Company: MedImmune, Gaithersburg, Maryland
Entered by: Fleishman Hillard
Company Description: MedImmune strives to provide better medicines to patients, new medical options for physicians, rewarding careers to employees, and increased value to shareholders. Dedicated to advancing science and medicine to help people live better lives, the company is focused on the areas of infectious disease, cancer and inflammatory diseases.
Nomination Category: Team Awards Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Best Communications Team

Nomination Title: MedImmune InSight Rollout Team

1. Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved in the past year (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

Situation
The company executed an aggressive internal communications effort to support
the rollout of InSight, an Internet-based productivity tracking system aimed at
automating time reporting and improving visibility into labor resource
allocation and financial compliance. This effort was designed to support an
effectively delivered five-year strategic plan by allowing MedImmune a way to
collect thorough, trustworthy data about its internal resource management. Such
a system would also qualify the company for opportunities to perform government
contract work, a key element of the strategic plan.

Challenge
InSight was a significant cultural shift for MedImmune, a biotechnology company
comprised primarily of scientists and professionals unaccustomed to regularly
tracking of their time. A change of this magnitude presented the following
challenges to introduce the system companywide:
• The need to secure buy-in from senior executives, managers and employees
• The desire to minimize negative emotional reactions to the new requirements
• The need to drive daily use of InSight

Solution
The MedImmune InSight Rollout Team, a cross-functional team encompassing
leaders from internal communications, human resources, IT and finance, was
formed to create a campaign to communicate the new system to employees for
successful implementation. The team coordinated closely to orchestrate a three-
pronged rollout: 
• Senior management engagement
• Direct-to-employee outreach
• Interactive employee training and resources

To execute this three-pronged approach, the team developed multiple stragetic initiatives. They engaged senior management by providing a thorough training of the new system and supplying them with tools to properly educate their own teams.

To directly reach out to employees, the team issued multiple communications
companywide highlighting the benefit InSight will ultimately provide to
employees and the company as a whole. They created 10 “It’s About Time” posters
that reinforced InSight’s connection to MedImmune’s strategic messages and
utilized MedImmune’s Intranet to update employees and highlight progress.
Finally, to quantify results, the team issued an employee survey to evaluate
attitudes toward the campaign.

The team also provided interactive employee training for proficient use of the
program. This included a webcast training seminar, support helpline and email
system, frequently updated FAQs, detailed user guides, and downloadable
materials.

Outcome
Ultimately, the campaign was well-received. A survey of Phase 1 users showed
that the training materials and communications were easy to understand and
provided the information necessary to use the system appropriately. The survey
revealed that a remarkable 95 percent of respondents understood the importance
and benefits of InSight. In addition, 83 percent said that they reviewed the
webcast training prior to the entry date. The majority of respondents stated
that they found the training session to be clear, easy to understand, and that
the webcast was a good way to get a feel for the system. Due to the companywide
educational initiatives implemented by the MedImmune InSight Rollout Team and
the seamless technology execution of the InSight system, 96 percent of users
found the InSight system easy to use. The tremendous success of this project is
a clear indication that team members had made a strong commitment to their
project, their company and, of course, their team.

2. List hyperlinks to any online news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:

Toni Stiefel
Director, Employee Communications & Community Relations, MedImmune

Toni Stiefel has been with MedImmune since November of 2003. Her
responsibilities include management of corporate philanthropy, community
outreach and employee volunteerism. She also manages the employee
communications function, engaging employees in the company’s mission and
business objectives, and educating internal audiences through print, video and
MedImmune’s Intranet.

Prior to MedImmune, Toni was employed with the washingtonpost.com, Procter &
Gamble, MCI, and AT&T. In addition to her corporate experience, she has worked
with non-profits including March of Dimes, My Sister’s Place, Family and Child
Services of DC, and the Greater Washington Board of Trade.