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The Power of Silence

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The Power of Silence

When Medical/Legal Review shreds your creative work to pieces and you’re left to pick up the remains, thank them. They might be on to something.

Elements OMITTED from market access projects are as much a part of a project as those included.

In graphic arts, this is called “negative space.”

Hokusai
“Under the Wave off Kanagawa” by Hokusai (c. 1830-1832): turn this picture upside down to see the other wave of negative space…nature’s yin and yang.

Silence has power because it creates space for forward motion.

Simply provide enough details so as not to confuse or bore the customers.

What do you want your customers to do? What do they need to know/be reminded of in order to do that? What do they need to tell their managers and colleagues in order to get the job done?

Allow them fill in the negative space.

Did You Take The Vaccine? I Did.

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Did You Take The Vaccine? I Did.

When opportunity knocks at the door, how shameful would it be to not answer?

COVID-19 vaccines are our golden opportunity at overcoming this deadly pandemic. If we want it to work, virtually ALL of us need to take it virtually NOW.

Despite this, Kaiser Family Foundation’s research suggests that 1 in 5 adult Americans will definitely not take the vaccine or only take it if required.

Side effects are the top concern among those that are hesitant.

At the next meeting, when the opportunity arises, ask your colleagues: “Did you take the vaccine? I did.” Spread the optimism.

Since you’re still reading this (thank you!): did YOU take the vaccine? I did!

Creating Forward Motion

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Creating Forward Motion

We all know a good story when we see one, but professionals know how to create it.

Author of the bestseller DataStory, Nancy Duarte, brilliantly lays out the structure of a story in 3 simple acts:

>> ACT 1 (beginning): there is a problem or opportunity identified in the data

>> ACT 2 (middle): it’s messy to proceed because the data presents problems and/or opportunities

>> ACT 3 (end): the product/recommendation addresses the problem at its roots, creating a solution with positive outcomes

I can see the science behind why this works: tension and release creates forward motion.

The vast majority of market access projects involve just a single round of tension and release.

For longer projects, it’s a matter of the same motion done repetitively: tension>> release>> tension>> release>> tension>> release….

Not Yet

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Not Yet

“No.”

This one-word feedback from the Client became the kiss of death for one market access professional as he broke down in shame. He was scrambling to cover up for his proposal, until his colleague came along.

His colleague, on the other hand, took the feedback as “no, not YET,” and started thinking of other ways that might make more sense.

Same feedback taken differently by different people.

The universe is a reflection of ourselves.

The Surprising Power of Good-Finding

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The Surprising Power of Good-Finding

Market Access is a team sport.

It’s up to the TEAM MEMBERS to take the ball to the goal post.

It’s up to the TEAM MEMBERS to create such a project that brings in revenue.

Soccer players get it, why don’t we?

When someone is caught doing something good, it moves the heart in a way that Herman Miller’s (even the gold-coated ones) and Armani’s can’t.

At the next meeting, catch someone doing something good. Make it known to them. Right there on the call, privately in a 1:1 text or phone call, or whatever other way that makes sense.

Notice how the conversations pivot. Notice whose spark is lit (good-finding nourishes BOTH of us).

Good-finding doesn’t just help transform laggards into winners. It helps transform winners into ultra-winners.

Giving Meaning to Data Can Save Lives

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Giving Meaning to Data Can Save Lives

>>The risk difference for erectile dysfunction among the watchful waiting cohort compared to the radical prostatectomy cohort was 0.50 (P < 0.001).

>>There were 50 additional cases of erectile dysfunction per 100 patients in the watchful waiting cohort compared to the radical prostatectomy cohort. This was statistically significant.

Both of these sentences mean the same thing, but which one actually makes sense?

Taking time to make sense of data is an investment that pays off in dividends. It can even save lives.

How can decision-makers take action if they can’t even figure out what they’re looking at?

Context creates meaning.

Garbage In, Garbage Out

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Garbage In, Garbage Out

When thoughtfully polished directions landed in the hands of a stressed out colleague, his stress rubbed off on the project, bringing everyone else down with him. With the deadline approaching and the project riddled with mistakes, the team was in utter chaos and busy shifting blame to protect their own jobs. Millions were lost in revenue from dropping the ball on this project.

Remember that first fallen domino? Had anyone cared to ask that colleague why he was stressed? What signal did he send out that suggested something might be wrong? This was an all-star professional. Recently, however, he was busy taking his dying aunt to appointments for chemotherapy.

Somehow, we’ve come to believe that we work with robots. The reality is far from that.

I used to have a poster at my desk which looked something like this:

What a wonderful reminder! The only thing I would change about this poster is elevate “Respect” to “REVERE.”

I don’t believe this is a cop-out. I believe it’s the truth. All humans deserve reverence (ESPECIALLY if they’re not all-star professionals). We thrive when we heed the truth, but break when we don’t. 

The first domino wasn’t the stressed-out colleague. The first domino was lack of sensitivity to the sonder of another human being. If someone had sensed trouble, they would’ve done something differently.

Everyday I make a point to flex my empathy muscle to make it stronger. Work offers so many opportunities to practice, I just need to remember to do it–hence the poster as a reminder.

Student of Life

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Student of Life

19 years (!) of school succeeded in making me want to hide, even though knowledge is supposed to have quite the opposite effect.

Since about 2 months ago, I’ve felt an unquenchable thirst for knowledge. Now I’m EAGER to learn more. Curiosity opens up a universe of possibilities. All day long I’m connecting dots. There is so much to learn!

Stanley Kubrick, a renowned American film director, said “Observation is a dying art.”

Socrates, the father of Western philosophy said, “The only thing I know is that I know nothing.”

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, says that leaders must shift from a “know it all” to “learn it all” mindset.

The Vedic scriptures say, “Om aa no bhadraah”: let noble thoughts come to me from all directions.

Doctors and lawyers are highly educated professionals, but still use the0 word “practice” for their professions, indicating they always have something to learn or sharpen. 

A Place for Everything, Everything in Its Place

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A Place for Everything, Everything in Its Place

If it can’t be found when I need it, it might as well not exist.

This applies to files, meeting notes, emails, and everything else.

I’ve been told by my colleagues that I should’ve been a lawyer because I can unearth a previous conversation along with the time stamp within seconds (even if it happened years ago). I actually have terrible memory, so it must be my organization skills.

This is how I organize my project work. Within any given project folder, I have 5 sub-folders. That’s it.

>>Archive 

>>Background Materials

>>Client Feedback

>>Meeting Notes

>>References

Aside from the active file for the project, everything else lives in one of these 5 sub-folders.

After setting up the organization system, DISCIPLINE is required to maintain it. Just like cars, a healthy body, and relationships: if I demand it to work for me, it demands me to work for it, too.

What I Want Is Not What They Want. What They Want Is Not What I Want

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What I Want Is Not What They Want. What They Want Is Not What I Want

When putting our creative work through medical/legal review, it can quickly feel like the reviewers are on a mission to get at market access professionals.

The reality is, both entities are hands of the same body. When market access professionals approach reviewers with harmony, we can clap together.

The only way to engage with someone is to begin where they are, to see what they see, to gain enrollment in a conversation that leads to forward motion. It’s only by seeking sonder we can start the process of enrollment. And that’s almost never done with a spreadsheet.

What would the review session look like if we went in with such an outlook? How much better would our creative work be in the end?

Krishna Patel, PharmD
Market Access Strategy and Execution Consultant
info@sojusllc.com
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