Last month, the IN VIVO blog reported on efforts by the UK's National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) to take into account the quality of innovation when assessing new therapies. In January 2009, NICE asked Sir Ian Kennedy to address the following questions:

What approach should be adopted by NICE to ensure that innovation is properly taken into account when establishing the value of new health technologies?

Should particular forms of value be considered more important than others?

How should innovation in health technologies be defined?

What is the relationship between innovation and value?

In February, Sir Ian put out a call for written input which was contributed by groups large and small, and held three workshops in May on the topic. In July, he presented his report to NICE on appraising the value of innovation.

The bottom line is that innovation is something that should be valued and somehow supported.

While measuring it may still be difficult, this, and other trends, point to healthcare systems being tired of evaluating and paying for "me too" drugs, small incremental improvements, combinations of approved drugs, and variations on therapeutic themes that merely follow the leader.

Value creation is the number one challenge in bioscience and it is enabled by innovation.  It is, nevertheless, hard to be first at anything, particularly medical innovations.

Truly novel first efforts are rarely perfect out of the gate and it can leave the gate open for the competition to pass more easily - in theory. I often used to hear that it is better to be number two.  I am not sure that still holds, if it ever did.

As Peter Drucker advises, if you set your sights on leading the field, you must also commit to being the best at it, delivering the best, and continually striving to be the best, otherwise you are indeed only creating a learning experience for your competition!  But if your team and company can truly lead, it will be in the driver's seat, even if the hills up ahead seem steep and the terrain a bit uncertain. Now, more than ever, it is your time to shine.

TIP: If your company can lead the field, it can drive the field.
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Tasks are always for a purpose

As consultants, we may receive a client request that will comprise a list of tasks they need help completing or information they need researched. From that we create a list of deliverables. But we must always be sure that we understand the purpose of those tasks and information. Are we clear on what the client wants to achieve?  Only then, can we be confident we will deliver what the client needs to fulfill their objectives. Tasks without context are only half the job!

It is easy to be task oriented but no matter if you are the consultant, internal staff or the executive in charge, tasks and information are for a purpose and it is the purpose that has to be enabled at the end of the day.

Tasks, or work for work's sake can too often take over the day to day, creating an inefficient work process internally, or if you are a consultant, a less than satisfied client! Always remember that every task is for a reason and it is the reason that should set internal work priorities and guide not only task creation, but what those tasks entail.

Make sure you enable the hired help, whether they are internal or external, by communicating the purpose of the work you want done. And if you are the one tasked with the job, ask plenty of questions up front to be sure you understand the purpose - it shows you care about doing a great job!

TIP:  High value work product is enabled by a clear purpose.
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