Why are you doing this that way? Why aren’t you doing it another way, etc.? Why are you doing it at all? These are questions that we should be asking on a routine basis. It is a way to improve continuously rather than reactively responding to issues as they occur. Processes can become the ghosts of needs that no longer exist. They continue to inhabit our organizations because they are not brought into the light. These ghosts reduce productivity and sap resources. Why then do they persist?
Of all the data on COVID infections, deaths, and vaccinations, one recent statistic is the most telling. 99.5% of the people dying of COVID in the U.S. were unvaccinated. Nearly all vaccinated people are protected even if they might rarely suffer minor or modest illness. Most of us know this, but some are still waiting for more evidence ruling out potential unknown future risks. Others are concerned about extremely rare side-effects that are not as prevalent or as risky as serious illness or death from COVID.
Drug discovery is the ultimate goal for many of our clients. Speed is essential in the quest for new therapeutics. Most importantly, this is driven by the urgent search for cures and treatments for illnesses. It is also driven by financial concerns because anything that can shorten the time to market means larger returns on investment. Unfortunately, drug discovery is a long and expensive process.
As with personal relationships, trust is an important factor in business relationships. Basically, you want to be sure that you can count on a business partner to do what they say they are going do and that they will be there for you when you need them. How can one evaluate a business relationship before it is too late?
We are all pressed to get more done with limited resources. New projects are added. Deadlines and deliverables loom over us. There is only so much any of us can do alone. More specifically, we know how much time is taken up with growing cell cultures, finding high quality human tissues that are suitable for biomedical research, or making tissue or cell membrane preparations, etc. All of this must happen before an experiment can even be started.
If you have grown cells or used cells in your research, you know the problems associated growing them and in ensuring that they generate reproducible data. After obtaining or engineering a cell line, master and working banks must be produced. Supplies must be ordered. Technicians must spend hours under the hood. Sterility must be maintained. Cell cultures must be split and fed over and over again. Repeated cell counts and viability measures must be done. Cells must be harvested and aliquoted. The cultures must not contain any Mycoplasma contamination. Cell line IDs should be verified, etc.
Vaccines that protect against COVID-19 infections and illness are readily available to most of the U.S. populations. These vaccines went through an expedited, but rigorous, approval process. They appear to be highly effective and safe. The incidence of side-effects is extremely low. With this efficacy risk profile, there should be little hesitancy in being vaccinated. However, some individuals remain hesitant to receive the vaccines.
Remote working and social distancing can lessen effective communications between individuals and groups. Recently, I heard that a few employees felt that I was not listening to their concerns. Many of us, myself included, may have deficits in listening to and understanding another position and its needs. It is something I continually work on improving.
The COVID pandemic has produced many changes in our society. Far too many have been affected directly by death, lingering illness, and economic devastation. These types of losses overshadow the very real psychological toll the pandemic has taken on those who have gone relatively untouched by loss of friends and loved ones or even a decline in income.
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