The document discusses the reorganization of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ECNP) to make it more adaptable to changing environments. Previously, ECNP had a management-heavy structure organized by function that was inflexible. It restructured into a project-based model with project managers overseeing work packaged by project rather than function. This new structure is more agile, flexible, and efficient. It allows resources and staff to be reallocated more easily across projects. The transition required legal restructuring, rewriting roles, training staff, and changing behaviors around documentation and project planning. The result is a leaner organization that is now better wired for continuous change.

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Executive Director
Scale & culture: How to make an organisation
responsive to a massively changing environment
ALEXANDER SCHUBERT
European College of
Neuropsychopharmacology
© Associations Network 2015

2. 2www.ecnp.eu
Changing a culture
The case of ECNP
Lausanne 7 May 2015

3. www.ecnp.eu
 An independent scientific association
 Dedicated to the science of treatments for
disorders of the brain
ECNP in a nutshell
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 Annual scientific congress of 5,000-6,000 people
 10-15 scientific and educational meetings per annum
 Major international scientific journal
Key outputs

4. www.ecnp.eu
• Three of the largest pharma companies
producing central nervous system (CNS)
medications exit the field
The rainy day
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• Followed by exits or major scalings down
by almost all the others
Resulting in a major body blow to the funding model

5. www.ecnp.eu
• One third of Europeans suffer from a disorder of the brain in
any given year
• At a total cost estimated of
€798 billion
annually
And yet, and yet . . .
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No appetite for let-up
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• Continuously expanding programme of activities mandated
• With more initiatives
• And in more areas

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So: a two-fold challenge
 Reorganise for a much more constrained and inhospitable
funding environment
 Reorganise for continued – and
continuous – change and disruption

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The pre-existing structure
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Two Assistant Managers
Manager
Office
AssistantTwo Assistant Managers
Manager
Science, Education and
Communication
Manager
Congresses and Meetings
Executive Director

9. 9www.ecnp.eu
Pros and cons
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Good
 Clear lines of oversight
 Coherent and intelligible to those within it
Not so good
 Management-heavy
 Siloed
 Inflexible

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 Agility – ability to form and re-form quickly
 Structure, rigour – not complexity
 Pragmatism, parsimony
 Small infusion of creative chaos
www.ecnp.eu
Organising for success – key priorities
“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most
intelligent. It is the one that is most adaptable to change.”
„Charles Darwin‟ (aka Leon C. Megginson)
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The structure re-formed
Project Manager
Manager
Operations
Project Manager Assistant Manager
Project Manager
Manager
Congresses and
Meetings
Executive Director
Project Manager
Project ManagerProject Manager
Project ManagerProject Manager
Direction SupportCo-ordination Execution
Project ManagerProject Manager

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 Preserves the sequence of decision-making and the flow of
responsibility
www.ecnp.eu
What’s the difference?
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Direction SupportCo-ordination Execution
 But reorganises it to better reflect the way the
office actually works

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 Workflow is packaged according to projects, not functions
 Multiple reporting lines
 Start-to-finish Α-Ω involvement
 Departments replaced by ‘portfolios’
 Every role is externally directed – there is no
‘management’, only ‘oversight’
 Line management separated from project management and
centralised
www.ecnp.eu
So:
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 More flexible – allows time to be moved around where
needed
www.ecnp.eu
What’s better
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 Minimises management time – more efficient
 Encourages greater sense of ownership (and satisfaction
 Provides potential for greater variety of
tasks and movement between roles

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 Legal restructuring
 Complete redesign of role descriptions
www.ecnp.eu
What all this took
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Executive Committee
 Definition of strategic context and
desired outcome
 Financial allocation
www.ecnp.eu
Project roles
Executive Director
 Translation into operational imperative:
prioritisation, timeframe, resource
allocation, outputs
Project Manager
 Project plan, timeline, detailed budget
 Team co-ordination
Manager Operations
 P&O
 Payment administration and financial
record-keeping (budgets, invoices, etc.)
Portfolio Leader
 Resources assignment
 Project transition
 Running oversight, quality assurance
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Project Owner (‘Champion’)
 Definition of endpoints and outputs
 Content development

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 Legal restructuring
 Complete redesign of role descriptions
www.ecnp.eu
What all this took
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 Systematic codification of a new way of working

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How projects are formed and delivered
Executive Committee
Project Team
Portfolio Leader
Mandate
Define scope
Project Manager (Y1) Project Manager (Y2)
Assign resources/Oversee transition
Update
Transition
Co-ordinate
Execute
Update
Executive DirectorProject Owner
OperationalStrategic
Define goal
Vision
Strategy
Delivery:
Execution
‘The planning’
Business case
Project plan
Delivery:
Implementation

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 Legal restructuring
 Complete redesign of role descriptions
 Systematic codification of a new way of working
www.ecnp.eu
What all this took
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 Training
 Re-training

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 Ensuring projects managers have authority in the absence
of line management power
 Induction of new hires
 Behaviour change – especially around documentation
(project plans, budgets) and post-project measurement
www.ecnp.eu
Sticking points
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 An extremely lean organisation
www.ecnp.eu
But the result . . .
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 With a very high retention rate
 Wired for
change

22. www.ecnp.eu
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