A real-world fix inside a time-sensitive FDA submission.
Outcomes
- A team of 9 SMEs onboarded into the company’s systems and able to begin review work
- Repeatable onboarding template + checklist created to reduce confusion and rework
- Daily status updates + clear escalation path established across the company + contracting firm
What I found inside the work
This wasn’t a typical internal team.
It was a global pharma company, a contracting firm, and a team of 9 SMEs dispersed across the country—some working part-time while juggling other commitments.
That structure can work well… if the basics work.
But onboarding into the company’s systems was complex, and not everyone had the technical comfort to move through it quickly.
And here’s what made it harder:
The company didn’t have a dedicated resource to walk each person through.
The contracting firm didn’t either.
So access became everyone’s problem… which meant it was no one’s job.
That’s where delays like to hide.
The constraint
By the second team meeting, it was obvious: people had been asked to complete “first-step” tasks… and little progress had happened.
Not because the SMEs weren’t capable.
Because onboarding was quietly defeating them.
What we built to move fast
I volunteered to take point on onboarding.
Not as “tech support.”
As a program move: remove friction so the work can begin.
I did three things:
1) I built a simple template.
A checklist and email pattern that broke onboarding into small steps—plus the common failure points I was seeing (and how to fix them).
2) I aligned the group.
I walked the SMEs through the process collectively so expectations were shared, the path was clear, and nobody felt singled out for being “behind.”
3) I drove 1:1 completion.
Then I followed up individually with each person—especially the part-time folks—and used a clear escalation path to re-engage the right people when someone was stuck.
Alongside that, I sent frequent (often daily) updates to both organizations:
- who was fully onboarded
- who was stuck
- what the blocker was
- what I needed from leadership
- who required escalation
That cadence did two things at once:
It helped the team move faster.
And it gave leadership clean visibility—without drama.
Pressure doesn’t just test your plan.
It tests your starting line.
If people can’t access the systems, the project doesn’t exist yet—no matter how urgent the deadline is.
Structure isn’t paperwork.
It’s what lets good people do the work they were brought in to do.
If you’re staffing a high-stakes project with distributed experts, onboarding can’t be “background noise.” It has to be managed like a real workstream—template, tracker, cadence, escalation.
If you want, I’m happy to share the onboarding checklist format that’s worked for me.
0 Comments