Session Notes: Alliances with Decision Rights: Making Partnerships Move at the Speed of Risk

Apr 23, 2026
Alliances with Decision Rights: Making Partnerships Move at the Speed of Risk - Transcript
00:00:00
 
 : hand over to Crystal. Will I have? Yeah. So great pleasure to talk today about uh how we bring especially how we what we have to consider as a student to the area when we bring alliances and partnerships And we're going to review that um from three different levels. The first one is decision clarity and governance. Then we'll discuss a bit about people engage before moving to how to translate strategy into something executed especially with risk based pricing. So let's first start to define and start with a clarity point. So question first one is delin. Um so you're from the R&D side right um innovation side so what are the criteria think that when we start so in a first step we need to know if it's a strategic fit and if there's business impact um and then the second piece is of course scientific rigor um I just want to go back to the business impact piece because for whoever is working in R&D organization we know that people are very much technical technically driven and often forget about that business impact aspect.
 
 
00:01:54
 
 : From a CDMO perspective, it's also especially hard to actually measure it and put like an NPV value on it and we actually recently started doing that a bit more for some of our programs. Thank you very much. Now moving to the implementation and this a question maybe to Pa is what are the decision and needs that you have when you consider the implementation of a new technology? I think um we need to first understand we have the right capabilities right and before bringing any new technologies we need to understand the environment that we are in and is it fitting a right fit for the new innovation so it goes hand in hand with respect to the capabilities that we have to know how can we align these two needs together maybe bringing some more structure and this is more towards Sebastian so your your strategic thought partner So wondering how you translate high leveling strategy into a real decision map especially real time that people can use especially when they are under pressure and if you have some example that that would be great to to to explain us how it was important.
 
 
00:03:03
 
 : So so I probably would start with a classical breakdown. So far that worked pretty well. So basically you take the project from program objectives and outcomes it breaks it down. you know what individual deliverables then you put it basically in a sequence and develop your road map and from that you us can derive import decision points especially the ones that will involve governance right and then probably you work from there so basically so I call it reverse engineering right basically you have your decision so what do I need to know in order to come to that decision then basically build that backward also in time that should actually pretty reliably you also identify conflicts in terms of time. something that's there as well. I mean basically with examples probably I could take there than basically every project that I worked on maybe one where I worked with a partner and we actually develop the diagnostics for that specific company then basically I mean two days leads right so basically paid got paid basically we had to restructure our decision processing to them and then also reacting acceleration or whatever.
 
 
00:04:24
 
 : So that is something that we get to build in and maybe you're this is decision map is a tool right and we know that sometimes the tools are staying in the slide decks right how do you make sure that these decision maps are understood by everyone team and and also visible thank you so very often it's easy to just create the map create the table and share share it with the team share the link can here it is and you can look at it. Um that's often not not going to work um if the team has not worked together previously. So for new partnerships cross functionally or just across organizations um it's very important if the teams already know each other. If you don't know each other often um what we have seen really benefiting teams is having a step for kind of co-creation. Okay, you don't have the full liberty. So you don't come from scratch to the discussion. You have a pre-esigned race or whatever it is. But you allow the team, the individual descriptions and the responsible leads to um verbalize and articulate.
 
 
00:05:40
 
 : Is that um resonating with them? Is that clear? You know, is there any definition missing? Do they need more context to understand why the accountability is placed on this person and not on the other? So making sure that there is discussion without that discussion um you can just flag it um share it up for a few minutes in your kov meeting it's not going to make a huge change because it's not going to um integrate it into their mental mind mind map. So they need to really engage and have a little bit more reaction time. So that has been key for for our teams. Thank you very much. Let's move now to the to the second part which is about people engagement. People think about right tools and right governance in place the people are not behind the project much that happening. So question to you there what are the crucial steps if you think about people engagement that you that you are considering in your role when thinking about bringing a new technology and and make it operating right.
 
 
00:06:41
 
 : Yeah. So some of the changes that happen so basically R&D and operations are very separate teams very different mindsets one is really customerf facing really has to deliver in R&D have a bit more freedom and flexibility so there's super cultural challenge already but what we have basically a g a team that is called the gipto team which basically connects R&D with operations so whatever we do in the portfolio of innovation they really have a seat at the table very early on stage um because you know we have P then we basically have development within R&D so they have all the information about how things evolve and basically really can voice up if they think you know this is not bringing value to them um so then when when we move into the testing phase you know they are already aware of that project so that's when the official handover happens but we just really have to be early enough that they uh you know that we don't surprise them and say oh yeah we have this for testing phase is just do it. That's yeah really not working.
 
 
00:07:44
 
 : So the GI Joe team is very important to build that bridge. That's an additional question. But is that team taking care about the needs of the user that we use? Yes. So basically responsible it's a global function. It's a group of functions that is basically focused on across sites in the past. You know, every site has a certain culture, ways of working. So, they are really there to streamline things as we move about engagement question. So, you're leading a team of uh of project leaders when there's a change like this, new technology, new innovation, how do you make sure that they are engaged behind it, them and also the customers? This goes well as we talked in the previous panel s se session regarding the change management and the best thing to start with why and how it creates a business impact. So whenever any new technology comes up we are creating together with that benefit and to see there is really so yes it's a challenge in the beginning if we break anything and we said it's a resistance that comes in the beginning but we do have a ways to to bring the things or the teams together on a common goal that benefits for an organization brings Do you have um an example how how you set the positive goal or it's something that you share with the team?
 
 
00:09:24
 
 : Yeah, so um it's driven through a strategy on the innovation when the top down goals are set right into goals and it comes to the questions what are the needs of the team and then those needs and maybe We talk about engagement. Engagement of people requires strong communications and maybe this is a question about is there any good habits that you can have in communications of that are extremely efficient in in what does that require? Thank you. So I think the key for effective communication I would break it down to to two points. Um one is if you have the best team especially you're going to need a combination. there's not one single approach that's going to work. Um, and then the other thing to remember, sometimes we do forget that communication is a two-way street. If it's not a two-way street, it's not really taking you anywhere. Um, you need to ensure responsiveness. And so there to the to the point I was talking before um what I try to do in in all the projects where I'm leaning in from from the portfolio level is making sure we combine forums and different communication systems so that there can be a level of responsiveness from everyone in the team and from project management level.
 
 
00:10:53
 
 : is basically um it was mentioned earlier you need to make sure every voice is heard. Sometimes people is silent and that can lead to problems being surfaced later than they should have been. So you need to make sure and in terms of some of the combinations of approaches for example something that really works um with the teams I've tried is drawing sessions. Sometimes people uh find that having a little bit of a more informal uh forum allows them to speak up and in these drop in sessions they can just question okay this other team that I'm not part of is working on this activity if they have a problem is that going to affect me why do I have to be part of these meetings when we are discussing challenges that this other team is facing um and you know in large organizations you teams that sometimes don't know each other at all. Um and the priorities, functional priorities been discussed earlier. So this kind of format um sometimes just push communications, emails, messages don't work and if you are in this environment as as I am, most of you might be as well.
 
 
00:12:08
 
 : Colleagues are spread around the world. You can't just walk up to somebody and ask them did you understand that? Was that clear? Do you have any concerns? So you need to potentiate every aspect that kind of virtual connectivity can offer. So that's a little bit of the tip adapting to teams and making sure that you can get the response otherwise there's no commitment. You're not going to be able to get effective commitment. Yeah. Thank you very much answer. Now you have a great idea a great technology you have the people who are engaged. So to you Delin, what what are the main risks that you see um in implementing this new innovations? Yeah, I think very often with innovators, they don't have a realistic ideal workers. So very often they're still trying to figure out how to basically make money. So very early on it's important that we align the business models. And you know to give a concrete example um if an innovator says okay you know this is how it would work basically your customer could come to us let's say for vector construction then we do that part and then we basically bring it back to you but what they don't understand is that our customers are very riskaverse once they are at a certain stage they want things you know sell line development has to go very quickly so timelines are
 
 
00:13:28
 
 : under huge pressure um so this is just basically not what works right because at our company we work with platform technologies where we have certain proof that is very validated already. Um so I would see that as let's say something that you can derisk very early on. Um thank you. Yeah. So talking about risk that's there that's always interesting to bring some structures and milestones and um moving to milestone asking Sebastian what is a good milestone looking like? Well, I think let's say the decision is clear, right? So, so either you stop, you progress or you redo, right? Those are the three options that you have and it should be clear and in the best case it's clear before you go into the milestone meeting. So basically everybody is aligned. uh there's basically no nasty surprise that comes up and um yeah it's derisked yeah to the most and as I said actually everything should be side already before maybe can you elaborate on how to make sure or at least increase the chance that the milestone is is really relating to a reduction of the risk of execution rather than just being an administrative timeline on Tbox.
 
 
00:14:48
 
 : Yeah. So, so I'm from so it's a large company. So basically we have certain company basically risk levers. I'm sure in all companies you have that too. So ours are for instance basically regulatory probability of success, clinical probability of success and cooperility of launch and usually there there like sub levers that you can pull for instance I mean classic example in order to increase the regulatory to decrease the regulatory risk you for instance can narrow the patient population right that usually helps you and then but I think before it's maybe also to get a sense of how risk averse decision makers are right so it can personality or also that can be the flavor of the day what the company currently is undergoing right so I think there's also something where you have to measure right and to balance but I think also I mean you talked about that right we should all be clear that we put the patient first and we are basically trying to get that for the patient just the company has to rebalance their priorities right and me as a team of course sometimes I'm trying they all complain about governance and whatever, right?
 
 
00:15:59
 
 : But they have to make the decision to use the company's resources in the most sensible way for patients all over the world. So I think also that understanding and then accepting decisions I think is also important and that should also then help the team to go over a decision that is maybe not necessarily in their favor. Maybe to Pana can you elaborate on how you structure your milestone especially with the customers? Um when it comes to a milestone we we define a stage gate approach here and we discuss with customer is it is it okay to move to the next stage. So that's the basic approach but um uh let me also elaborate bit more on the risk and issues. So what we do is a kind of a proactive management of of the risk to see um in the program in that particular stage what are the risks that we we can have it and early on hand raising will help in preventing uh and making help in preventing those and also uh doing something about it. Often we have seen that um um we don't think too much about it.
 
 
00:17:07
 
 : we we we go up to the near to the milestone and raise it and then we really cannot achieve our desired timeline. So this affects the timeline. So we really do proactive risk management and risk and issue management and also follow a stagegate approach to as as me mention start stop continue and and this goes with with alignment with customers and yeah this makes our customer also fully aligned with us on how we are progressing how our timelines are aligned and how we are delivering to them. Thank you very much. Um and maybe we are coming to end of the panel discussion but if you have one advice to give on on implementing what are key success factors that you've been finding in implementing a new technology or innovation your company what would that be we can have around? Yeah, I think from our side just to make sure that operations is really aligned um and have it on paper. So my my two cents would be make sure you prepare the key really well based on what are the objectives of the project.
 
 
00:18:25
 
 : There's not a single recipe. So depending on the collaboration that's needed, you may need to structure your kick off differently. So again have pre sessions if needed to to make sure everybody can really really engage with what is being proposed forward and make sure the communication plan is really something that's the problem for the team. Um so I would say either basically you just work within your company or the partner. I think he is a clear description and definition of roles and responsibilities and the raci a clear and good escalation structure. So for instance I think it was helpful if you work with somebody basically you have your team there's their team then we have a joint team then you have steel core and then we have spawners. I think that basically should should cover everything and it's really to be well defined otherwise you will be in a mess. It's just a question of time. I think um for me perspective it's just not about aligning with the operations but but it's also aligned with the supply chain it also align with other stakeholders because it's it's really important that whenever we do any new innovations we should think about um sustainability that can we do it longer can we we are investing so much but it is sustainably uh with operational feasibility with all our financials with all our supply chains is Is it really sustainable going to be longer?
 
 
00:19:55
 
 : So we do invest in new technologies but thinking holistic approach not just only aligning with operations but take into consideration um all aspects of an organization. I think that's a good summary. So clarity preparation work that needs to be clear understood by everybody and engagement if I summarize it very well. Thank you very much for uh what you you brought to the discussion and we can open for questions if there's any. Thanks so much. Um I' I'd like to offer an alternative or perhaps complimentary uh answer which I'd like you to kind of reflect on um to the great question which what makes a a good milestone. You talked about you know the best ones are the ones that drisk and from a venture capital perspective they would normally be called one of the key uh value inflection points. that's how they consider those but it's a similar principle and I was thinking back to my talk yesterday aren't we just talking about value of information so a point at which you get um some information that has the biggest value impact on uh based on the decisions you would take based on that information something to think about I mean just for clarification I mean what information do you mean like like project data like clinical data or is that like information that you get?
 
 
00:21:44
 
 : Something you learn along the way and in the process of learning that how that would influence your decisions and the impact on the uh project value. So it the most of the ones the most value uh value of information milestones tend to be like phase 2A data for example. Those are the the the usually the biggest ones. Um but in earlier in development it could be preclinical animal efficacy data. um you know and and there are many other points where you gather data and learning but it could be operational learning as well depending on the project. Yeah. Um definitely. So the point is with pharma you often have to basically before you make the decision on the data you basically have to define criteria before you actually know the data right and then you have to stick to it. So that maybe limits it a little bit but of course if you have let's say stellar data or something like this yes I think that is taken into the decision cycle but may contribute um just a little slightly different perspective from the medical affairs so um where I'm focusing on more of this transformation and eviction of how medical affairs operates um we are really introducing not a milestone definition can be quite static but we are really starting to introduce iterative approaches.
 
 
00:23:08
 
 : So it's not so much only water infrastructure anymore. Um isn't it isn't pure agile. It's super difficult in pharma. You can't do that. But um in terms of ob

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