PP07-53: An Emergent Behavioral Capability Model to Enable Transformation

Poster Presenter

Sameen Desai

Executive Director, IT Worldwide Patient Safety
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
United States

Objectives

This research project was undertaken to: a) understand key behaviors that lead to an environment where innovation can occur and be sustained, despite the presence of uncertainty and b) create a behavioral capability model to enable organizations undergoing transformation.

Method

We conducted qualitative research using the Chrysalis Innovation program within our pharmacovigilance department as the case study. This involved: literature analysis, interviews, data analysis, and framework development.

Results

The literature analysis examined complexity driven business environments and the relationship between fixed and emergent strategy; innovation driving activities and contexts; intrapreneurial behavior; cognitive and social information processing, including sensemaking. Interviews with 20 Senior Management and Innovation team members were semi-structured and evaluated our project’s strategic business environment. A range of cognitive and behavioral factors in managing through unfamiliar, uncertain and complex environments to achieve favorable outcomes and learning were identified [1]. Through this, five factors which impact project success were identified to make up the Enterprise Activation Framework (EAF) as follows: 1) Leading Psychological Safety 2) Holding Effective Dialogue 3) Practice Contagion and Networked Knowledge 4) Interpersonal Relationships 5) The Human Experience. The EAF includes a series of questions for each of these factors which can be used to assess, influence and enable individual and team behaviors to positively impact project success. This framework can also be used to inform and organization’s change management strategy and approach.

Conclusion

PV has traditionally seen relatively little change compared to other functions and industries in recent years. In 2016, our organization initiated Chrysalis – a strategic PV Innovation program to transform the practice of PV from a traditional volume-based model to a value-based model. The newly formed team dedicated to this program found themselves operating in an uncertain environment, embarking on a radical journey that crossed both organizational and experiential boundaries. Despite this context, the program has led to the development of new capabilities, delivered multiple successful automation projects, and has spread the innovation mindset among a broader subset of PV professionals 2. This qualitative research involving analysis of the Chrysalis case study enabled our development of the EAF which we believe can be used to prepare for and enable transformational initiatives in any professional domain.