Challenge

A clinical development division of a multinational biopharmaceutical company had experienced a significant transformation and reorganization of its clinical study and leadership teams. Roles were reimagined and redefined. Cross-functional teams were formed, and their individual members spanned the globe - many working with each other for the first time and/or in new ways.

Early in the transformation, an employee engagement survey revealed significant pain points:

• Teams not working cross-functionally with some behaviors reducing program effectiveness and putting enterprise outcomes at risk
• Disjointed and siloed timeline planning within functions
• The need to improve meeting productivity and efficiency
  

In an effort to quickly mitigate these pain points and elevate team performance and moral, the senior leadership team approached the Finerty Consulting partners requesting a Master The Matrix session for its cross functional team members and leadership teams.  

This was an urgent and large-scale request: leadership wanted all 875 global team members and 20 global leaders to participate in and complete the customized session over the course of 12 consecutive weeks.

Approach

A collaborative approach between Finerty Consulting partners and the client was determined:

• A customized, 8-hour virtual workshop format that covered four MTM Essentials: Partnerships, Goal Alignment, Role Clarity and Decision Making

•  A blended-learning approach: eLearning coupled with a virtual (Zoom) delivery workshop

• Participants completed the eLearning modules during the virtual workshop for maximum understanding, active participation, and quality application.

• Virtual workshops were split into two, 4-hour sessions (Phase 1 and Phase 2):
  • Approximately 875 participants across the global Study Teams; 20 managers
  • 70 split-sessions: maximum of 25 participants per session across Phase 1 and Phase 2
  • Phasing: Participants attended Phase 2 two-three weeks after attending Phase 1
• Workshop facilitation and timing:
  • Master-the-Matrix certified facilitators delivered the 70 split sessions between April and June of 2022
• Client-sponsored project manager coordinated scheduling, communication, and team member assessment
  
  

Results

During the 12-week period, the Finerty Consultants worked closely with the leadership team to track team member participation and feedback. Highlights included:

• 800+ of the 875 team members and all 20 leaders were touched with the initial workshop experience in the 12 weeks. Four make-up sessions were added to accommodate those who could not attend.

• Participant appreciation for the split-sessions: team members had a better tolerance and appetite for (2) 4-hour sessions. Pacing the learning across two sessions supported retention, application, follow-up, learner enthusiasm and engagement

• eLearning completed during the session and with facilitator guidance helped to support smoothness of delivery, mitigate/address technical issues, and elevate participant confidence using the technology

• In-session team member interaction with content was strong. Word-of-mouth promotion among colleagues between the phased sessions cultivated a peer-led expectation for active participation in the program

• The Client reported significant levels of application of Matrix Mastery concepts back on the job.  The client particularly noted a matrix “vernacular” being actively used in meetings, among individual partners and within teams. The team’s ability to use similar terms to diagnose issues and describe expectations help neutralize and depersonalize.  This meant quicker shift to problem-solving and less impact on trust as issues arose.  There was a building of accountability among colleagues to shift the teams’ working norm to a matrix mindset and the common definition of matrix effectiveness made this possible.

As a result of these outcomes, the client eagerly promoted the Master the Matrix program to two other organizational groups affected by the transformation. Those sessions were requested and were approved. Similar in format and delivery, the Master the Matrix program was delivered to another 700+ team members and leaders throughout the US, Canada, EU and APAC.