67 | Empathy as a key driver of business success with Pritesh Shah

Building Better Cultures

In this episode of the Building Better Cultures podcast, Scott welcomes Pritesh Shah, Chief Commercial Officer at the oncology company Novocure. When it comes to the bio-science space, Novocure leads the way with an emphasis on empathy – not just for patients confronting cancer but also for employees tasked with driving breakthrough science. Pritesh explains how Novocure’s workplace emphasis on employee engagement and strong internal connection are critical components to its workplace ethic and overall corporate vision.

With its patient-forward focus, Novocure offers a new treatment modality featuring Tumor Treating Fields, a proprietary therapy that disrupts cell division in cancer tumors. In addition to empathy, purpose and vision are two other key pillars within the company’s business model. Pritesh shares with Scott the ways in which healthy and vital workplace communication enables employees to be most effective in serving patients confronting life-altering health challenges.

For a workplace environment heavily dependent on sensitive personal interactions, Covid-19 lockdown initially handed Novocure some daunting challenges. Spontaneous brainstorming and creative problem-solving were core components of their workplace culture and adapting to a Zoom world required intentional efforts to keep everyone engaged. Corporate leaders like Pritesh have had to reconsider what worked and didn’t within the virtual context and what the post-pandemic era’s hybrid workplaces will need in order to thrive. Whether in bio-sciences or any other sector, going forward the most successful workplaces will require openness, intentionality, adaptability and a clear commitment to communication from leadership throughout the enterprise.

Key Takeaways:

• Scott offers a big thanks for last month’s record number of downloads and ongoing social media support.

• A bit about the podcast’s new sponsor, Workvivo, an internal communications platform connecting people to their organizations all around the world. Learn more about Workvivo

• The podcast opens with some background about Novocure, an online platform whose mission is to help patients by providing critical, cutting-edge information.
• Pritesh’s academic and professional background as a pharmacist provide a unique perspective on the science as well as ability to communicate critical life sciences information.
• Novocure is an investigational device that leverages physics to fight cancer with an alternative approach that deploys electrical Tumor Treating Fields to disrupt cell division.
• The company’s cultural orientation is 100% patient-forward at every juncture along individual cancer journeys.
• Empathy as a front-and-center core value at Novocure and how it shows up in the company’s day-to-day interactions with clients and co-workers alike.
• How Covid-19 isolated people from one another and challenged Novocure’s ethic of empathy. (Short answer: Creative leadership was key.)
• Measures Novocure encouraged to ensure empathy internally despite the pandemic’s impact and limitations on face-to-face contact:
• • Carve out time to create a space (such as virtual “coffee hours”) for individuals to connect without a business agenda.
  • Connect on a peer level by staying open and organically sharing personal experiences and information (about pastimes or coping strategies or favorite digital media sites, for example).
  • Using audio rather than video as a different avenue to cultivate deeper connection and focused communication.
• Innovation as central to Novocure’s leadership objective and cultural value set.
• Limited options and other constraints (such as an inability to communicate face to face) can sometimes yield more tangible results than wide-open playing fields.
• Workplace cultures that sanction “failure” foster out-of-the-box ideas and innovation.
• Internal communications and a culture of psychological trust are critical to nurturing long-term organizational growth.
• Debrief sessions and what they reveal through surveys, qualitative interviews, summary booklets and sharing sessions across different groups and internal functions.
• Internal communications are critical to cultivating knowledge sharing and employee engagement.
• Looking ahead: The future model for organizations based on research coming out versus reality on the ground.
• Novocure places a high priority on productivity – both in terms of work product and ways in which employees engage internally and communicate to stakeholders outside the organization.
• The importance of defining new parameters for the flexible workplace and establishing the best fit for any given situation.
• • Working virtually can increase focus, decrease stress and commute time.
  • Valuable problem-solving and bonding that occur with spontaneous, unscheduled conversation are not to be underestimated.
• Thoughts on leadership in the context of distributed work environments – the skills, ability and time to manage. Key aspects to consider:
• • Well-defined vision and purpose as powerful drivers of employee engagement and motivation.
  • Creating a space for all team members within the constraints of hybrid platforms that are neither all-virtual nor all-live.
  • Ensuring frequent, high-quality connections and internal communication among leadership, teams and individual employees.
• When it comes to the workplace, the post-pandemic future will be iterative and individualized based on leadership and overall corporate cultural values.

More information about Pritesh and Novocure is available at:

www.novocure.com or @Pritesh Shah on LinkedIn

Learn more about Scott McInnes, founder and director of Inspiring Change, by clicking here.

To discover Workvivo, a workplace communication platform that offers seamless digital integration, please click here..