At Greenphire, we live and breathe our core values day in and day out: All In, As a Team, Solving Problems, For a Purpose. Created by our employees themselves, we embrace these values in all that we do. To us, company culture is critical. We keep a pulse on culture, strengthening our connection, especially as the organization continues to grow in the current hybrid environment.
Training & Development = Key to a Strong Company Culture
Greenphire believes in a culture of learning. In fact, training and development is a feature of employee engagement, even since the company was just 40 people; we’ve continued to build on our engagement programs, giving employees numerous opportunities to develop and grow using self-paced virtual programs to live training sessions.
Employees participate in quarterly trainings, designed upon their input – such as “Influencing Direction,” but also facilitated activities centered around fun and relaxation where they can build cross-departmental relationships and learn from each other, such as our employee-led cooking classes.
We are continually investing in our most important asset – our employees, to help them achieve their full potential and chart their career paths.
Learning About Clinical Trials
However, the activities that are most near and dear to our hearts are those that remind us of our purpose – removing financial and logistical barriers for patients. Greenphire plays such a critical role in the clinical trials arena and it is our goal to ensure that each employee understands how clinical trials operate and meet individuals who are part of the clinical trial process – researchers, advocates, and the participants themselves, so they know how their job and our technology is making a difference
Examples of past employee discussions include:
- Kyle Bryant for Rare Disease Day
- Danielle Coe for Black History Month on Diversity in Clinical Research
- Terri Ann DiJulio for Lung Cancer Awareness Month
- Midlantic Urology on Participant Travel
Honoring Linnea Olson
Not all of our employee learning comes from visitors; sometimes employees find an impactful video and suggest that it be used for our monthly discussions.
This month, in honor of World Cancer Day on February 4, we watched a Ted Talk featuring Linnea Olson. titled: Patient, parent, person, research subject. If you haven’t seen this video, I highly suggest you watch it now.
We watched it together as a team via Zoom, and then discussed it after, some of us with tears in our eyes. All employees who listened found her inspirational. One employee said “we are in business for people like Linnea.” Despite her active, healthy lifestyle, Linnea Olson was diagnosed with lung cancer; with a deep belief in scientific research, and inclination to connect with others, she participated in six clinical trials and created a well-read blog and impactful Ted Talk which we watched.
Her life was extended by participating in trials, but sadly, Linnea recently passed away.
It is our hope that by shining a light on her message, we are helping to keep her alive in spirit. She was a fierce advocate for improving the patient experience in oncology, of which she felt there was much that could be improved; she felt that clinical trial participation was akin to an “extreme form of community service” having maxed up her insurance copay in January each year. The financial burden on her and her family was significant. She states in the Ted Talk:
“There’s an argument that compensating vulnerable populations for clinical trial participation constitutes inducement. Both language and concept are once again, patronizing and exploitive. I am induced only by my imminent demise and compensation would serve simply to reduce my burden.”
Linnea reminds me and all Greenphire employees that while we may be streamlining the financial aspects of clinical trials, in the end, we’re helping people. Greenphire continues to work and take the time to make sure we are reminded of the difference we are making by easing the burden of being involved in a clinical trial. We know that the more we continue to talk about, allow time for, and continue to think of creative ways to breathe life into our core values, the more likely our external customers and clients will continue to feel the power of being All in with us, so that, they feel a part of our Team, working with us to Solve Problems in areas where they see and interact daily with our companies Purpose and mission.
Keeping the Phire Alive Through Training and Education
Greenphire continues to invest in learning and development, to make sure we are reminded of the difference we are making by easing the burden of being involved in a clinical trial. We know that the more we continue to talk about, allow time for, and continue to think of creative ways to breathe life into our core values, the more likely our external customers and clients will continue to feel the power of being All in with us, so that, they feel a part of our Team, working with us to Solve Problems in areas where they see and interact daily with our company’s purpose and mission.
This year we also plan on continuing our monthly gatherings now called Trial Talk Tuesdays, where employees get together and watch something relevant in our industry and talk about how what each of us does each and every day at GP intersects with the story or event we are watching. The conversations can be deep, and emotions are often raw but we go back to our day-to-day tasks renewed and reminded of our purpose.
If you have suggestions for videos that our employees should watch our special guest presenters who may be available to present for our team, please email marketing@greenphire.com
