A few years ago, I joined a cross-functional meeting for a major launch. There were at least twenty people in the room, each representing a different function. The chart projected on the wall looked like a spider web drawn by someone who’d given up halfway through. Everyone waited for “the right person” to speak. Nobody wanted to overstep. The discussion went nowhere. That meeting taught me a simple truth: in complex launches, hierarchy slows everything down.
Pharma loves structure. Titles, governance committees, sign-off layers — they give a comforting sense of order. But launches don’t follow org charts. They demand constant coordination between Market Access, Medical, Regulatory, Supply Chain, and Commercial. When hierarchy dominates, decisions stall. By the time approval comes, the team has already lost momentum.
Collaboration, by contrast, speeds things up. The best launches I’ve seen are led by empowered cross-functional teams where expertise matters more than rank. Everyone contributes. Everyone listens. People challenge ideas based on merit, not job title.
That doesn’t mean chaos. Collaboration thrives on structure — just a different kind. Clear roles, transparent decision rights, and regular communication keep things aligned. Weekly cross-functional huddles, shared dashboards, and open discussion forums can do more for alignment than another governance committee ever could.
I once worked with a launch team that had no formal hierarchy during planning. Everyone owned part of the story, from market access to communications. When the product launched, the entire team could explain the value proposition clearly, because they had built it together. It outperformed expectations in every market.
Hierarchies look tidy on slides. Collaboration looks messy but delivers. The question for leadership is whether they want comfort or results.
Pharma is a team sport. The sooner we treat it that way, the faster and smoother our launches will become.
Key Takeaways
- Flatten decision-making — empower experts to act, not just report.
- Replace governance meetings with cross-functional working sessions.
- Reward collaboration as much as individual achievement.
- Create one shared version of truth across all functions.
- Remember: launches succeed when people work together, not when they wait for permission.
