When Matrix Teams in Life Sciences Stop Collaborating: Diagnosing the Real Problem

The symptoms are easy to recognize. The account team meeting that nobody prepares for. The MSL who learns about an important customer conversation from someone outside the company. The strategic account manager who can’t get the field reimbursement manager to return a call. The commercial review where three functions present conflicting information about the same account.

Everyone agrees collaboration matters. Most life sciences companies list it as a core value. But agreeing that collaboration is important and actually collaborating are two different things. When matrix teams stop working well together, the consequences show up in missed opportunities, frustrated customers, and business results that fall short of potential.

The challenge is that collaboration breakdowns rarely have a single cause. Teams that struggle often struggle for multiple, overlapping reasons. Fixing the wrong problem wastes time and erodes confidence. Diagnosing the real problem is the first step toward solving it.

Common Symptoms, Different Root Causes

When collaboration fails in life sciences matrix teams, the symptoms tend to cluster into predictable patterns.

• The Silo Problem. Functions pursue their own strategies independently. Sales, market access, medical affairs, and other groups have their own goals, their own plans, and their own customer interactions. The customer sees a vendor, not a partner. Root cause: This is typically an organizational design and incentive problem—each function is measured on its own metrics, not on shared account outcomes.
• The Role Clarity Problem. Team members don’t know who is responsible for what. This leads to either duplication or gaps—both frustrate customers and waste resources. Root cause: Roles and responsibilities haven’t been explicitly defined, especially around account leadership expectations.
• The Trust Deficit. Team members don’t share information because they don’t trust each other. Instead of open communication, there’s guarded interaction. Root cause: Trust deficits often develop through accumulated experiences—broken commitments, information hoarding, or failure to address conflicts constructively.
• The Capability Gap. Team members want to collaborate but don’t know how. They lack the skills to influence without authority or navigate cross-functional dynamics. Root cause: Collaboration skills are often assumed rather than developed.
• The Process Void. The team has no shared operating rhythm—no regular meetings, no joint planning process, no mechanism for exchanging information. Root cause: The organization established the account team structure but didn’t put supporting processes in place.

Different Problems Require Different Solutions

Different root causes require different interventions. Addressing a trust deficit by creating new processes won’t help. Providing collaboration training won’t fix a structural incentive problem.

Effective diagnosis requires honest assessment of where the team is actually stuck—and then addressing the issue at the right level. Collaboration problems must be addressed at three levels: organizational, team, and individual. Focusing on only one level leaves gaps.

When Teams Need a Reset

When teams are newly formed, reconfigured, or simply stuck, a focused intervention can accelerate progress. Creating dedicated time for alignment—to build trust, clarify roles, establish shared goals, and define how the team will work together—produces concrete agreements that guide behavior going forward.

In the press of daily work, teams rarely stop to discuss how they’re working together. Structured alignment sessions force that conversation.

A Real-World Example

Following a major merger, a global animal health company faced the challenge of integrating two organizations with very different cultures. One generated consensus before making decisions; the other made decisions and built support around them. One believed open disagreement could be healthy; the other thought conflict was dangerous.

Leadership recognized that simply announcing the new organization wouldn’t create collaboration. By systematically addressing cultural differences, strengthening cross-functional alignment, and building trust across legacy organizations, they achieved improved alignment on strategies and objectives, enhanced communication, and senior leaders who demonstrated commitment to building a unified culture.

The Leadership Imperative

Collaboration doesn’t happen by declaring it a value. It happens when leaders create the conditions for it to succeed, address barriers when they emerge, and hold people accountable for collaborative behaviors.

This requires honest diagnosis. When a matrix team stops collaborating, the temptation is to address the symptom rather than the cause. But treating a trust problem with process solutions, or a structural problem with training, doesn’t work.

Leaders who accurately diagnose the real problem—and then address it at the organizational, team, and individual levels—can transform struggling matrix teams into high-performing ones. Those who leave collaboration to chance will continue to see the symptoms: missed opportunities, frustrated customers, and results that fall short of what the team should be able to achieve.

The customers have already integrated their thinking. They expect their pharmaceutical partners to do the same.

WLH Consulting has helped life sciences organizations diagnose and resolve matrix collaboration challenges for over two decades. To discuss how to move your teams from dysfunction to high performance, contact us at wendy@wlhconsulting.com.

References

1. WLH Consulting, Inc. (2024). “Key Account Management and Field Collaboration.” WLH Pharma Sales Force Transformation Capabilities.

2. WLH Consulting, Inc. (2024). “The 3 C’s of Collaboration, Coordination, and Communication.” Account Management Academy Program Materials.

3. Heckelman, W. L. (2020). “Create a High-Performing Team to Deliver Results.” In Change and Thrive: A Modern Approach to Change Leadership. WLH Learning Solutions.

4. Heckelman, W. L. & Garofano, C. (2004). “Jump Starting a Corporate Merger.” OD Practitioner, 36(3), 10-14.