Aligning stakeholder perceptions

Understanding internal stakeholder perceptions of a global disease registry.

Background

Muddled perceptions of a platform’s value proposition.

A large biotechnology company was undertaking a multi-year initiative to position its global disease Registry for long-term success. In previous studies, they examined the attitudes of patients, providers, and caretakers towards the Registry. While collecting these external stakeholder perspectives, they encountered differing internal opinions as to the core value proposition of the platform. These differing opinions existed among those who had direct involvement with the Registry and those who had tangential influence on the function and outcomes of the Registry.

Challenge

How to increase stakeholder consensus and align priorities.

The Registry team understood that it was essential to align priorities and expectations of all stakeholders – internal and external – and so they enlisted the help of my team to further illuminate these differences. We were asked to examine how internal company stakeholders perceived the Registry’s purpose, goals, and performance, with the goal of equipping the Registry team with the knowledge needed to mitigate gaps, increase consensus, and inform future planning.

Approach

Harnessing the power of one-on-one interviews.

With the head of our Innovation Strategy team, I conducted 35 semi-structured, one-on-one interviews with internal business and medical stakeholders across the organization. We completed half of the interviews in person with US-based participants, and the other half remotely with participants across Asia, Europe, and South America.

The interview protocol was designed to address the client asks, and also to understand geographic variability, team alignment, performance measurement, and desired directions for future growth. The interview structure consisted of open-ended questions, a points allocation activity, and a fill-in-the-blank exercise. Following the interviews, I conducted a thorough analysis of participant response data, including transcription, summarization, coding, categorization, and detailed qualitative and quantitative analysis.

Solution

Defining a clear purpose and identity.

The research outcomes helped to bring clarity to how internal stakeholders at the company perceived the values of the Registry, the barometers they used to assess its performance in the market, and the tangible and aspirational goals held for the Registry. One of my most impactful contributions was the identification and illustration of fundamental pillars by which to understand the Registry’s complexity and points-of-value, and the simplification of how to communicate that value across a broad range of stakeholders with varying degrees of exposure to it.

The research culminated in a presentation of these findings and recommendations. This presentation helped to align the organization’s priorities and expectations for internal and external stakeholders and provided context for future opportunity definition. Our work led to a new business opportunity with the company, which ended in and a follow-on project to refine the branding and messaging of the Registry for all stakeholder audiences.