Next-Level MSL Performance

Dimension #1. Your Unique Value Proposition

How dispensable are you?

In today's economy you may be right to wonder if everyone is "dispensable". Certainly we have seen entire MSL programs axed from companies and teams of MSLs laid off, that supports the idea that no one is layoff-proof.

So I am not looking to challenge the assumption that many or most are in a way "dispensable".

What I want you to be, however, is the MSL who is "dispensable - but at a hefty cost".

This means you are the MSL who owns certain assets that enables your employer to remain competitive in a way that only you can uniquely contribute. And if your employer lets you go now and tries to duplicate the results you generate, your employer would have to hire at least 3 people who collectively might generate the result that you can generate as a matter of course.

What makes you "expensively dispensable" - and not just "expensive" - that the employer would hate to lose you in both the best of times AND the worst of times?

What is it about YOU that makes you special as a MSL, as an industry professional?

I want you to jot down at least 7 specific ways that makes you special as a professional:

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

6. __________________________

7. __________________________

If you have a hard time coming up with 7, your employer will have a hard time distinguishing you from your peers.

Next-level performers are memorable employees whose talents and method of contribution to their teams and employers are obvious to their teams and employers.

Dimension #2. Your Performance Outcomes

Does your result have the right balance of "hard and soft"? Is your performance mostly qualitative ("soft"), subject to multivariate interpretation? Or is your performance so quantitative ("hard"), that your personal contribution and unique value are stripped from the objective numbers?

I am not looking to change your company's metric system for MSLs. I am asking you to assess your own results as a MSL and see whether you are able to communicate the quantitative as well as the qualitative results you generate.

This means you are the MSL who knows how much resources (time, budget, manpower) you need to get a task done. This means you know what outcomes you want to expect at the end of every task.

Strive for the balance of your quantitative and qualitative contribution to the employer.

If the scale veers too far to the qualitative, your contribution is too ambiguous. If the scale veers too far to the quantitative, your contribution is too impersonal.

What do you specifically track on a regular basis that yields the overall outcome of next-level performance? Do you keep lists? Track efficiency (unit time)? Track effectiveness (result per unit time)?

List everything that you track:

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

6. __________________________

7. __________________________

If you rarely or barely track your performance (or maybe you resign it to the status of quarterly or annual performance reviews), then your employer will work much harder to come up with a compelling case for your value.

Next-level performers are metrics-minded employees who tracks their own performance as a way to grow themselves, regardless of what types of "MSL Metrics" exist at their companies.

Dimension #3. How You Contribute

Can you name at least 5 people in your organization who can benefit from your expertise?

List these people here (or job titles if you want to share this email with me):

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

Notice how I purposely did not ask you for 5 KOLs or thought leaders for this question.

That's because most MSLs are heavily focused on their external stakeholders when they are building their relationship assets as MSLs. To become a Next-Level Performer, you want to go beyond what most of your peers (maybe you?) take for granted and are already doing. This means you are the MSL who knows exactly WHO at your company can benefit from the unique value that you bring, based on your collective experience, education, and expertise.

Cultivate your value with internal stakeholders as much as you focus on delivering value to your external stakeholders, and know how you can ethically partner with your internal stakeholders to realize this value.

Take a look at your list again - are most or all of those people your team members - or people within your department? Then you may be in your comfort zone and not visible enough to the rest of the organization.

If you are valuable and visible only to the most immediate people around you (your team members, your managers), this is a good place to start, but it is merely a start. This means you need to move beyond this starting step and begin cultivating your sphere of influence within your company.

Next-level performers are extremely aware of their own spheres of influence within their own organization.

Dimension #4. Definition of "Good Job"

Do you know your manager's definition of a "good job" from you? Do you know what motivates your KOLs to see you each and every time you meet (motivations may differ from KOL to KOL, and even from meeting to meeting)?

I am not looking for generic answers like "because I provide value" - every MSL knows that answer. And this is almost as vague as the FDA's stance on MSLs! I am asking you to identify the specifics - quotes if you can - from your management stakeholder(s) and KOLs on why you are still working together.

This means you are the MSL who knows how the answer to the question, "my boss told me I did a great job, and she really means that I did X, Y, and Z."

Know exactly what "value" and "good job" means to people who are important to your career, or else the results that you create may be viewed as irrelevant to people who employ you.

If you have worked some years as a MSL, you can probably come up with a dozen specific quotes or feedback that you have heard from managers, internal stakeholders, and KOLs regarding your doing "a great job". List what this means, exactly:

When I am told I did a great job, I had probably done this:

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

6. __________________________

7. __________________________

If you don't bother to understand the mindset of your manager such that you know you are speaking the same language or on the same page, then you will feel like you are struggling to manage your career at the company while you are building your relationship assets within the KOL community. Or, you can have a great relationship internally but you feel like you are struggling with your KOLs.

Next-level performers are definition-minded employees who knows exactly what aspects of their own performance are valued and significant to which stakeholder population around their career.

Dimension #5. Your Personal Brand

Do you know how your coworkers, boss(es), and thought leaders describe you? (Maybe you are one of those enlightened MSLs who have specifically asked!) Are their descriptions of you congruent with how you want to be known?

I am not talking about general descriptions like "oh, that is my MSL from {company}" or even basics like "ah, when I need an experienced MSL, I look to {your name}." That's like saying "Apple? That's the company that makes those white colored computers and black colored phones."

This means you are the MSL who knows almost to the word how your peers, bosses, and stakeholders/clients answer the question, "who am I" (I = you in this case), and the answers go something like this: "{you name} is THE person I go to when I need {this solution} to {my problem}."

You already have a personal brand, whether or not you know what your brand actually says. Your personal brand is the description people give both to your face AND behind your back, and you want both descriptions to be pretty close to the truth about who you are.

If you have done some self-growth work (for example, working with coaches and mentors), or if you have any level of professional experience that involves dealing with people, then you have a personal brand. List some real and extrapolated (your best guess) descriptions about you from coworkers, bosses, internal stakeholders, and KOLs/clients:

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

6. __________________________

7. __________________________

If you don't care about your personal brand, then you may be navigating blind along your career path, wondering why you aren't gaining the opportunities you believe you are well-suited for, or why you haven't gotten the recognition that you think you deserve.

Next-level performers are personal brand-minded employees who knows exactly how people will describe them, and behave in a way that is congruent with their core values of how they want to be known and how they contribute as professionals.

Dimension #6. Leading and Following

You know how our culture is in love with leaders, leadership, and leading? I think this is one of the reasons why many of our companies are so screwed up today. It is also the reason why we have proverbs like "too many chefs spoil the broth".

What I mean is, we often have "too many people who can't tell when they should be leading and when they should be following." I am not talking about not being visible and wanting to lead, and I am definitely NOT talking about behaving like yes-men and going along with everything unquestioning.

I am talking about the enlightened MSL who knows that leading and following are dualities, which means one cannot exist without the other, and which also means both the leader and the follower exercises conscientious due diligence as leader and follower, because they know each can swap roles in the next moment.

You know when you are best in the leadership position and when you can contribute most effectively in the follower position, and you are deliberate in your choice of when to lead and when to follow.

This is one of the reasons why executives who are great at growing their people are viewed as excellent leaders - they propel their people in a leadership position without feeling threatened about their own leadership position. You may not be in a place to grow others yet, but you can get started by listing specific ways you can help others be more successful:

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

6. __________________________

7. __________________________

If you don't know what your leadership and follower-preferences are, then you may feel like your efforts are often thwarted. When you want to lead, you are seen as the person to follow. When you do not want to lead, you are put on the spot.

Next-level performers are leader/follower-minded employees who understands that at any given point they have a choice to lead or to follow, and they know where they lead best and where they follow best.

Dimension #7. Reproduce Success Behaviors

In science experiments and in clinical trials, one crucial factor is reproducibility. If you run an experiment or a trial with amazing results, but then that result is no reproducible, then the idea goes nowhere.

The same is true for success as a Next-Level Performer.

Do you know how to create and reproduce and behaviors and actions you need to succeed?

This is where things get a bit tricky, and it is a bit like alchemy, because you are outlining your personal formula for success. People who are most likely to know their own success formulas are extremely self-aware, historically track their goals and performance measures (even when no one is breathing down their necks), and constantly invest in learning and development (even when no one is willing to reimburse their learning expenses).

You do not leave your future of success to chance, because you know your personal formula for success, and you consistently apply this formula.

This is also one of the main reasons why people hire coaches to help them either identify the formula, teach them someone else's (usually coach's) formula, or hold them accountable to apply this formula. If you had never thought about this dimension - then now is the time to start! List specific things that you do that may be part of your success formula:

1. __________________________

2. __________________________

3. __________________________

4. __________________________

5. __________________________

6. __________________________

7. __________________________

If you don't know what makes you successful and how to reproduce your success, then your future will be random and maybe a bit fearful to confront. This is because your success will feel like it is based on chance or luck most of the time, as if you have no control over your own future.

Next-level performers are success formula-minded employees who know what and how they can be successful, and they consistently apply their success formula to produce Next-level results for them no matter where they work and what they work as.