical Affairs Function
Problem: With pending FDA approval and preparation for commercialization, a Medical Affairs function needed a 4-year roadmap. The client was a mid-size gene therapy clinical-stage biotech with a lead candidate entering Phase 3. They were anticipating trial success, preparing for commercialization and launch in 4 years; the MA leader wanted to scale to better drive growth. Fundamental question: what’s the best GMA strategy & org design to drive maximum value and competitive advantage?
Action: I led discovery and articulating the story for where the function needed to go and why. We framed three options with a recommendation presented to the CEO and BOD. We outlined the history and value of MA functions, company strategy and headwinds, and competitor MA models. This anchored the recommendation that included a GMA strategy, value proposition, operating model, 4-year structure evolution, sub-function remits, key roles, 4-year capability building and hiring plan, and cost models.
Results: The recommended model was approved and implemented. Three years later the rights to their gene therapy asset was sold, licensing the treatment to a large pharma company for $450M in cash, with a potential for $1.6B in conditional royalties on net sales. One year later the FDA approved it as a one-time GT treatment. The CEO said, “We’ll fund another four years to develop several other experimental GTs; we still aspire to be a fully integrated commercial entity, taking other gene therapies to market.”
PE-Backed Software Company Growth Strategy
Problem: A PE client purchased an Education/Public Sector software company with a planned 4-year exit. The company enjoyed significant growth, both organic and from numerous acquisitions to expand capabilities and service offerings. To bring greater value to customers via seamless applications, they needed to install a new operating model; however, they experienced significant challenges transitioning to an integrated solutions model (rather than building, selling, supporting discrete products).
Action: To support the CEO as interim Chief Transformation Officer and member of the leadership team, I led a vision/strategy/operating model transformation within/across three key functions. There were two fundamental goals for this work: 1) outline and implement a new operating model that best executes the growth strategy, and 2) reduce operating expenses by $18M (~18% of overall operating costs).
Results:
GTM. Improved processes to engage prospects, qualify leads, and cross-sell.
Product Management. Installed a unified, more-focused PM strategy, methodology, and roadmap; rationalized the PM role.
Customer Service & Success. Installed self-service eCommerce for ease-of-doing-business, onboarding improvements to decrease support costs and increase renewals.
This drove the integration of the acquired companies and was instrumental in doubling revenue from $300 to $600M while reducing costs by $22M.
Scaling Biotech Clinical Operations
Problem: A clinical-stage biotech company focused on the discovery and development of novel first-in-class small molecules was experiencing the common integration, coordination, and alignment growing pains that come with growth and success. With a strong pipeline, and as the company continued to invest in more complex trials across multiple indications, their clinical operations became increasingly inefficient and ineffective.
With key Phase II & III studies that had a high level of external visibility, driving company valuation and the subsequent ability to invest and reach patients, it was imperative to accelerate the maturation and implementation of a next-gen operating model to scale operations and turn around the decline of key performance metrics.
Action: I worked with four key cross-functional business groups to outline the overall operating model, identify key workflow/process challenges that were not scaling and resulting in performance gaps. We revised those workflows and clarified new inter-dependencies necessary to execute at scale. We modified roles and responsibilities, and perhaps most importantly, collectively established operating norms and behaviors necessary for increased coordination and alignment.
Results: Key performance metrics along the entire value chain were improved, which allowed the organization to meet its pipeline performance goals. For example, study design, site selection and activation, and patient enrollment milestones and goals that were consistently being missed or delayed, were significantly improved, allowing the organization to scale and continue to grow.
Driving Software Sales Performance: Scaling a New Channel
Problem: A software company had established a partner agency reseller program that showed promise as a new source of value for customers and a new source of revenue for the company. Reaching a broader set of customers, this sales model emerged organically and grew significantly for two years until there was a decline in partner acquisition, retention, and time to resell.
Actions: I conducted a rigorous diagnostic to understand the process the salespeople deployed with the intention of scaling the model across the broader sales team. We then did three things: 1) outlined the new sales model/motion, 2) created powerful success profiles that outlined the capabilities necessary for excellence in executing the model, and 3) provided change management support to help install and implement the new model, training salespeople to emulate the model that proved the concept.
Results: Four years later, the program has flourished into a significant part of their business. Widely believed to be major success, with double-digit growth of partners acquired, time to resell, retaining partners, increased higher-value customers, and total software sales. The partner model became a significant part of the customer base and 40-45% of overall revenue, with referrals from Partners now 36% of total customers (from 9%).
Life Science Product Company China Growth & Scale Strategic Plan
Problem: This global life science product company was enjoying significant growth, expecting to triple the business in five years (primarily driven by growth in China/Asia). The problem was that there was significant variability among the 22 global and local leaders for how to best achieve growth while overcoming significant barriers and with the least disruption to the existing global and local business.
Actions: Working closely with the CEO and CHRO, I interviewed all 22 leaders, summarized their key topics, led a workshop-based solution to work through all the strategic and operational issues, and concluded the process by documenting detailed action plans to address key topics that when managed will enable successful execution of their growth plan.
Results: After two years, the client is executing the plan and seeing on-track growth rates that will double the business in three years. Our solution enabled these results by:
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Creating alignment on the market opportunity.
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Outlining the top strategic priorities (e.g., GTM, segmentation plan).
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Outlining the capabilities needed to execute the plan and how to acquire them.
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Outlining a transformational change plan for successful implementation.
Organization Alignment
Org Design & Transformational Change to Execute a New Customer Support Model
Problem: To enable a broader strategic shift, a global technology Customer Support organization with 6000 employees needed to implement a solution support strategy and operating model, making a shift from supporting hardware and software products independent of one another, to providing customers with integrated and seamless technology solutions support to business challenges.
Actions: We supported our client with a long-term workshop-based solution over 10 months that was designed to engage managers/SMEs around the globe to frame and address this challenge, enabling them as change leaders to outline solutions for successful implementation. Significant discovery work was conducted to outline the key issues that needed to be managed for the function to shift its model.
Results: Created a new customer self-service function; sub-functions were restructured to accommodate new work processes; skill sets were identified/trained; technology tools were created (e.g., collaboration tool to better connect SMEs on customer calls; “customer environment” tool for engineers to have a complete customer view while on service calls); performance management and incentives were changed. Led to several key outcomes (e.g., Time-to-Resolve up 34%, Hours/Service Request down 42%).
Implementing a Software Company's Growth Strategy
Problem: A national healthcare software company was evolving from a product to a network-focused platform strategy to drive a new vision and 3-year growth plan. As the healthcare ecosystem continues to transform, this new strategy will accommodate broader technology innovations (e.g., wearables, embedded devices, remote delivery, big data, AI) that will impact how people interface with healthcare providers and how health data is leveraged to improve healthcare delivery and patient outcomes.
Actions: We worked with our client to outline key implications for the strategy across all core functions; how it impacts operating models, core value propositions, the most important workflows/processes, and necessary capabilities to execute the model. We then outlined cross-functional processes either impacted or to be created to execute the more-complex over-arching operating model.
Results: These actions resulted in multiple functional org redesign efforts that increased focus and drove greater alignment within and across functions to the growth strategy and future vision. It resulted in changes to how time and resources were invested and clarified where greater levels of efficiency (e.g., duplication of efforts across functions; management practices) were needed to simplify and focus efforts on their big bets.
Transforming Clinical Development & Operations
Problem: A global biopharmaceutical Clinical Development & Operations organization entered a strategic partnership with a leading CRO (contract research organization), following industry trends toward single strategic partners that can drive consistent processes, eliminate duplication, increase responsiveness to industry/regulatory requirements, decrease costs, and ultimately improve the quality of clinical research.
This was a major strategic shift and operating model change, requiring functional changes and significant change to workflow and role requirements. The client had been struggling for over a year with this transformation despite significant efforts to communicate and implement the new model.
Actions: We implemented a rigorous transformational change management solution that:
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Aligned the leadership team on key strategic and operational issues.
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Articulated the full rationale and business need, the value proposition and necessity for the strategic shift. This was previously lacking which created significant drag.
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Rationalized 80+ clinical trials against current, interim, and future processes that were being run by ~20 smaller vendors and for larger CROs.
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Clarified implications for functions, key workflows, and infrastructure.
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Outlined and addressed numerous role and people topics (e.g., roles changing from running to managing others to run clinical trials).
Results: Our approach significantly accelerated clarity and alignment by thoroughly working through strategic and operational details to drive the transition. One-to-two years later leaders reported positive results of various types, for example:
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Improved molecule selection.
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Improved regulatory expertise that positively impacted many elements of clinical development.
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Improved access to global patient populations.
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Reduced costs and accelerated cycle times by 25 and 30% respectively.
People Solutions
CPG Success Profiles for Improved Executive Selection
Problem: A large global food and beverage CPG client wanted to improve executive-level hiring practices. They had two pain points: two years after hire date, too many leaders were either under-performing or voluntarily leaving the company. We determined a core root cause was capability mismatches that were not adequately assessed through their traditional selection process. The client wanted a better selection methodology that improved both outcomes.
Actions: We built a robust success profile that objectively outlined the right capabilities, created an assessment process and selection criteria to better-inform hiring decisions, and trained hiring managers and recruiters to scale the process.
Results: The client conducted an analysis and found that the new methodology reduced turnover by 17% (defined as voluntary/involuntary termination within two years). They also reported that they increased their ability to hire top-performing leaders by 14%. The client estimated that each mismatch hire cost the organization $1M in direct costs (e.g., hiring/recruiting, lost productivity) with opportunity costs “significant and immeasurable.”
CPG Talent Strategy to Drive a Next-gen Functional Strategy
Problem: A food Safety & Quality leader for a national consumer product company wanted to transform the function from an inside-out manufacturing to an in-line approach, embedding FS&Q processes directly within the manufacturing processes, rather than done independent from production, enabling immediate feedback for improved performance. Better integration creates shared accountability, where Quality & Manufacturing leaders are jointly responsible for FS&Q as well as production and performance outcomes.
Actions: To execute the strategy, Quality team members must utilize a broad set of skills. A talent solution was implemented to identify, assess, and develop the right capabilities.
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Functional Leadership Model. Knowledge and skills to execute the strategy.
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20 Performance-Profiles. Capabilities to perform key functional roles.
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Dual-Track Model. Technical and management career path to enable placement and career growth.
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People-Management Model. Capabilities to perform the people-manager role.
Results: Leaders are executing the function strategy with incremental improvements observed in quality and business performance outcomes. This significant shift will unfold over 3-5 years as the strategy is implemented and adopted by production leaders. In this first year, all content has been integrated into core management and development practices, enabling the 200-person organization to understand and leverage the capabilities for both personal career development and overall business goals.
Enterprise Semi-Conductor Talent Strategy to Drive Business Transformation
Problem: A global and leading semi-conductor client wanted to implement an ambitious talent strategy with two fundamental goals:
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Help drive a 3-5-year business plan for a new company strategy and value proposition.
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Build a market brand reputation as an employer of choice that develops people and careers.
Actions: Delivered a series of products and solutions; two examples:
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Outlined the business capabilities needed to build and sell solutions (e.g., understand customer segment’s business models; how they solve their customer’s-customer’s issues).
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Build an integrated talent strategy (i.e., purpose & talent segment strategy, assessment process/tools, talent councils & governance process, leadership development strategy, including content creation, funding model, enrollment strategy, delivery model).
Results: Across all levels of leadership and management, we found significant increases beyond baseline assessments to survey items like: “I understand the implications of our 5-year strategy for my function and team;” “I understand the capabilities that my function/department needs to deliver our strategy.” Along with anecdotal evidence, this suggested stronger alignment to strategy, better enabling the execution of the new company value proposition.
Talent and Transformational Change Solutions to Scale a Commercial Strategy
Problem: A divisional Commercial Sales & Services organization within a global chemicals/industrials client experienced significant organic growth and was poised to drive further growth through a new acquisition-based and integrated solutions value proposition. Observing slowing sales, the client needed to scale the model by identifying and building the proven capabilities necessary to sell and service higher-value and integrated solutions to solve increasingly complex customer challenges.
Actions: Delivered two solutions:
Transformational Change. Clarified strategic rationale, industry and competitive context, core value proposition, core strategic pillars (Value, Digital, People), necessary “mechanisms” to execute the pillars (e.g., access to technical buyers), and the overall operating model.
Success Profiles. Anchored to the rationale, built five profiles within Commercial (e.g., Corp Accounts) and two within Services (e.g., Service Engineering) that characterize high performance.
Results: Solutions drove strategic clarity and alignment, ensuring the global leadership team was able to consistently articulate where the organization was going and why. Profiles were successfully rolled out and used as a foundation for a variety of capability building efforts (hiring, performance management, development solutions). Ultimately, this work was credited with accelerating the successful scaling of the sales and service strategy, enabling growth rates back to double-digit levels.
Leadership & Team Building to Drive Business Performance
Problem: A $5B global fintech had grown organically and through acquisition, adding several new executive team members who joined a team with several long-time members who helped grow the company. The CEO understood that to continue the growth trajectory, the executive team needed to become a more integrated and aligned if they were to successfully make and implement key strategic choices (e.g., whether to enter a new market or not).
Actions: I conducted interviews and outlined the various business issues and the leadership/team/culture challenges facing the team. I then designed and facilitated a two-day leadership offsite, framing these issues as highly inter-related, creating a platform for improved alignment, cohesion, and decision making that was necessary to successfully drive their next wave of growth.
Results: Through the offsite preparation process and the workshop, this work:
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Solved five strategic issues, with clear decisions, owners, goals, and timelines.
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Outlined team operating norms (i.e., decision-making, communication, conflict management).
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Built stronger relationships, enabling more cohesion and cooperation.
By marrying team leadership issues with business challenges, we established high-performance team dynamics that better enable business results.