Session Notes: From Portfolio Logic to Team Reality: Why PPM Performance Breaks Down at Team Level — and What Leaders Can Do About It
Session: From Portfolio Logic to Team Reality: Why PPM Performance Breaks Down at Team Level — and What Leaders Can Do About It Event: PPM Summit Basel 2026
Recorded: 23 April 2026 at 13:10 Published: 23 April 2026 at 13:10 attendees-only
team-dynamicsstress-managementdecision-makingportfolio-executionleadershipvucanervous-systempolarity-managementhuman-factorsperformance-optimization
Executive Summary
Olga Apryshkina demonstrated why portfolio management fails at the team level despite perfect planning, showing how human nervous systems become dysregulated under VUCA conditions and create predictable breakdown patterns. She provided practical frameworks for managing team stress responses, decision-making paralysis, and false either-or thinking that plague high-stakes biotech programs. The session emphasized that portfolio performance depends as much on nervous system regulation as strategic logic.
Full Notes
The Human System Reality Behind Portfolio Breakdowns
Apryshkina opened with a fundamental insight that challenges traditional portfolio management thinking: while portfolio logic assumes rational behavior, human throughput is inherently nonlinear under pressure. Teams bring their full human complexity to work—emotions, insecurities, family traumas, and nervous system responses shaped by past experiences. When stakes get high, these systems activate in ways that impair cognitive function and collaborative capacity. She emphasized that teams operate in VUCA (volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous) conditions—a framework first named in 1985 that has exponentially intensified. While AI and technology evolve rapidly, human nervous systems cannot adapt at the same pace, creating a fundamental mismatch between portfolio expectations and human capability.
Five Predictable Breakdown Patterns in High-Pressure Teams
Through her coaching work, Apryshkina has identified five consistent patterns when teams become overloaded. First, decisions get refined endlessly rather than made, as nervous systems seek control and safety through perfectionism. Second, teams collapse into extremes, treating speed versus quality or risk versus compliance as mutually exclusive rather than tensions to be managed. Third, meetings multiply as teams mistake activity for progress. Fourth, escalations increase without clarity about thresholds or ownership. Finally, high performers compensate silently, taking on extra load to maintain system function while burning themselves out. She illustrated this with the performance-under-load curve, showing how teams move from comfort zones through optimal performance into fatigue, anxiety, and potential burnout.
Practical Interventions for Decision Paralysis and False Dilemmas
For decisions that get endlessly refined, Apryshkina advocates clear ownership assignment and abandoning consensus-seeking under pressure. Leaders must gather courage to make directional decisions after hearing all voices, accepting that teams may be dissatisfied. She introduced the RACI framework (Recommends, Agrees, performs, provides Inputs, Decides) to clarify roles when ownership is diffuse. For teams trapped in either-or thinking, she uses polarity management—mapping the upsides and downsides of each pole in the team's own language, then brainstorming integrated solutions. She shared an example where a team stuck between 'speed to Phase 3' versus 'more data' discovered they only needed three specific data points, enabling both rapid progress and confidence.
Nervous System Regulation as Performance Lever
The session's most actionable insight focused on regulation techniques. Breathing emerged as the fastest intervention—specifically exhaling longer than inhaling to activate the vagus nerve and shift from sympathetic (fight/flight) to parasympathetic (safe/collaborative) states. Apryshkina referenced Dr. Andrew Huberman's physiological sigh technique, which can restore decision-making capacity within three minutes. She emphasized co-regulation: when leaders show up regulated, their nervous system state influences the entire team through presence, voice tone, and energy. This creates a cascading effect where individual regulation becomes a team performance tool.
Implementation Strategy for Sustainable Change
Apryshkina provided three specific commitments for participants: name one decision currently being refined and assign ownership, identify one recurring polarity for integration discussion, and commit to one daily regulation practice. For sustainability, she recommended finding team advocates who enjoy these practices rather than trying to drive change alone, using rotation to gradually build capability across the team. She stressed that nervous system work requires slow, deliberate implementation rather than big-bang approaches, as teams need time to see value and integrate new patterns into their operating rhythm.
Key Decisions
- ✓ Abandon consensus-seeking for high-stakes decisions in favor of clear ownership
- ✓ Implement team reflection practices asking: what went well, what needs improvement, where is capacity reaching limits
Action Items
- → Session participants — Name one decision being refined and assign single decision owner open
- → Session participants — Identify one recurring polarity and facilitate integration discussion open
- → Session participants — Commit to one daily nervous system regulation practice open
Key Insights (19)
summary
Human throughput is nonlinear under pressure
Portfolio logic assumes rational behavior — but teams operate with emotions, insecurities, and nervous system responses that become unpredictable under high-stakes conditions
O Olga Apryshkina
team-dynamicsstress-managementportfolio-execution
summary
VUCA environment overloads decision-making capacity
Teams operate in volatile, uncertain, complex, ambiguous conditions — causing nervous systems to activate fight/flight responses that impair cognitive function and collaborative decision-making
O Olga Apryshkina
vucadecision-makingstress-management
summary
Five breakdown patterns emerge consistently
Teams show predictable failure modes — decisions get refined endlessly, collapse into false extremes, multiply meetings, increase escalations, and overload high performers
O Olga Apryshkina
team-dynamicsdecision-makingperformance-breakdown
summary
Polarity management resolves either-or thinking
Speed vs quality becomes speed AND quality — mapping upsides/downsides of competing priorities helps teams find integrated solutions instead of false trade-offs
O Olga Apryshkina
polarity-managementdecision-frameworksproblem-solving
key Insight
Nervous system regulation is portfolio performance lever
Co-regulation cascades through teams — when leaders manage their own stress and show up regulated, it directly impacts team decision-making capacity and throughput
O Olga Apryshkina
leadershipstress-managementteam-performance
key Insight
Decision ownership prevents refinement loops
Consensus-seeking kills momentum under pressure — leaders must assign clear decision owners and accept discomfort of making imperfect decisions to maintain forward progress
O Olga Apryshkina
decision-makingleadershipgovernance
key Insight
Threshold mapping prevents anxiety escalation
Team anxiety thresholds vary significantly — explicitly discussing what triggers escalation for each person helps calibrate appropriate response levels and prevents over-reactions
O Olga Apryshkina
anxiety-managementescalationteam-dynamics
key Insight
Breathing techniques restore cognitive capacity
Physiological sigh takes 3 minutes to restore decision capacity — exhaling longer than inhaling activates vagus nerve and shifts from sympathetic to parasympathetic state
O Olga Apryshkina
stress-managementcognitive-performancebreathing-techniques
action Item
Name one decision being refined and assign owner
Identify stalled decision → assign single decision owner while holding space for team discomfort and potential dissatisfaction with the choice
O Olga Apryshkina
decision-makingaccountability
action Item
Map one recurring polarity for integration
Choose either-or dilemma → facilitate team discussion mapping upsides/downsides of each pole to find both-and solutions
O Olga Apryshkina
polarity-managementproblem-solving
action Item
Commit to daily regulation practice
Choose one personal practice → implement consistent daily routine for nervous system regulation to improve leadership presence
O Olga Apryshkina
self-careleadershipstress-management
quote
Portfolio logic vs human reality
Portfolio logic really assumes that we are logical. However, the human throughput that we have is not logical. We have emotions. We have insecurities. We have beliefs that we came into this world with because of our family, because of our traumas.
O Olga Apryshkina
human-factorsportfolio-management
quote
Consensus paralysis under pressure
Asking for consensus is not reasonable when there's big stakes, when there's big decisions. As the leader you need to really gather all of your courage and say this is the direction that we're taking.
O Olga Apryshkina
leadershipdecision-making
quote
Tension as source of innovation
The teams that can hold the tensions, those opposing views operate really the best because the more you can hold the tension, the more you can pull out all of the diverse thinking. This is where your diamonds are made.
O Olga Apryshkina
innovationteam-dynamicstension-management
resource
RACI Framework for Decision Making
Maps who Recommends, Agrees, performs, provides Inputs, and Decides for each decision to prevent ownership diffusion and escalation loops
O Olga Apryshkina
decision-frameworksgovernance
resource
Polarity Management Framework
Technique for mapping upsides/downsides of competing priorities using team's own language, then brainstorming integrated solutions that combine multiple poles
O Olga Apryshkina
polarity-managementproblem-solvingframeworks
resource
Physiological Sigh Breathing Technique
Dr. Andrew Huberman's scientifically-proven method: exhale longer than inhale to activate vagus nerve and restore decision-making capacity within 3 minutes
O Olga Apryshkina
stress-managementbreathing-techniquescognitive-performance
resource
Performance Under Load Curve
Shows progression from boredom through comfort zone to optimal performance, then fatigue, anxiety, and potential burnout as stress load increases
O Olga Apryshkina
performance-managementstress-management
resource
Polyvagal Theory Application
Framework explaining autonomic nervous system responses: parasympathetic (safe, collaborative), sympathetic (fight/flight), and dorsal vagal (freeze/shutdown) states
O Olga Apryshkina
neurosciencestress-managementteam-dynamics
Full Transcript (click to expand)
Apr 23, 2026 From Portfolio Logic to Team Reality: Why PPM Performance Breaks Down at Team Level — and What Lead - Transcript 00:00:00 : It's kind of like in between, right? Human systems. What we're gonna do is actually all we're all gonna get up. Yes. Since we're human systems, right? And what we're gonna do is we're just going to stretch, guys. Whichever way you stretch. I'm not going to tell you which way you to stretch. Just stretch whatever way you stretch. You know, you can just do some because our human those breaks, right? To get up, seeing all of this, thinking all of the amazing scenarios, right? Like our brain so fast, but our body stagnates. So, this is why we're doing so. How does that feel, guys? Feel better. So during my discussion, you are allowed to get up and stretch at any point of time. I thought that you are regulating that. All right. So my name is Oka and I'm creating work within the portfolio environment a lot and I love you know and I pride that governance you know when everything just looks very perfect on paper or in the system right we love it. 00:01:19 : Yeah we got it. This this our team is so amazing. And then what happens is she has reality happens. Okay. Right. Reality happens. Start working through whatever was in our portfolio and then we get a phone call and phone call gets to who? To the team of course, right? Because it's the team who's working on this portfolio and designed it on paper or on a system. So the team is really in the center of all of us and our teams are overloaded. They are we have so many devices. We have so many systems. We have our kids, our parents, ourselves to think about our diet to think about. Right? So we as human beings bring all of that load with us to work right and even though we think like ah you know what we can do this we've been we've done it we have 40 50 years experience but still that low with time with our age increases and what we say in u in human systems right is that your actual nervous system gets bloated and I'll talk about nervous system in more detail but I'll do another little energy check is um raise your hand if you've ever seen or been in the team where very simple decision just kept on getting dragged on and it was supposed to be something very simple 00:03:04 : yeah I know I've seen I I say all the time actually I just came out of a workshop and Mark where we were trying to, you know, break that cycle. The next one, um, have you seen a team that treated speed versus quality or risk versus compliance like it should have been a single linear solution? Have you guys seen that? Let's do two hands up and let's stretch again. Okay, I've seen it, too. So um why am I here talking about it? Because actually so I've been in the team I've been in global portfolio and now what I do is I work with teams as a team effectiveness coach. So I really work more on the human level understanding what is really unseen here right because we're all great with putting things on paper following it through. Some of us are really even good with stakeholder management. And then what else do we need to do about this? Right. So portfolio logic really assumes that we are logical. However, the human throughput that we have is not logical. 00:04:26 : It's not. We have emotions. We have insecurities. Right? We have beliefs that we came into this world with because of our family, because of our traumas. So all of these shape how we face our reality. And when stakes get really, really high, our nervous system starts activating to that traumatic event. Right. Mhm. So if this is the middle cortex in stress situation you have only exactly exactly this is exactly what happens. Thank you. This was such an easy representation. So we start toorate from the frame and we'll talk a little bit more about that and please help me out as well. I'm not a neuroscientist but I hope to learn that. So if we if we have neuroscientists please just help me out right um I'm totally cool with sharing this here. So um we also operate in the vaua right and if you guys have not heard of hookah vaua is an amazing term that we can all work through and there's really good structure on how to look at this. 00:05:52 : So we are living in volatile, uncertain and very complex and ambiguous environment right now. And this was actually named first time guys in 1985. So this system was already there in 1985 and it just exponentially multiplied with everything that we have developed to make our lives easier. But a human system doesn't evolve as fast as AI does. We all know that right? So just to kind of translate it a little bit on what does it mean for you working with the team? So when things get volatile things change really really fast and whatever the plans you have set are already invalidated. So this is why the tool right that was just presented earlier is actually a good way because it can show you how fast you can accelerate based on what but our human mind cannot really adjust that quickly. So we do need the tools right to help us out. Then our environment is uncertain which means that when we make the decisions sometimes it's incomplete information and again our reptilian brain goes oh my god I want to control everything and I don't have enough of information right we've seen it complex means that interdependencies multiply more stakeholders to manage which is not the governance structure that have to go to a shock. 00:07:32 : Of course, different owner for different board, but still it's 20 boards. same information just presented to different stakeholders and you'll have to keep in mind many more variables because indeed we have expanded of how much we need to intake into our programs right and sometimes what happens is that we feel like we can keep it all in our heads but we can't it's just not possible so again this control right control and safety control and safety is constantly kicking in And ambiguity is cause and effect is not always clear. You can run predictions. You can run you know patterns. However, it's still you know gray area and we operate a lot in this gray area. Now in clinical development especially when we start to go into competition into life cycle management right it clearly shows up. So this is why we see that the human throughput is not linear under pressure and it cannot be we cannot expect that from us and now of course there's also hormones right so if we take care of ourselves and of our glucose and of our cortisol then maybe we're a little bit more stable but you know most of us just you know go okay you know what is there to eat oh maybe pizza okay let's have pizza right So again we are nonlinear we have our emotional states we have our hormones and instead we have look however there is a way to kind of take a look at this from a different point of view. 00:09:16 : This was a really interesting functional curve that was designed to showcase how we perform under load. So when we have no physical and mental activity, we are bored, right? And we've been there. We're like, oh my god, I need to learn something new. This is unstimulating. I'm so bored. Right? That you know there's a comfort zone. We're like, you know what? I've done this so many times. I just know how it's done and I'm going to remain in this comfort zone. It's actually very comfortable to be in a comfort zone. You don't want to get out of it because you're like this is self ice here, right? Your nervous system is a vague. You know, everybody knows that you're an expert in something. They all come to you. You feel good, right? So, this is all good. However, in order for us to grow, we need to, you know, ramp up a little bit our stress, right? 00:10:11 : Because we want to get to that creativity. We want to get to that progress. However, what happens is that in our world, we're all operating there and we're operating so much that we go past that threshold. So many of us here and many of our teams there, right, actually under positive thresholds. They're getting into this fatigue and exhaustion, right? And maybe it's not every day, but it's very often that we're like, you know what? I'm done with this. I just want to go home. I want to lay down. I want to watch my Netflix and just rest, right? Let the world be. Now, if you are there, if you're operating in that conditions for way too long, then you know, anxiety kicks in, the looping thoughts are there, right? And for prolonged periods of time, we're seeing that some people get into the burnout. And again, guys, you know, please take care of yourselves. Don't get yourself to get there. As soon as you're at the fatigue level, please take care of yourselves, right? 00:11:23 : Don't don't don't allow yourselves to get to the burnout. It's so hard to get out of it. I've seen it. It's it's really hard. So, this is one way to look at our nervous system, our emotions, and our stress load. So here's another way I just want to show you right that we are definitely humans we're non systems right so there is a polybugal theory that explains how our autonomic nervous system reacts under what conditions so when we are feeling safe we are in a parasympathetic mode and we have access to compassion active listening we can freely relate and engage with people. Then what happens because again of those past experiences and traumas, we had um you know particular events and we might have been activated in our nervous system into this parasympathetic mode where we either tried to fight or flight and I see it very often now when we get into the discussions about different opinions or different tensions. Right? This is where it rises. This is where you start seeing but this is my idea. 00:12:37 : My idea is the greatest. Right? So, and then you want to prove it. You want to fight for it because this is your idea. And another person who doesn't respond to this, they'll be like, well, just go have your idea. I'm going to go shut down or I'm going to, you know, leave the room because I don't want to discuss it with you under these circumstances. So we all operate differently because of our internal systems. And then of course if you stay in the fight orflight for too long some of us might get into this freeze zone where we just start procrastinating getting overwhelmed right and then as I mentioned then you could even shut down and collapse or burn. Any questions so far? I'm happy to pause here just to take any questions to the next. Okay, sounds good. So what happens in the team dynamics? This is what I see very often and this is where I come in a lot of times when our system is getting overloaded because the people nervous system is overloaded and we can assume this is the case right now almost with everyone we start seeing decisions getting refined and not made. 00:13:59 : So we're getting this decision drug. It keeps critique keeps on coming back, you know, with different solutions or maybe, you know, a little bit more word smmithing, but they're not really making a decision. Why? Because loaded by this time and nobody wants to take the blame, right? The next thing is teams collapse into extremes. Because as an example, you see that they need to they think they need to choose speed of safety or they need to choose risk takingaking for compliance. And we'll talk a little bit more about that. Then meetings multiply. We've seen it all. Right? Because what happens is that oh, if we meet more then we're doing something right. That's how it feels. Yeah. And then escalations increase without clarity. So this is also a symptom that we see quite often and high performers compensate silently. I'm sure you've seen all of that. So what do we do about that? Well, under the decisions getting refined when I work with the team that I see that this is the pattern first question I ask who's allowed to make the decision because there's always a leader there's always a stakeholder can make the decisions right and then the leader says oh but I really want consensus Right. 00:15:35 : And yeah, that sounds so nice, consensus. But is that reasonable? No guys, asking for consensus is not reasonable when there's big stakes, when there's big decisions. So a as the leader you need to you know really gather all of your courage and say you know this is the direction that we're taking after of course hearing all of the voices in the room hearing the pros the cons and saying okay this is the direction that we're taking and it might feel very uncomfortable but you're doing it because you are moving forward and you need to move forward you cannot keep on drogging on this decision even though the team might not like you. Yes. And I see that a lot of you are nodding, right? And you're starting to think about yourself as well. How do I show up to those meetings? Do I help those leaders to be courageous or do I, you know, add stress to their nervous system, right? And then we're going to talk a little bit more as well the vice versa, right? 00:16:46 : If the leader comes regulated, how much easier it is for you than to present all of the pros and cons and have that very nice candid discussion, right? There's another thing in case none of this works. The next thing I pull out because you know we just like frameworks is something which is called ramping framework for decision making. So then with the team we really map out who recommends who agrees, who then performs, who provides inputs and who then decides. Now, if the leader doesn't want to decide, as we all know, there's boards over there, right? So, we can take it to the boards if this is what's needed. But as we know, if we're senior leaders, if we are really want to make sure the decision stays at this level, okay, teams collapse into extremes. So I work a lot with the teams especially right now and you've seen a good example of acceleration right where people really need to accelerate because the competitive landscape is so intense people move fast right move fast so what happens a lot of times is they really start treating these things as extremes right that I need to accelerate but I also need my data because I need to feel safe and comfortable right because more data will give me more of that and I see this all the time guys. 00:18:17 : So what is it that you we have a framework which is called polarity management. You map out with this team which polarities are there seeing. So really name it and name it in the terms that works for this team not the one that you see somewhere else right because teams also have their own language right? So make sure you use their language. So once you mapped out it could be even three polarities right but I'll give you example it could be speed quality and budget right because that's usually comes up that's our triangle right you map out the upsides and the downsides of that scenario for each one and you say okay well now we've heard all of the voices right because all of the voices contributed to the upsides and downsides so you've heard everyone without saying oh you're wrong or you're wrong no we're mapping it out upsides downsides Right from there, you start having a discussion. Hey guys, now that we see the upsides and downsides of each, what could combine all of them into something that will look good for us as a first step, right? 00:19:26 : Just one simple step. So, we're going to bring all of this together and put one simple step. And trust me, this is the breakthrough time. The brainstorming starts goals. Oh, and we can do this and we can do that. Right? So, I'll give you an example. a team was treating that they need to slow down the phase three because they didn't have enough of data. Right? So the polarity was we need to go to phase three fast but we need more data. Right? So you go all right well let's map it out. So the way that they mapped it out okay more data what do we repeat? And then phase three how would phase three look like? and at which point are we going to look at we're going to go into next spring. So once they mapped it out, they realize, okay, you know what? We actually only need three data points, right? It's that easy. In your head, you feel like, oh my god, I need so much data. 00:20:22 : But at the end of it, it was only three data points and they were actually very easily accessible because you could run a biomarker data, you can look at the real world evidence or you can do some kind of modeling, right? So they've done that and then they said okay now that we see this we're going to decide by when the phase three can decision point can be made. So when they went to the board and they presented the board was like oh okay yeah all you need is this the phase three decision point is here they already preloaded you know the protocols the thoughts and so on they only were missing a few things so they actually accelerated right it could be that easy in our head it's so complex but that was that so just move from either or thinking into both and thinking how can I combine these and Really what I've noticed is the teams that can hold the tensions, those opposing views operate really the best because the more you can hold the tension, the more you can pull out all of the diverse thinking that's happening. 00:21:32 : And for me, this is where your diamonds are made, guys. You need to know that tension because this is where you can then turn your program into the diamond. Okay? greetings multiply and ownership diffuses. So this is where if this starts happening I really do ask okay what is your single credit ownership and who is the accountable per that decision and you know again it goes back to decisions keep on getting refined right but I as no but really in which line function does this belong to solution audit and I'll give you example safety event happens in your trial everybody jumps on Everybody, everybody feels like they're accountable and that's good. We should be all accountable. But who is the owner, one owner to really bring all of this together, right? Make sure that all of the team members come to your meetings, bring the solutions, make sure you go to the right board to get the right information, right? Make sure you then go and execute. And in between at least we in Novartis we have safety lead and we have a medic lead right and then this is where the tension starts as well right the safety says no this is my role the medic says no this is my role so say guys you decide that I need one or you can interchange you know today today isn't for this particular issue it could be the safety beat but in case there will be another safety issue it could be the medical right but have that discussion so they 00:23:12 : know Everybody knows who to go to. Then escalations increase without clarity. This is where I know you guys definitely have your escalation risk tracker. You have your risk management. But what about the thresholds? Have you actually talked about the thresholds? Because the thresholds also show you that the nervous system anxiety. So who wants more control, right? who needs more data and what kind of anxiety is coming out from the human beings in your team because everyone has a different anxiety threshold. And if you put that threshold and actually have that discussion with the team, it will help you out a lot. And in BUA environment, these escalations happen very often because uncertainty is so high and anxious is so high that you're like, "Oh yeah, you know what? I'm just going to go to my senior stakeholders and they will, you know, decide for me. Okay, so take a look at that. Be be very mindful. And we have, of course, some high performers who really build the capacity already to operate in. They know how to hold tensions and they don't care about being left. 00:24:27 : We have those people. So what happens is that they silently start taking ... [transcript truncated]