How’d we do this year? We rocked it!
In a recent conversation with a new business contact, I shared what made Bright special, why we’re so optimistic about our future and why we excel at culture, employee retention, and repeat business. It was an easy conversation to have because it was authentic, and afterward I realized I had touched on many of the points in my “Building a Sustainable Bright Future” blog from January 2023. I thought it would be fun in this month’s blog to check back on those points and recap our best year ever!
Here are the five ways Bright rocked 2023 and how we’ll keep it up into 2024 and beyond.
1. Planning for uncertainty
Clients trust that they can count on us as a reliable partner who will manage their clinical studies to completion, which may take anywhere from several months to several years. Once we commit, we plan the workload for the study team over the expected timeframe. However, client funding hurdles or product development delays can push out the starting point of FDA IDE approval, which can throw a wrench into everyone’s plans.
Due to our business development, networking efforts, and reputation, in 2023 we were prepared for these uncertainties. With a well-networked medical device community and a full pipeline of near-term and long-range projects, we were able to keep our team busy despite a few delays to big projects that had been in our queue for over a year. With capacity mid-year, we were able to pivot and reallocate talented monitors, statisticians, and data managers to provide a la carte services to clients with smaller, overflow, or impromptu projects in need of these specialties.
2. Referrals are gold
Our reputation for creativity, flexibility, and collaboration continues to be key in sustaining our pipeline, which we see in repeat business and referrals from device manufacturers, physician investigators, and research coordinators. We are thrilled about continued partnerships with our existing clients as they grow their portfolios or expand their indications. Our VP of business development, Jennifer Groben, has now been with Bright for almost a year and she’s amazed by our network and the volume of work that comes to us by referral and repeat business. There’s nothing better than a great referral.
3. Building best-in-class infrastructure
In 2023 we upgraded our electronic trial master file (eTMF) software platform through the customization and implementation of a best-in-class e-tool that will support not only essential document collection and maintenance, but advanced data visualization and dashboarding. With three new pivotal studies launching in this eTMF, we will increase the value we provide to our clients by doing more with the team and the time we have. We are excited to be able to offer these solutions to our clients and sites as investing in this infrastructure ensures our business sustainability.
Speaking of infrastructure, we’re also excited to accommodate our continued growth in a 4,500 square foot expansion at our beautiful headquarters in downtown Minneapolis; we’ll have an entire floor of the Baker Building. Our team enjoys being together and works best when we’re together. We believe in facetime with our team and clients. (As many of you do too, based on the number of clients who visited us this fall!)
4. Growing our talent
My team often hears me say, “No hiring under duress.” Hurried decisions increase the risk of hiring people who lack the right attitude and aptitude, disrupting our carefully curated culture. We have developed sophisticated project forecasting and resource modeling tools to inform the timing and pace of our hires. Be it for parental leave coverage, retirement, or expected departmental growth, the benefit of resourcing in advance of need continues to be evident, even in the presence of uncertainty, as it allows time for onboarding, training, and team integration before the big project hits.
A great team attracts great hires. Despite the tight MedTech labor market in the Twin Cities, we have had no problem hiring great talent. Some companies get hung up on a minimum number of years of experience — we look for people who are kind, honest, motivated, good listeners, critical thinkers, collaborators, and detail-oriented. In other words, we look for people who we can develop and who take pride in the quality of their work. As in the past, most of this year’s new hires came from internal referrals. People want to work here.
5. Maintaining the culture: Research done Bright!
One of my biggest passions since founding Bright has been creating and nurturing our culture of joy, fun, and service and growing the business under three simple philosophies:
- Right person, right job. We are great at retaining talent, attracting talent, and challenging folks in their roles. Once here, it’s a priority for us to support our employees on a purposeful, enjoyable, and long career at Bright. We work with training and development professionals to ensure our managers can provide their direct reports with a brag-worthy onboarding experience, confidence in their roles, and development plans that identify real goals. This is a stark contrast to the “churn and burn” approach that is all too common in the CRO industry.
- Right client, right project. We know our target clients and we’re clear about which projects work for us and which do not. We are not afraid to decline projects that aren’t a good fit, or to refer clients to a potentially better partner.
- Care and be real. We are engaged and passionate. We are honest and provide timely and authentic communications to our team and to our clients. We want to understand and help people, whether they are our employees, clients, clinical sites, business partners, or coworkers. We talk about our individual and client hurdles and how we can best help.
In short, we are clinical trial nerds. We find joy in our deliverables. We celebrate efficiency and place a high priority on creating elegant, streamlined processes so that we can have time to achieve both professional and personal goals. We are sincere about offering high-quality service to our clients, and we balance that commitment to excellence with a culture of flexibility and support.
Conclusion
We have a great thing going here with an incredible group of people who are making it fun, and sustainable. I’m grateful for my hardworking and supportive team members and clients who are empowered to tell me their honest opinions, share encouragement, and who have kept us so busy in 2023. I’m jazzed about our Bright future and look forward with excitement to 2024 and beyond.
