Ask an MSL how many insights they submitted last month, and they can probably tell you.
Ask whether those insights were actually any good.
That answer is much harder. The answers will range from “Absolutely” to “I have no idea.”
When Medical Affairs talks about the “insights black hole,” we usually mean what happens after an insight is submitted. MSLs send insights into the organization, but it’s like shouting into the void. They never hear what happened next:
→ Did anyone even look at them?
→ Did leadership discuss them?
→ Did anything change because of them?
Eventually, the field starts asking: Why are we even doing this? Making the insights-to-decisions feedback loop is critical. When the field cannot see how insights inform decisions, submitting them quickly starts to feel like a box-checking exercise and a waste of time. We have some great worksheets that help Medical Affairs teams close this gap. Ping us if you want to learn more.
But there is another insights black hole that gets much less attention:
Feedback on insights quality at the individual level.
We have run 24 insights workshops in the last 12 months, and it’s clear that MSLs have no clue what leadership wants (and leadership doesn’t always know either). What “good” looks like is rarely defined, calibrated, or coached.
In other words, leadership has a problem. So this newsletter is jam-packed full of resources to help MSLs get the insights and
coaching they deserve! Keep reading.
1. Download the MSL Insights Report Card Prompt
The new MSL Insights Report Card AI Prompt gives MSLs the kind of feedback they rarely receive.
Unless, of course, they have a great manager who gives them specific feedback. We know they exist and love the systems they use (
).
Here’s how the insights report card prompt works: Add 5 -10 deidentified insights, along with your company’s insights criteria, Medical strategy if available and the MSL insights prompt to your company-approved tool. Click run.
The prompt looks across the insights and identifies:
- What the MSL consistently does well
- Where they need some help
- Their biggest blind spot
- Their “Insights Personality”
- One practical improvement
MSLs can use it for self-improvement. Leaders and insights teams can use it to support more focused coaching. Win-win!
The coolest part of this exercise is that AI is fantastic at looking across multiple insights and spotting the habits we repeat without realizing it. While humans tend to review 1 insight at a time.
2. Coming up in our RISE Community for new MSLs: Insights
Getting good at insights takes a lot of practice and feedback. That’s what we are tackling in our next RISE session on Sep 1.
This is free for MSL Mastery RISE and LEAP members. If you are interested in joining, reply to this email to get on the waitlist.
TL;DR
You cannot improve without feedback. MSLs deserve great coaching on their insights.
So download the Insights Report Card and see what you or your team is good at or could use some help with.
When you try it out, send us a note. We want to know what you think!
Always in your corner,
Patrina, Sarah, Ralph, & Jess
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