Team Dynamics and Leader/ Follower Relationships at UCB Pharmaceuticals

UCB has a clearly defined corporate hierarchy that easily allows for anyone in the organization to see who they should be reporting to. Each department is headed by one person and there are a variety of sub-departments and team members below the head. I am work with the corporate affairs team, primarily doing public policy, though with some market access components mixed in. The internal public policy team is one of the smallest at UCB- there are only three official members. However, there is a broad array of consultants and state team government affairs experts that work alongside the public policy team. Within the public policy team, the work is divided up by subject area. Different subject areas include: Medicare part B, Medicare Advantage, Medicaid, International Reference Pricing, the 320B drug pricing program and more. Despite the division of labor by topic, much of the work is collaborative. Every Friday afternoon, the policy team meets to discuss the progress of their various projects and work through various issues. For the most part, the way team members approach their work is autonomous. They are given lots of free rein to approach projects however they see fit.

Though the team has only been working together for about a year, there is a clearly a significant amount of trust between leaders and followers. Every week, the head of US Public Policy, Jed, will hold a one on one with the team members to check in both personally and professionally. In these meetings, team members are allowed to speak frankly about their experiences, detailing what works and does not work for them. My point of contact, Amanda, has tried to replicate these as best she can within the context of my virtual internship. Amanda and I speak frequently about projects and my experience at the company. These times give me the opportunity to ask questions I otherwise would not have been able to ask throughout the hustle and bustle of the week. Throughout the organization, transparency and openness seems to be a key theme. I have had the opportunity to speak to members of the company in almost all key positions of US leadership.