To integrate his new team, chief data officer Wade Munsie introduced team bonding activities such as Zoom coffees, Friday socials, and regular walking meetings. A “steps challenge” has seen the team collectively walk over 5,000 miles – 20% of the Earth’s circumference. With a renewed focus on wellness sparked by the pandemic, the GSK Consumer Healthcare data team introduced a no meeting policy on “wellness Wednesdays” and held regular #WellbeingBingo events.
To further bridge the digital divide, the team launched a data townhall, including an “ask Wade” segment to encourage direct conversation with data leadership. These sessions connect the data team with guest speakers from across the business to highlight excellent work.
Since forming, the team has held more than 50 data innovation sharing sessions, data science downloads and data talks with contributing thought leaders from Lancaster University, Google and IQVIA. Colleagues within the data team have ownership of the data vision and help to shape the agenda by nominating topics and speakers for an audience of more than 20,000.
Despite working remotely, the new team has already revolutionised the way the broader business interacts with data. Key to this has been the creation of RPM, an innovative stakeholder engagement process. A separate internal engagement forum gives colleagues the chance to reflect on projects, drawing out key learnings and potential improvements. The business has taken part in two data hackathons, with a third hackathon planned for the upcoming inaugural GSK Data Conference.
These successful initiatives have been underpinned by a diverse team of more than 100 people, almost 50% of whom are female. Colleagues come from over 30 countries and range from apprentices through to PHDs. As a talented, passionate and hardworking group spearhead by an inspiring leader, the data team has delivered the company’s first data strategy while continuing to push the boundaries of innovation.
Georgina Quayle, data product owner at GSK said: “As a team we have taken on data challenges that have been in the organisation for years – we have ideated and created prototypes within days.”