A Blueprint for Building a Digital-First Culture

The role of Chief of Staff – long established in military and political circles – is finding a new home: In thriving corners of the private sector. It’s a title of great intrigue and mystique – no two people ever take the same road to occupy the position and the range of responsibilities is so broad from company to company. But it’s undoubtedly growing in prominence, particularly at large-scale corporations harbouring complex portfolios and delivering big revenue numbers – senior leaders in these organisations often require support carrying out their duties, executing their purpose, and navigating the disruption that is a constant fixture in the business world right now.

So is the case at global healthcare giant Sanofi, where Joanne Kennedy is Chief of Staff to the Executive Vice President of R&D, responsible for leading the Management Office team. Joanne recently spoke with our Industry Analyst Simon Hall about the work she is doing day-to-day and the integral part she is playing in the AI and digital transformation journey Sanofi is pursuing. Our interview with her covered a broad range of topics: how to prevent digital fatigue, how to create psychological safety, the importance of having a north star, quashing imposter syndrome, the benefits of diversity in leadership, and a whole lot more.

Simon Hall: Joanne, thank you for joining me! You’ve been at Sanofi for 14 years now and it was just over two years ago that you moved into the role of Chief of Staff having worked across various communications-based functions. Can you talk to us about the key elements of your work and some of the predominant challenges you face?

Joanne Kennedy: Absolutely! The first thing to do is bust the myth about what a Chief of Staff does: It's an area that remains unknown to some groups. Historically, it comes from a military background, founded upon the idea of aligning troops around set strategies – and that concept essentially rings true today when framing what the modern business version of the role involves.

There are different flavours of Chief of Staff now.

First, you have young, upcoming talent whom you want to invest in and expose to the C-Suite – they provide support around managing the everyday agenda of their lead. Think The Devil Wears Prada: They’ll work directly alongside their principal and keep them on track – akin to a super Executive Assistant who goes beyond just planning and scheduling. They’ll have an in-depth understanding of the ins and outs of the business and its objectives.

Then there's the second camp, where you’ll typically find someone in mid-career. These Chiefs of Staff take on the role of gatekeeper and organiser, but they can also take on a separate adjacent project or two that enables them to branch out into new areas and expand their ability and experiences. They’ll likely act as a sounding board for their leader – they’ll be in the weeds of the business, often playing a part in creating strategic presentations and defining corporate priorities.

And then we have the third, which is the camp I fall into. This will generally be the type of Chief of Staff position occupied by seasoned talent, and again they’ll be a sounding board to a leadership team member. But the add-on here is that they’ll also be responsible for numerous other pieces including managing a team that supports their function, defining priorities for the wider organisation, and driving engagement with projects on behalf of leadership. It's a more fulsome role that helps foster company-wide alignment (back to the origins).

Across all those different flavours, three components unite them. If you look at the Chief of Staff acronym – COS – you can think of the C as standing for Communications; the O as standing for Operations; and the S as standing for Strategy. Regardless of which camp you're in, these elements underpin the role, and this is where the challenges lie.

It comes down to having your hands around all the information within your organisation and reminding people that you represent a central point. It’s your imperative to get priorities set for your meetings and then establish guidelines so that engagements run optimally. When you think about how sought after your leadership team is, and how valuable their time is, you want to make every minute count and therefore meetings can’t turn into a talking shop. They must be tight. They must be effective. And that's another role I play – I’m a meeting whip.

SH: I’ve been reading a great deal about how Sanofi is embracing an “all in” approach to AI. The company’s CEO Paul Hudson recently spoke about wanting “to become the first pharma company powered by artificial intelligence at scale, giving our people tools and technologies that focus on insights and allow them to make better everyday decisions.” How does that mandate factor into the work that you do?

JK: It's pervasive and it's exciting.

It's fully embraced by R&D and specifically by the leadership I report to.

The key mandate here is keeping the topic front and centre so there’s a real drumbeat to what we’re doing. To the quote you referenced, the ambition at Sanofi is to be a company powered by AI at scale – and that means empowering our teams with the technologies they need to mine data and extract meaningful insights from it.

We have people looking at data in various forms: We’re trying to accelerate drug discovery and development. Over the years, both scientists internally at Sanofi and scientists worldwide have been documenting all manner of facts about how the body works and responds to drugs – their theories, research, and findings. But all this intelligence must be mined. AI-powered technologies will help us make connections between all this disparate information – all to reduce the amount of time it takes to discover and deliver medicines to the market. Honestly, this is incredibly exciting for the whole world.

Our approach is to use digital technology and AI in everything we do – well beyond just R&D – it's embraced by every department, and we have different initiatives to tackle it. We’ve labelled some of our more specific projects or “apps” “snackable AI” – for example, we can look at data across the entire company to understand company performance. In that same app, we can better visualise our clinical trials, and AI provides insights into how we might better manage those trials.

Encouraging our full workforce to embrace AI presents a huge challenge for us because we need to educate everyone about what AI is and what it can do. It’s a new language for most people. This will be a lengthy, ongoing process due to the generational differences we have throughout our teams. Indeed, the demographic make-up of companies operating in the pharma space can raise some barriers – you’ll typically have great new people joining who are all digitally native, but often they’ll be working closely with more seasoned experts who are not. There’s a degree of translation between generations that needs to take place.

There are numerous ways we’re educating our people – through mentoring, training, and exposure. And of course, sometimes you simply need to have people jump in at the deep end to embrace the necessary learning. It's very exciting.

SH: The road to a thriving digital transformation is littered with roadblocks and research suggests that a massive 70% of digital transformations end in failure. Can you share two or three best practices around how you’re working to avoid transformation fatigue and prevent transformation deceleration within your pocket of the organisation?

JK: It's tough. We often talk about digital transformation as its own entity, but digital transformation unlocks a whole series of other shifts within an organisation.

If you’re relying on data and digital tools – and if those tools are necessary for the workforce of the future – you need to shift resources and consider whether you require the same dynamics as you did previously. We know that we still need all our high value, highly skilled folks. We also know that people with less experience and expertise will be supported by AI, but we don't know how to adjust all those dials yet.

One thing we do know is that you need the right mindset to adopt digital organisation-wide. The foundational pillar is working in an agile manner. When you work with agility, you understand there is change happening every single day. Projects come. Projects go. You deliver. You move on. If we can help people understand that this constant evolution is exciting – that getting up in the morning and taking on new projects and figuring out solutions is exciting – then it transforms the mentality of the workforce. Collectively the organisation becomes familiar with constant change, and it can start to adapt more quickly. And that’s critical because digital transformation isn’t just one and done. It's continuous.

That's the first mindset change we’re addressing. It isn’t easy, but we think the key to this cultural shift and to adopting new technologies is agility – in mindset as well as in the way we work.

Another piece associated with transformation is having a clear north star. When we say we're going “all in” with AI, and then we start showing how that’s executed, employees can take it onboard at a faster rate and make changes for themselves and adjust much quicker. You need to have conversations about what change looks like and how it all leads to a north star – when people have that vision outlined, they don't feel like change is imposed upon them.

A third area would be planning your future workforce. As you bring new talent into the organisation you shape the way you work. Younger talent are more accustomed to continuous change, so they roll with the punches. But, back to the point above, we also know they’ll leave if they don’t feel like you have a clear north star or a compelling mandate. That's one of the big advantages we have at Sanofi – we tend to mark very highly with our workforce because we have an incredibly compelling mission: bringing medicines to patients.

So: planning for the future, bringing in new talent, and having the right mindset.

SH: One of the biggest factors in any successful digital transformation (and more broadly any high-performing team) is driving emotional commitment from employees on the ground executing the day-to-day. Part of that involves prioritising their wellbeing and creating a psychological safety net that gives them the freedom to take risks, experiment, and learn. How can business leaders put those principles into practice while simultaneously putting guardrails and guidelines around them?

JK: You're bang on.

Psychological safety is a precursor to thoughtful risk-taking, experimentation, and innovation.

Interestingly enough, we’ve just been talking about transformation there, and transformation of any kind – including massive digital or organisational change – can be a real killer of psychological safety if it's not done properly. During transitions, people often feel unsettled about their jobs, and then they tend to retreat and become more cautious if they don't have that north star or know how to move forward with their work confidently. Naturally they protect themselves as opposed to jumping in and innovating because they don't feel secure.

Managing psychological safety during change, especially when it concerns incorporating new technology, is important since everybody will be in a different state. The key is to know where you're going and how you're going to help people acclimatise to a new reality. Obviously, the starting point is with leadership and managers, and making sure everybody is on the same page around what psychological safety means.

At Sanofi R&D, we’ve been working on this concept for a while.

Last year we had a conversation amongst our global leaders – there were about 120 of us. We asked ourselves: What is psychological safety? And within that group guiding our 10,000-person organisation, it was surprising to learn how some leaders felt their behaviour had to be based on staying strong, staying resolute, and ultimately refraining from showing any kind of vulnerability – protecting their people from information that could destabilise them. But as the discussion unfolded, what emerged was an understanding that those behaviours have the opposite effect on building psychological safety. Open communications, transparency, vulnerability, and an understanding that mistakes will get made – these are the elements that promote psychological safety.

Principle number one, then, is having the conversation.

Number two would be celebrating successes and empowering employees – giving them the tools to feel confident in the decisions they make. There are other elements that play into that as well. Defining structure and providing clarity around roles and goals. Nothing neutralises psychological safety more than turf overlap – competition over responsibilities. That’s going to ruin team dynamics. Your people should feel the work they're doing is important: They should feel the ideas they're bringing to the table are appreciated and valued.

There needs to be space for individuals to express themselves.

SH: Of course, great working cultures are built on other components alongside psychological safety – employees need motivation, effective leadership, and importantly, a purpose – a north star, as you’ve mentioned. What strategies and tactics can management teams implement to create an environment whereby those ingredients are all evident and visible?

JK: It comes down to getting intentional about your change management and your internal engagement planning. At the end of the day, you need to consistently communicate a clear purpose. You need to identify and communicate attainable future wins – goals within reach so that you bolster morale, and your employees can see the fruit of their labour. Celebrating wins is a huge part of building the culture you need to be innovative and feel safe. And then measurement – making sure people know where you collectively stand in relation to your goals. Are we meeting our KPIs? How close are we to meeting them? What do we need to do to reach them? Ask those types of questions and have discussions about attainment.

That is “what” you need to do.

There also needs to be amenable conversation around “how”.

At Sanofi, we have a programme called “play to win”. Integrated within that we have KPIs and major deliverables, but we also have guidelines around behaviour: the types of behaviour that support psychological safety, innovation, and motivation. We’ve started dialogue around “above the line” and “below the line” behaviour and it’s incredible how well people are adapting to that. We’ve made it clear what is, and what is not, acceptable in our organisation. We also provide examples of how you can stretch and we reward people for taking chances. There are a number of different categories that comprise our “play to win” but focusing on behaviour, and getting really concrete with it supports positive cultural change.

SH: You are set to host a workshop at our Europe Summit in October focused on building strategies for authentic leadership and tackling imposter syndrome. As part of that, you’ll be exploring the impact of having diversity at leadership level. Can you break down why diversity at the top level is an imperative facing businesses today?

JK: I'm excited to talk about authentic leadership and tackling imposter syndrome at the conference.

Diversity in leadership can be achieved in different ways. There's diversity in terms of gender, in terms of culture, in terms of background. We know that when different demographics come together, great innovation will emerge as a byproduct. Against that, though, we have our internal biases – we’re typically wired to enjoy working with people who are like-minded. Even the most senior leaders can fall into that trap. The problem is that it builds blind spots into your organisation. Creating diversity within the leadership team is important, and it must be intentional.

I’m impressed by Sanofi R&D’s efforts to critically assess who we’re bringing into our leadership and how they score in terms of diversity. Diverse leadership helps reduce impostor syndrome because when employees recognise that different viewpoints are welcome, they dare to put their own ideas on the table. Imposter syndrome usually surfaces when people feel they’re underqualified for a role, or they have taken on a new challenge and fear they’ll get called out for not having all the answers. However, if you're in a place where there is diversity of thought and perspective, imposter syndrome diminishes because it’s safe to take a new angle to a problem or ask questions even if the subject is outside your comfort zone.

The research is available – studies show that financial performance excels when you have more diverse teams. It increases psychological safety, enhances authentic leadership, and subsequently diminishes imposter syndrome. In the end it improves market competitiveness.

SH: Broadening the lens to look at inclusion and equity as part of this equation – what practical steps can businesses take to transform commitment in these areas into real, tangible actions?

JK: I'm lucky to work for a company that constantly ranks highly in the DE&I space in all our markets right across the globe.

And there are a couple of different initiatives that contribute to that.

We have strong employee resource groups (ERGs) sponsored at a global level. Different groups are helping to drive awareness of diversity throughout the company in different ways. The ERGs cover gender, abilities, LGBTQ+ and generations and culture and origins. 

These groups each help sensitise the organisation about the importance of a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workforce.

We also have important policies, in line with the mission of these groups. Addressing gender, we found that to support women in leadership roles, we needed to be more neutral in terms of parental leave. If it's only women taking parental leave, then obviously they're going to be out of the workforce for longer and we engrain natural biases. Now we grant all new parents 14 weeks of paid leave to welcome their child into their lives and this rebalances the notion of who's the primary caregiver and who gets access to opportunities for new roles. We made a lot of headlines when we announced that benefit in 2021, because we're one of only a few globally that have that policy.

Another piece to good DE&I is tracking. Nobody likes the word quota, but what gets tracked gets done. We have an external DE&I board that holds us to account; ensures we deliver on our DE&I commitments; monitors progress on our targets and advises us on how to accelerate the company’s DE&I impact.

SH: Within the context of everything we’ve discussed here, can you dive into what your personal learning agenda looks like? What work do you do to keep abreast of all the latest trends both within your industry, and within the realm of leadership more generally?

JK: This is such an important topic to me.

I'm a firm believer in proactive and constant learning. Throughout my career, I've pivoted and evolved – I’ve not stayed in the same box I started in. I’ve always found a way to make adjacent moves and that's all down to constant learning – whether that’s on an industry level or within other areas of interest. I consume news daily; news about what’s happening globally but also news in the worlds of health and pharma and digital technology. We’re fortunate to get news delivered to our desktop every day and that allows me to pick and choose what I read very easily. We have a good educational culture in our organisation at the leadership level – we swap articles we feel are important to share. That's the top line.

I also get involved in different learning modules and these have always been a constant source of inspiration.

Take my role as Chief of Staff, for example. I asked myself: How can I be a better Chief of Staff? One option was to join a Chief of Staff organisation offering monthly programming. It's a forum that allows me to continuously update my knowledge and to interact with other Chiefs of Staff and learn what they're experiencing. That's been helpful.

Over the years, within Sanofi, I've taken advantage of continuous learning opportunities.

That's what I did when I moved from communications to digital. I took a digital transformation programme through The University of Virginia. I gained a depth of knowledge around what it takes to execute a digital transformation. That set me up for success – both when I was in my digital operations role and then as I came into the Chief of Staff role helping R&D as it embraced digital and AI.

So, there’s a range of learning that I strive to do: From high level easy reading every day to taking a significant programme occasionally. You have to stay on top of your game.