Leading Teams Beyond Targets
Ben Shoshan
We talk a lot about high-performing teams – but have you ever stopped to ask what that actually means?
High performance is no longer about performing pressure or perfection. It’s evolved to mean creating the conditions where people perform – possibly beyond their potential – purpose-led, empathic, and accountable. It’s an environment where technology amplifies rather than replaces human capability. In today’s AI-enabled world, that matters more than ever.
A biotech leader responsible for sales growth once asked me, “Why can’t we just tell our teams: ‘This is your target; now get on with it and deliver’?”
It’s an understandable reaction under intense pressure to deliver life-saving innovation, meet regulatory deadlines, and justify investment. But humans aren’t machines. In many innovation-driven sectors, like biopharma, outcomes depend on collaboration, creativity, and trust – the very qualities that rarely feature on performance dashboards or OKRs. Until we start measuring what truly drives high performance, we’ll keep rewarding output over impact.
The pandemic taught us something profound: humans thrive on connection. Forbes Business Council cited a report that "94% of employees are more productive when they feel connected to their colleagues." Strip away face-to-face interactions, and you erode trust, energy, and collaboration.
As we navigate today’s world – what futurists call BANI (Brittle, Anxious, Non-linear, Incomprehensible) – the need to support, motivate and inspire the human side of work has never been greater.
Hybrid and remote teams bring flexibility but also new challenges. Leaders must design rituals, norms, and systems to preserve trust and psychological safety across distributed teams. In life sciences, whether it’s aligning cross-functional teams, navigating complex supply chains, or engaging stakeholders, people are at the heart of every breakthrough. To deliver their best, they need the right conditions: clarity, purpose, and a culture of trust.
AI is transforming the industry – from accelerating drug discovery to streamlining clinical trials.
Yet, for roles requiring human connection, such as engaging regulators, building partnerships, or managing teams, automation falls short. These roles demand human skills:
• Building rapport with stakeholders
• Empathic listening to foster trust and collaboration
• Storytelling that communicates complex ideas with clarity and impact
• Strategic questioning to uncover hidden opportunities
These are deeply human capabilities, and they flourish only when individuals feel confident, creative, and supported.
Simon Sinek explains in Why Leaders Eat Last how leadership shapes team dynamics through trust. When people feel safe, their brains release oxytocin, boosting creativity and collaboration. Conversely, environments of fear or stress flood the brain with cortisol, shutting down problem-solving and innovation.
In life sciences, where decisions impact lives, the stakes are high. Teams thrive when leaders proactively create environments that foster trust and purpose. The neuroscience echoes the research on emotional intelligence: mission-driven teams in nurturing cultures consistently outperform those operating under fear-based management.
Miles Downey identified three critical roles leaders play:
These roles often conflict. Imagine a biotech leader managing a critical R&D project while trying to support their team’s growth. Balancing immediate deliverables with long-term development isn’t easy, but it’s essential for sustained success.
How can life science leaders create the right conditions for performance success?
In life sciences, of course, profit is essential, but it’s not the end game. As Peter Drucker said, “Profit is like oxygen; there is no life without it… but it is not the reason for living.”
Dan Pink puts it another way: “When the profit motive becomes unmoored from the purpose motive, bad things happen.”
Successful life science leaders understand this balance, focusing on purpose-led outcomes – patient lives, scientific progress, and societal impact.
In complex and high-stakes fields, success depends on more than setting targets and pushing for results. It requires leaders to find new ways to deliver human performance.
Leadership today is no longer just about vision to results; it requires empathy, emotional intelligence and kindness. Extraordinary leaders inspire and motivate. They act as leader-coaches, confidently giving and receiving feedback, empowering their teams, and setting clear expectations.
To the leader who asked, “Why can’t they just get on with it?” – the answer is simple: because your people are not machines. And that’s precisely why they’re capable of extraordinary things.
Specialists in the human side of change, we partner with leading life science organisations to deliver deep change and cultural transformation.