#018: From Disengaged to Dynamic

Reigniting Your Pharma Team's Spark

At any given moment, 20% of your team are disengaged and more are less engaged than they could be.

Now, engagement always wavers and home life and different things affect that - so 100% full engagement is not a realistic aim. BUT there is lots we can do, and sometimes you need to understand where the behaviour is coming from before you challenge it.

Welcome to this week's issue - How can you transform a quietly disengaged team into passionate advocates? I've included my breakthrough approach for detecting and reversing the "quiet quitting" phenomenon that's silently eroding pharma teams across the industry.

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When High-Performers Become High-Pretenders

A while back, we facilitated a leadership workshop with a global medical affairs team in Frankfurt.

The metrics looked solid. Milestones were being hit. Yet something felt profoundly off beneath the surface.

During coffee breaks, the Regional Medical Director confided: "Something's changed. My previously passionate team is just... going through the motions. They're present but not really here."

As we dug deeper, the pattern became clear: a textbook case of what I call "high-functioning disengagement" – a particularly insidious variant of quiet quitting that's sweeping through pharma's specialist functions.

In research environments where precision and compliance demand meticulous adherence to protocols, disengagement doesn't always manifest as obvious rebellion. Instead, it surfaces as diminished innovation, risk avoidance, and the slow death of intellectual curiosity.

This Medical Director was facing what Gallup research confirms is happening industry-wide: only 34% of knowledge workers are actively engaged, while an alarming 16% are actively disengaged – nearly the worst ratio in a decade.

Power Moves to Reignite Your Disengaged Pharma Talent

The Personal Connection Protocol:

• "I've noticed a shift in our team's energy, and I'm genuinely curious what's behind it"

• "Your scientific perspective is uniquely valuable - how can we better leverage your expertise?"

• "Before we discuss the project, how are you actually experiencing your role right now?"

Creating Radical Psychological Safety:

• "It's not like you to be negative in a meeting - what's up?"

• "If you could redesign our approach to this challenge, what would you change?"

• "What have you stopped mentioning in meetings because it didn't seem welcome?"

The Re-Engagement Framework:

• "What project would reconnect you with the purpose that brought you to pharma?"

• "What's one meaningful change that would make tomorrow more energising than yesterday?"

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Resource of the week: The Autonomy-Connection Matrix

After assessing your team's engagement, plot each member on this critical matrix:

• High Autonomy/Low Connection = Isolated Contributors (who feel disconnected from purpose)

• Low Autonomy/High Connection = Constrained Talent (who feel micromanaged despite caring deeply)

• Low Autonomy/Low Connection = Flight Risks (who are already mentally drafting their resignation)

• High Autonomy/High Connection = Peak Performers (who thrive on meaningful freedom)

Your re-engagement strategy should systematically move each team member toward that optimal quadrant, recognising that different individuals require different interventions.

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Your Engagement Revolution Challenge

In your next team interaction:

• Replace one status update with a purpose-driven discussion

• Ask what meaningful work is being blocked by bureaucracy

• Create space for scientific curiosity beyond immediate deliverables

• Watch discretionary effort naturally emerge

Remember: In pharmaceutical leadership, your ability to detect and reverse disengagement can be the difference between an innovative breakthrough and a stagnant pipeline.

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Workplace Wellbeing: The Hidden Cost of Autopilot Performance

The financial impact of disengagement in pharma is staggering: our research with cross-functional teams shows each disengaged employee costs approximately £290,000 annually in reduced innovation, slower decision-making, and diminished collaboration quality. Yet the human cost is even more profound.

When scientifically brilliant minds operate on autopilot, the true casualty isn't productivity metrics – it's purpose. Pharma professionals don't enter this industry for comfortable mediocrity; they come to transform patient lives through scientific advancement.

Leaders who recognise engagement as a vital sign rather than a performance luxury create environments where purpose flourishes. Top-performing organisations in our benchmarking study demonstrate that engagement isn't abstract – it's measurable, malleable, and directly tied to innovation outputs.

By employing reverse mentoring (where senior leaders learn from more junior team members), radical listening, and meaningful autonomy, these organisations have reduced turnover by 34% whilst increasing breakthrough innovations by 28%.

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Collaborators’ Corner: Research Spotlight

Here’s a brilliant 10 min episode of The Insightful Leader podcast this week, focused on rebuilding morale with quiet-quitters. Their research confirms exactly what we've explored - disengagement is disconnection from purpose or autonomy, not laziness.

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Secret Diary of a VP: The Silent Spiral

The Pharma Coach team are talking about disengagement this week - well here's my story - may it help you understand your disengaged staff member better.

Ten years ago, when I was Head of the Specialty Care Business Unit, I became a master of appearing engaged while being completely absent. Whole days would disappear into mindless email scrolling, rearranging calendar items, and staring at slide decks without absorbing a word.