Stay in Your Lane!

Have you ever been told to "stick to what you know" or "stay in your lane" when working with colleagues from other functions? To me this is a bit of a red flag for the team culture. Yes, we all have core roles to play and should be held accountable for those responsibilities. However, being resistant to questioning or input from functions runs the risk of doing the same as you've always done, rather than being open to new possibilities.

A different perspective is always valuable, discussion on why things are done a certain way gives opportunity for people to spot potential for improvements, large or small. Alternatively, the discussion reinforces why the current process/idea is a strong one and gets everyone on board with continuing down that path. With today's pace of technological change sticking to a process that has worked for the past 10 years, may not be the best way to achieve the end goal. Having the humility to learn from other areas of expertise is critical to innovation.

It is also true that linear careers are becoming the exception rather than the norm. Just as we don't know our colleagues home lives inside out, we may not know their professional lives in great detail either. So who's to say that the person from marketing didn't start out as an engineer, or the regulatory expert hasn't also got deep expertise in benchtop testing methods and therefore can bring valuable insights that may not fit their job description. A person's experience is not limited to their job title and when working as a cross-functional team, particularly in medtech product development, all contributions should be listened to carefully, as the product will pass through many hands before it reaches it's final destination of treating a patient.

In some ways this is where start-ups are at an advantage. The team knows that it's all on them. There are no lanes to stay in, just a course that needs to be completed as efficiently as possible. With guidance from a few marshalls (advisors) to help them stay on course they navigate the hurdles as they come and with luck, good judgment and a favourable wind they will get to market. So if you're in a larger organisation and someone tells you to "Stay in your lane" maybe remind them that is an appropriate instruction on the running track, but not in product development teams.

If you choose to work with Evistrat Consulting that is the working style you will experience. Open to challenge and curious enough to ask questions across all areas. The purpose being to ensure you get maximum value from any investment in clinical research so moving you closer to your end goals .

Get in touch if you'd like a curious team-player to join you on your medtech journey

info@evistratconsulting.com