ARA’s head of Programming and Data Standards, Carol Matthews, was recently awarded “Best Paper” in the Leadership Skills section at the 2022 PharmaSUG conference held in Austin, TX.
She presented her paper Empower Your Programmers: Get the Most from Your Programming Team. While her presentation focused on what empowerment looks like in practice with a programming team in the pharmaceutical industry, the key points can be applied in any situation where there are leaders who want to encourage their team to truly engage in the research process.
Paper Abstract
Experts agree that empowering your workforce can provide a path to increased productivity, higher quality, and greater employee retention.
While the concept of empowerment seems like an obviously good idea, too often leaders behave in ways that do just the opposite. It is important for leaders to understand what empowerment really means, how to foster an environment that promotes employee engagement, and how that can be translated into a happier, more competent, and more productive workforce. Particularly in the highly regulated technical world in which pharmaceutical programmers work, it can be challenging for leaders to trust that their staff will make effective decisions on their own.
We will discuss what it means to empower your programming staff and practical ways to do so while reducing risk and realizing the benefits to be gained.
