MSL Mentor Program

I recently started working for a small company without its own onboarding or mentoring programs that are typically seen in larger companies. I therefore joined the MSLS mentoring program to learn as much as possible from the experiences of other MSLs. Not only were we matched by geography and therapeutic area, I was also part of an all-female mentoring group! This opened up the discussion around specific challenges and tips of how to overcome them. In the end, I learned so much during our monthly talks, but it was also great to be able to bring the tips and best practices back to my own company. I love that I was able to meet up with some mentees in person. I truly appreciate the time and effort the mentors put in and that they were always available for 1-on-1 calls. This program has been an invaluable part of my first year as a brand-new MSL!

The program provides a perfect match to your geography, therapeutic area, and experience level.  It was invaluable for me, as a new MSL, to obtain objective and timely advice from seasoned MSLs who have been successful in the field.  The program also provided an excellent opportunity to network with mentors and mentees that were from other companies.

When I began the program last year, I was a very new manager of a team of 7 MSLs and at my current company, there is not a mentor program set up or a specific training program for new managers. Also, I knew the MSL Society Mentorship Program would be a good fit for me because of the proven track record of the organization and the large network that we could tap into.This program provided me with real life examples of situations that managers find themselves in and provided me with real-time advice on how to face the challenges of a new manager. The highlight of my experience of being a mentee in this program was the friends and colleagues that I have met through this program.”

As a new manager of MSLs, it was important to me to learn from those outside of my business to focus less on the technical, product challenges of the job, and more on the MSL team and individual development aspect.  By learning from other managers from a product-agnostic perspective, it really helps you learn more about how to work with and develop your MSL team. The program helped in three ways: (1) it confirmed that the challenges that I faced as a new manager were the same as those of other new and experienced managers, particularly in the position of leading MSLs who often bring with them their unique, high-level talent; (2) it provided great ideas for tactics and tools on how to approach these same, high-performing individuals on how to manage, develop, and enhance their experience while at the same time ensuring positive performance outputs beneficial to and in alignment with the company goals; and (3) as a field-based employee, it gave me comfort to know that I am “not alone” in the field, particularly at a level where there may be fewer (if any) internal colleagues that share the same responsibilities that comes with managing highly-driven personality types. The mentor program was key in helping me develop a renewed Journal Club program that lay dormant for over a year prior to my appointment as the team manager.  It is something that our team really wanted, and I felt it was important to not just “phone it in” but to really find excitement and joy in how we engage and interact scientifically (which, let’s face it, can be more of a bore and a chore for some).  Everyone in the program generously provided/donated their ideas for me to pick through, customize, and execute; and I was proud to announce it to my team from the 2018 MSL Society Las Vegas meeting stage where many of my team were present in the audience! “

I became a mentee because I wanted to gain as much experience as possible. Attending this program has allowed me to receive great advice and learn a lot from others experience. The highlight of my experience in this program was that I was given the chance to ask my mentor questions whenever something came up. “

I became a mentee because I had just started my first MSL position and wanted to get as much advice and guidance as possible from those with more experience and success. This program has really helped me grow in my role and become more efficient utilizing my time in the field. The highlight of being a mentee in this program was running into a fellow mentee unexpectedly at a conference and meeting one of my mentors in person at the MSLS conference this year. “