Vital Signs - Q2 2023 - hybrid work/culture/board dynamics

Hi Gang,

Remember me? Much like COVID, Vital Signs is not actually “over”… I am just selectively striking when you least expect it. Sometimes I get questions from the community that inspire new events and conversations, and I wanted to report back on the most recent. Many of you have been asking how others are navigating hybrid work, culture challenges, and board dynamics. This inspired a virtual CEO forum, and the group had a lot of great ideas (and strong opinions!) on these topics. I hope these insights are helpful, if for no other reason than to underscore that you are not alone.

Here’s a summary of key takeaways…

Culture

• Most CEOs on the call said they are “managing on trust” – no in-office requirements (with the exception of one person… you know who you are), and so far, teams remain engaged/no issues

• Most embraced remote hiring at all levels to get the best talent

• Challenge: When/how to bring people together and how often?

  • Ideas:

    • Host a Collaboration Week once/quarter to bring everyone onsite; this is deliberately programmed with patient visits, volunteering, science talks, happy hour, etc.

    • Leadership team meetings are in person once/month (for co-located companies, these rotate between locations)

    • We’ve over-indexed on virtual meetings. Several CEOs told the team to blow up 1/3 of them! Embrace “JOMO”… the Joy Of Missing Out!

• Challenge: Ensuring everyone knows ‘how to get things done’ & that new and/or junior people are learning and building relationships

  • Ideas

    • Give junior team members a leadership role around culture – good visibility, opportunity to build relationships, build leadership muscle

    • Established a new role, VP of Operational Excellence, to develop playbooks, training, best practices

    • Work with an external consultant around “matrix management”

    • Encourage a culture of direct outreach at all levels; add this to employee handbook – individuals need to proactively build relationships

    • Establish a buddy system for new hires so they have someone to go to other than their manager/team

• Challenge: Maintaining/measuring culture

  • Ensure there’s a ‘common language’ internally

  • Same rules/expectations for remote and local employees

  • Use engagement surveys to monitor cultural health

Board Dynamics

• Investors (especially VCs) are generally not helpful BOD members; even worse are big pharma ‘suits’ [lotsa shade thrown here J]

  • Replace investors with operators ASAP [a discussion ensued about HOW to do this effectively – DM me if you are interested]

  • Independents are not beholden to LPs and bring real-world experience to the board

• Chair is ‘trusted advisor to CEO,’ bring on as early as possible

• Diversity so valuable (not just gender, but different styles, people who didn’t know each other previously, etc); ensure you avoid group-think

• Build the board around the company; use board seats to help cover gaps/weaknesses on management team (CMO background if you aren’t ready to hire, financial expert, etc.)

Do these resonate? Do you have any additional ideas to share? I’d love to hear from you! And for the CEOs in the audience, a brief advertisement for the Biocom CEO Summit on Oct. 27. This is the third annual summit, and having been to both previously, I can attest to the quality of the attendees, the dialogue, and definitely the venue!

Be well!

Jackie