An inside view of your candidate journey—from application to onboarding
Applying to a new job can feel anticlimactic. After careful research, getting excited about your potential fit, polishing your resume, and writing a thoughtful cover letter, you’re likely energized and excited about the possibility of a life-changing role. Then you submit your application and where there should be fireworks, there’s silence. At Danaher, we try to communicate as much as possible along the way, but rather than risk you waiting and worrying, we have created this step-by-step guide to give you a behind-the-scenes view of our recruiting process.
The step-by-step Danaher hiring process
Note: While timelines can vary by role, this guide provides ranges that apply to most hiring processes at Danaher and our OpCos.
Step 1: Application
Once you find a role that fits your experience and career goals, submit your resume and additional details through our online portal. Afterwards, U.S. candidates will be prompted to set up a candidate homepage, which you can use to track your application status.
Timing: Our recruiters typically spend two to three weeks reviewing applications before selecting qualified applicants and scheduling phone screens.
Step 2: Reviewing your application & scheduling a phone screen
If your experience and ambition satisfy the job requirements, we’ll reach out to schedule an initial phone screening, where you’ll have a chance to share more about your background and learn about the role and our company. Depending on the position, a recruiter may then send you additional skill-based assessments.
Timing: If you’re selected to move on to the next round, a recruiter will get in touch to schedule your in-person interviews—all of which will happen within three to five weeks. If you are not selected, we’ll let you know within 10 business days.
Step 3: In-person interviews
Meet members of the hiring team in a series of interviews. At this stage, we want to get to know you better, through stories about your experience, your preferred learning style, and the environment where you do your best work. Depending on the role, you’ll meet with between three and eight stakeholders. We may ask you to complete additional skills-based assessments at this point in the process.
Timing: The in-person interview process can take three to five weeks, depending on scheduling and the number of interviews. You should receive an offer or rejection five to ten days after your final in-person interview.
Step 4: Receiving an offer
If you’re selected for the role, you’ll receive a verbal and written offer including information on your new job title, team, compensation, and benefits.
Step 5: Onboarding & preparing to start your new role
Should you accept our offer, we’ll send you new-hire paperwork and ask you to complete a background check and drug screening.
Timing: Onboarding can take approximately three weeks, but timelines vary.
Thinking about realizing your potential at Danaher? Now that you know what to expect, check out our jobs page to learn more, or to browse open roles.
The Danaher Business System (DBS) sets us apart from every company in the world. DBS is who we are and what we do. It’s a set of tools and processes that help us guide our work, measure how well we execute and create options for doing even better. What does this culture of continuous improvement mean for our people? DBS accelerates associates’ learning and propels their careers. It gives everyone a seat at the table, a common language—and confidence in the value of their work. Read on to find out how DBS can empower you.
Danaher is made up of 16 independent operating companies, or OpCos—these are companies Danaher bought because they’re doing really well, and to take them to the next level. That’s how I became part of Danaher, and it’s how I learned to use the Danaher Business System (DBS) to generate growth for myself and others. When Danaher acquired Cepheid, I was a sales leader there—my whole career had been in sales. Then, some folks from the DBS Office came in to work their magic with us, and I just loved it. Many in sales believe, “It doesn’t matter how I do it, as long as I make my revenue target.” But I like to see a plan. So I was very drawn to the process and structure of DBS. Not everyone takes to DBS as quickly as I did, but trust me, it’s a game-changer for your career at Danaher.
I ended up working in the DBS Office myself, and now I’m in HR to help Danaher implement DBS more thoroughly at the corporate level. DBS works best not when we push it on OpCos or associates, but when people bring us in and ask, “What’s next and how do we get better?” Any time we’re using DBS, it’s about understanding what people need from us, discovering how we go about doing it and then understanding the impact of what we’re doing. The common language and processes we apply to everything we do helps unify the entire organization and create a common language.
Building up from the foundation
For DBS to work, especially innovating across so many different businesses, we have to be open to different ways of working and learning so we can repackage and repurpose concepts and tools. It’s not plug-and-play as I had originally thought. For example, I had a big “aha moment” with one of Danaher’s Life Sciences OpCos. When I was working in the DBSO, I went to their headquarters ready to set up Funnel Management, a tool I knew really well after working at Cepheid, where we had an instrument and reagents that customers ordered on a regular basis. When I got to this company, which has a made-to-order sales model with thousands of orders a month, I realized Funnel Management wasn’t going to work the way I’d thought. I had to basically unlearn everything I knew and listen to what this team needed and how their business ran. Then I figured out how to use Funnel Management as a framework to get started, knowing it was going to be different from other operating companies.
Now, all of their business is managed through the funnel. It just took me shifting my focus from what we couldn’t control to what we could. As part of this, we installed a “Growth Room” so that they would have visual and Daily Management around all the components of the Commercial Engine, from sales to marketing to operations and how they all interact. Growth Rooms help us see how we’re going to get from where we are to where we want to be. It’s a safe space where we continuously pose the same questions: Where are we, where do we want to go, what’s the impact of what we are doing and what needs to change? And even though this all started out as a push, instead of a pull, that OpCo is currently thrilled with the ability to better predict their business and understand fluctuations that happen.
Danaher associates using the Visual Project Management methodology of DBS
Making change through a Policy Deployment breakthrough
In the past year and a half, we’ve been using DBS to make Danaher a place where everybody wants to work—and where current associates don’t want to leave. Whenever we’re looking to make a breakthrough change, whether it’s with a product or a hiring practice, we do it by implementing Policy Deployment. We’re not actually making or deploying new policy, though; we’re figuring out something we don’t already know how to do. And while every OpCo has things they’re doing well, we want to take D+I much further and really look at opportunities to improve recruiting and retention. When we dove in, every single OpCo started identifying gaps. Then, instead of assuming we knew what the root causes were, we used DBS to dig deeper, understand the issues and pose data-driven solutions.
Just like with the work in that OpCo I mentioned earlier, constant feedback and regular monitoring are important components of the kind of problem-solving we do to arrive at a Policy Deployment breakthrough. Keeping an eye on impact helps us visualize the trend quickly and start to pivot when it’s needed. Talking to people, or using Voice of Customer, is an important monitoring tool we continuously apply. It’s a matter of making sure we understand what people are saying before, during and after the process. It’s a way to get that constant feedback and eventually see the change we’re aiming for.
Pulling it all together
At every level, the expectation at Danaher is that people are developing as leaders. DBS is the most certain way to grow in your career. It’s who we are and how we do what we do. Not everyone gets it right away, but I’ve found that patience and persistence are sometimes all it takes for DBS to show its value. And it’s definitely true that people using DBS are more likely to advance their careers than those who don’t use these tools.
When we map our talent, a process we call “chess-boarding,” we use DBS and the Danaher Go program—the set of guiding principles for internal career transitions—to look at where people are, what their potential next role is and what opportunities are open at other OpCos or within their current organization. These principles help reinforce core behaviors with DBS values interwoven throughout. These are meant to help us deliver results, instill trust, apply insights and win as a team. It’s a way for people to advance their development, capabilities, knowledge and understanding.
We are early in the journey, but my current focus is to make sure Human Resources is using DBS in a way that drives business impact. Bringing in DBS helps to create the sort of operating rigor that leads to strategic action. We’re asking, “Do we have enough leaders in the talent pipeline? Do we have a good funnel, both internal and external? Are we developing appropriately?” When everything’s a priority, nothing is a priority, and you end up being very tactical. Now I’m actually taking the Growth Room tool, meant for the commercial space, and I’m repurposing it for leadership development, and to track the progress of the HR initiatives we’re developing.
Want to build your career at a company where you are respected for exactly who you are? Search our open jobs and join our talent community to take the first step!
Processes that make work and life easier have always fascinated Michael Reinholt Andersen. When he learned Danaher was one of the world’s best companies implementing lean manufacturing, he applied to Radiometer, a Danaher operating company focused on diagnostics solutions for acute care settings. Soon after, he landed his dream job as Danaher Business System Leader (DBSL), and after several progressing leadership positions at Danaher, he is now Radiometer’s Vice President of DBS. For over 15 years, Michael has helped associates across Europe drive DBS for real results, teaching them how to eliminate frustration from waste and non-value adding activities in their work—ultimately empowering them to make medical products that improve patient care.
What are you working on day to day at Radiometer?
I’m responsible for DBS implementation across all functions at Radiometer. The DBSL team and I make sure we grow our DBS maturity and build DBS muscles within the organization. We make sure we tackle today’s challenges for the benefit of our customers, associates and stakeholders by training our associates in DBS behaviors and techniques hands-on where value is created. At the end of the day, we’re enabling impactful strategy implementation as well as tactical execution.
Working in the acute care industry, there’s of course a great need for our products; our priority is to always serve our customers well and meet their demands. One of the best ways we support that priority is through perhaps the greatest tools in our DBS arsenal—the kaizen, which is the ultimate problem-solving method. At Danaher, a kaizen is a collaborative, weeklong process where a team focuses on a predefined problem and uses DBS tools to identify opportunities for improvement. The team removes what’s not adding value for the customer and implements a new way of working.
The results are often phenomenal. For example, we’ve recently identified an opportunity to reduce lead times from three to four weeks down to less than 24 hours on a product line, meaning we can react flexibly to customer demand. In another example, we increased the volume coming out of a production area by over 50%, just by taking out the activities that did not add value and by improving quality. It’s amazing.
Where did your career start and how did you end up where you are today?
I started out in operations, and I’ve been working in manufacturing for many years. Back in 1998, I learned about the lean philosophy. I have always wanted to understand how to improve processes, and I was really interested in how the lean toolbox could help drive results. Through research, I learned about Radiometer and our parent company Danaher, which was described as one of the best companies in the world at implementing lean. And I thought, “I’ve just got to try to figure out how to work with them!”
After applying for a role here at Radiometer, I spent a year in Operations, where we made improvements by focusing on daily management. That work led me to a role as a DBS Leader—my dream role. Everything else has felt like a bonus. In my 15 years here, I’ve had 9 different positions across Danaher, in most of our platforms, including being a DBS director for Danaher Europe.
And as Danaher has grown, I’ve been fortunate to bring my DBS skills to wherever they’re most needed. I’ve lived in Finland and Germany, but now I’m back in Denmark. Throughout the operating companies and countries, DBS has been a shared language, and I attribute my success to it, and to the many colleagues I have learned from. DBS simply gives you great results.
Why has DBS been such a career motivator for you personally?
DBS fascinates me because it’s really about keeping things simple. Basically, you look at what customers are willing to pay for. What is valuable for them and what isn’t? It’s much easier to remove something that’s not valuable, which gives you time back to focus on what is. As a person, this really resonates, because I don’t like to do things that I know are a waste of time or something I will have to constantly rework.
By removing waste, you automatically become better. If you don’t have to do things twice, you will be faster. But you have to do it the right way. If you just push people without removing the waste or improving the process, then you’ll end up with what we call “fake DBS,” which only creates frustration.
My favorite analogy for DBS is running. You can’t sprint forever, but you can run for a long stretch. Pushing people is making them sprint, and eventually they will feel the strain and become frustrated. Using DBS makes jobs easier and less frustrating, and that in itself is highly engaging. It brings more efficient, sustainable productivity, and that’s why my colleagues often come out of kaizens eager to apply DBS to more aspects of their work.
The best way of teaching people is to get them on board in a kaizen and let them do DBS together in a team. That’s where people can see that we’re not asking people to work harder, but work better, by removing waste. I think in any job, we all know a process that makes you think, “I just wish it wasn’t like this, but I can’t change it.” In kaizens, we get to change those processes we know can be better.
What would you say is challenging about your job right now?
The last two years have been frustrating. When we solve problems with DBS, it’s best to go to gemba—the place where the issue occurred—so you really understand what’s going on. With the pandemic, we haven’t been able to get out in the world as much as we’ve wanted. However, COVID-19 restrictions also showed us there can be a hybrid between remote and in-person learning, so this has been another opportunity to grow DBS tools. For example, as a global company, kaizens can be more convenient and accessible when done virtually. That said, face-to-face is definitely here to stay, and the team and I are excited to be getting our hands dirty again.
What’s really exciting about this moment at Radiometer?
In the very short term, I’m super excited about some major kaizens coming up. I just love seeing the faces of the people who worked together for a full week to solve a problem and are proud of their accomplishments.
Long term, we just finalized our global DBS strategy for the next three to five years, and I can’t wait to present that to our global team.
So if you have an interest in improving things, if you want to have a great impact, if you want to have great opportunities for yourself, then come to Radiometer and Danaher. Here, you can have a typical career path in your field, but DBS can also be a rewarding career path. Or you can do both at the same time. The tools and insights you’ll gain will benefit you for the rest of your career.
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Interested in joining Michael and the rest of the Radiometer team? Check out open roles across Danaher or join our talent community today.
When Lauren Coetzee moved from South Africa to France, she couldn’t have predicted just how international her life and career would become. Now, as a Senior Project Manager at Cepheid, Lauren oversees finance and accounting processes for distribution throughout Europe, meeting local requirements to bring life-saving medical technology directly to customers. Reflecting on her career journey to and at Cepheid, Lauren discusses how to balance careful planning with adaptability, how side projects evolve into exciting new work, and the difference that rapid diagnostics can make.
Tell us about your role at Cepheid.
As a Senior Project Manager, I work with an extended finance team on our “Go Direct” projects. We started Go Directs three years ago, so we could get our molecular diagnostics directly to customers and give them the Cepheid experience. Buying out distributors and selling directly has helped us reach a bigger market and better compete with other companies, but it’s also made a real-world impact. For example, with the COVID-19 pandemic, where prompt distribution and testing is essential. And we were able to efficiently distribute our new COVID products so people could be tested and treated in a better way.
I do everything related to finance for Go Direct: setting up financial processes, making contacts with local accounting providers within the different countries to ensure that local compliance regulations are met. I also work to translate these rules and regulations into our enterprise resource planning (ERP) system as user requirements to remain compliant with local tax and accounting rules within the various countries. This work requires working closely with the different functions of the business.
Tell us more about the Go Direct project and its impact.
Day-to-day, I do research on countries we’re going into, input their requirements into our system, and piece together a process. Then I make contact with outside accounting firms, explaining our needs and negotiating contracts. That’s how we build partners who can provide us with help and support. And I work closely with my finance colleagues—for example, one person’s really good with taxes and customs—to basically map out everything we could possibly need to know from a finance point of view. I take all the information and compile it into an Excel workbook for each country as a detailed finance plan and roadmap for the project. Then after we move into a country, for about three to six months I act as the accounting manager for the new entities, and I continue to document learnings and details, so that if I look something up, no one has to look it up again. And once things are stabilized, I bring in new accountants, hand my baby over to the accounting team, and then off they go.
It feels like I’m truly making the world a little better, because I know how important fast and accurate medical diagnostics can be. When my son was an infant, he got sick, and I remember sitting there in the waiting room, not knowing what was wrong with him, just waiting. If we can cut that anxiety down from three days to 48 or 24 hours, it makes a huge difference.
How did you come to Cepheid?
I was an auditor for many years at an international firm in my home country, South Africa. Then my husband—a professional rugby player—got a contract to play in Paris. I resigned, but my boss at the time encouraged me to apply at the company’s French branch. I didn’t speak the language, not even to say “hello.” Still, they gave me six months to attend French language school and get my visa in order, and then they hired me. Since I knew English well, I got to work with large international clients and take on big projects.
I enjoyed it, but when I had a baby, I couldn’t continue 18-hour days. I was sad about leaving my job, but I spent time with my son, and then I had another baby, and when he was about a year old I was ready to re-enter the working world. Then Cepheid contacted me through LinkedIn about an accounting position. As an auditor, accounting had always been “the other side of the fence,” and I wanted to try that type of work, so I was very interested in the accounting position.
The funny thing is we had moved to the French countryside, in the middle of nowhere, but the Cepheid office happened to be 20 minutes away. I remember driving to the interview through sunflower fields, thinking I was lost, but there it was. It just seemed like fate, how everything worked out.
How have you learned and grown at Cepheid?
After working as an accountant for three months, they offered me an accounting manager role, where I oversaw three countries and managed a team. During that time, the Go Direct project came up, and I thought it would be a great way to learn more about Cepheid and its processes. I took on Go Direct as a side project and got to meet people in different departments and really grow. When that first playbook was done, my boss approached me, asking if I’d want to do another project. I jumped on the opportunity to improve on my workbook and plans. Things really snowballed from there, as I worked on Go Direct initiatives in Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Poland. Over the past year I’ve taken on six more countries, and it’s been great to be a part of this exciting growth for the company.
I had a lot of mentors along the way, including my boss, Nicolas Brouchon. Even when I was new to the company, people in different departments kindly took the time to explain concepts and processes to me.
I also learned about Danaher Business System (DBS) and got to see its potential for project management. For example, with our first country, Spain, we didn’t have a set plan like we do now. DBS helped us organize and get everyone on the same page. Because when you bring in individuals with different ways of thinking, it’s important to focus and understand what needs to be done in terms of deadlines. Using DBS shows you how everything is interlinked, so you can see how being late affects milestones. So we knew the importance of communication and working as a unit.
What challenges do you face at your job?
The biggest challenge is that every single project is different, since no two countries are the same. Yes, the process is the same, but the local laws and requirements are not. You have to adapt and work with different people. Fortunately, I love this type of problem-solving. It makes you think outside the box, because in your back pocket, you need to have plan A, B, C, and D for different scenarios.
I’m also a bit of a control freak, and it can be hard to rely on things that I don’t really have control of. Because of language barriers, I’m reliant on local accounting providers to be “me” in that country, and speak on my behalf. So I have to make sure I find the right partners—people who you can have a good relationship with, who are professional and trustworthy.
Another challenge is the rapid pace. In the last two months, we went live in four countries. You have to adapt your approach depending on what’s happening at the time. That’s one thing I’ve learned—projects never go according to plan. Fortunately, my experience as an auditor, where you adapt to different clients, has made me flexible and good at communicating with people. It’s all part of project management, and I enjoy it. I also have the benefit of being part of a project team. We help and support each other and work together to find solutions.
What are you excited for the future of your career journey?
I’m excited about Cepheid’s growth, and I’d love to get involved in new projects. I’m especially interested in getting more exposure to DBS; it’s really affected the way I think. The way it helps you see the bigger picture and the correlation between all the different tasks and how everything is interlinked—I’ve always approached problems in this way but I didn’t know it had a name. So I’d like to learn more, maybe become a DBS Leader, and use those skills to help the business in any way possible. I could even expand to areas that are linked to finance but new for me.
Interested in joining Lauren and the rest of the Cepheid team? Check out open roles or join the Danaher talent community today.
When Jennifer Teodorsson joined Cepheid in 2017, she was a program manager on a team of four, with each person handling one or two products at a time. Less than three years later, the team and assay portfolio had both more than tripled in size, and Jennifer took over as director of the team—just as COVID-19 hit and demand for the company’s tests exploded. Below, Jennifer reflects on leadership lessons she’s learned, explains how she decides where to focus in the face of rapid growth, and shares why she’s so excited about her team members’ futures—even if it means she has to find a new job.
First, what do you do at Cepheid?
I’m the director of program management for assay development, which means I lead program managers (PMs) who coordinate the launch of new tests. At Cepheid, a PM is sort of like a startup founder. From the moment the company decides to develop a product until the moment it’s released, PMs are working with a cross-functional team to understand what the market needs and what we can do technically, then navigating all the trade-offs along the way. You have to be well-rounded in a lot of different areas in order to manage that push-pull and keep things running smoothly.
At a lot of companies, a PM might just be handed a product that they run through the usual processes and systems, but here, there’s a lot more empowerment. It’s, “Here’s your team. Here are the needs and the information. Now make it your own.” That can be intimidating at first, because you’re making decisions that at your previous job, your manager probably made for you. But this is unlike any place I’ve been in terms of creating a safe environment to share your ideas. Our leaders aren’t micromanaging from the top down; they’re asking what we need and how they can help. That makes it so much easier for all of us to contribute to the overall strategy and vision.
What are your priorities as a leader?
I lead 12 program managers, each running one or two product development teams, so there’s no way I can dive deep into their day-to-day. I have some processes in place to check on hot topics and know who needs help when, but I focus much more on them as people—their mental health and their development goals. That means being open and transparent, and building our relationships to the point where we have the psychological safety to trust one another. We need honest feedback, whether it’s me offering it or them seeking support when needed. I always tell people in one-on-ones that it’s okay to struggle. In fact, I expect it. Struggling combined with reflection is how we grow.
Another priority for me is that our program managers lean on each other and build a team environment. In a lot of organizations, PMs get siloed within the projects we lead. But we have so much to teach each other. One reason I strive for varied backgrounds and personalities within my team is that, for example, someone extroverted and results-driven can learn a lot from someone more introverted and inquisitive—and vice versa. Often, I’ll put two people with very different strengths on a project together. At first, they might think it’s terrible, but by the end, they’ll end up being great friends.
Tell us more about working with your team members on their development goals. How do you think about growing their careers?
It’s always a conversation. I think it’s so important to talk with someone and understand what their interests really are, because that’s different for everyone. You might want a people-management path, and there are multiple roles within that. Or you might want to go a specialist route and be a principal PM but not have direct reports. Regardless of the goal, it’s imperative that we come up with an action plan to get people the training and experience they need.
Career development is a big part of the Danaher culture, and that’s key—the company walks the walk of encouraging people to move within, or even between, operating companies. If I have a great associate on my team, I might wish they could stay forever. But if they’re interested in exploring another area, I’m still going to reach out to that manager to see if we can set up a rotation or otherwise help the employee pursue their goals. Having a succession plan in place is a good thing; we want one for every role at Danaher. That includes mine—if one of my team members wants this job, that’s great! I’ve had lots of development opportunities of my own over the years, and I don’t need to sit here forever. I want to help that person take over as soon as possible, and I’ll find something else to do.
What are some things you’ve learned at Cepheid?
One thing I’ve learned is how to be my authentic self. I’ve worked in pharma and med tech for most of my career. Coming from that space and being a woman in leadership—especially in a global environment—I had developed a certain approach. But it wasn’t really me, and I wasn’t happy. This is one of the reasons I feel so lucky to have Shibu Gangadharan, our VP of Strategic Development and Program Management, as a manager. I first got to know him during my interview process, and we realized we could really learn from each other. He’s driven and ambitious, but he’s also the most compassionate human being ever. He has such a big heart. Whether it’s engaging with Black Lives Matter or helping people get development opportunities or just making sure we’re all safe during COVID-19, he is so invested in his people. He was also humble enough to recognize that mentorship from other female leaders could help me in ways he couldn’t, so he connected me with Elsa Burgess, our Senior VP of Engineering; Rika Dutau, our VP and GM of Commercial Operations in EMEA; and my own direct manager Wendy Wong, VP of PMO. Having them as role models has really been transformative.
Another source of learning for me has been the Danaher Business System (DBS), which is like a shared culture across Cepheid and other Danaher operating companies—a set of tools and processes we all use to do our work. Now that I know DBS, I wonder how other companies live without it. It makes everything easier and more effective. I even use some of the frameworks, like Problem-Solving Process and Crucial Conversations, in my personal life! I am totally hooked.
Tell us about some of the challenges your team has faced recently.
Like any team—especially in the diagnostic space—a lot of our recent challenges have been related to the pandemic. There’s little capacity for clinical studies beyond COVID-19, which delays our other projects. And of course, there are all the challenges of life outside of work during this time; people’s kids are home from school, there are deaths in the family, people get sick. Other medical treatments have to wait because hospitals are full. Meanwhile, Cepheid is growing quickly—that’s been true for years now—and keeping up with onboarding new people and projects takes its toll.
Regardless of the challenge, though, I think what’s helped most is maintaining our culture. Someone who just came on board can’t know how to do everything from the get-go. But you can create an environment where that person feels comfortable reaching out to a colleague who is already very good at whatever it is they need to learn. We’re all in this together, and I have never been in a situation where I didn’t get the support I needed here. When everyone is open and humble enough to admit what we don’t know, it’s so much easier. I think that’s how we’ve been able to accomplish so much and keep things moving forward every week.
What’s next? Tell us what you’re thinking about right now.
I have a lot of ideas about how to move forward with everything we’ve learned from this time. How do you create a team environment when we’re not only global but increasingly remote and hybrid? I think we have a lot of new tools that can help us do our work better and more quickly. If we used avatars and VR, for example, how might that change the solutions we develop for patients? There are so many opportunities. And while time zone differences are tough, I love that I can talk with someone in South Africa about what’s happening there, or someone in the UK about a new NHS initiative.
Of course, it’s not just about technology. It’s the people behind the computers. When you move from a physical to a virtual environment, things like burnout can be more of an issue. So I’m thinking a lot about how to help my team build not just emotional intelligence, but emotional agility. Building soft skills is really the most interesting challenge. We do want our associates to be performers. But more than that, we want them to be good citizens of the company, and the world.
Interested in joining Jennifer and the rest of the Cepheid team? Check out open roles or join Danaher’s talent community today.
After joining Cepheid as the International Regulatory Affairs team’s first intern, Anisha Panth quickly found herself in a full-time role—and she hasn’t stopped learning since. Below, she shares the challenges and opportunities that come with working in a fast-moving field within a fast-growing company and explains how she’s helping to pave the way for those who come after her, within Cepheid and beyond.
What do you do at Cepheid?
I cover Southeast Asia, Japan, and Australia for our International Regulatory Affairs team—we work with the authorities in each country to make sure they have the information they need to approve Cepheid products. Essentially, it’s our job to show that our test kits are safe and effective. That usually starts with compiling a submission dossier that has our package inserts along with detailed analytical and clinical reports, along with country-specific requirements. Then regulatory authorities will come back to us with any questions they have. Often, we need to reach out to other teams here at Cepheid for the answers, so we do a lot of cross-functional work, especially with R&D, Quality, and Product Transfer. We also collaborate closely with our Regulatory Affairs teammates in the U.S., who have a lot of detailed insight because they’ve already launched the product there.
The way we work differs from country to country. Sometimes we don’t have a local office, but we do have a distributor who acts as an intermediary. In other places, like Australia, we work directly with the regulatory authority. The pace of our work also varies depending on the location. From some places, like South Korea, we’re getting new questions every day. Others might reach out just a couple of times per month.
Tell us about your background and your path to this role.
I was initially introduced to regulatory affairs when I was in New Zealand, studying for my master’s in pharmaceutical sciences; it was part of our core curriculum. At the time, I wanted to work in the lab. But I have a wrist injury that eventually made that too difficult, and I liked the idea of getting closer to patients—even the best product isn’t much good to people if it’s sitting on the shelf. One of my main research topics, for example, was pain management after knee replacement, and our idea was to inject microparticles that would allow patients to start physical therapy more quickly. At first, I assumed we could be helping patients within two or three years. But I realized there’s so much more involved in bringing a product to market, including regulatory work, which I find so interesting. Every country is different, and things are constantly changing. You really have to be on your toes.
After I finished my degree, I moved to the U.S. and did a second master’s in medical product development management with a focus on regulatory affairs. One of my professors, Sowmya Arunkumar, is also the Senior Director of International Regulatory Affairs here at Cepheid. I first joined as an intern on her team. My mentor, Sruti Krishna, handled Southeast Asia at the time, and I took on some of her responsibilities.
She’d trained me well and had been good about documentation, plus the team was very supportive. It went well, and when my internship was over, I was offered a full-time position. That was almost four years ago, and I’ve since been able to move into more senior positions twice, still as a regulatory affairs specialist. And I’m working with Sruti again—she’s currently on the U.S. regulatory affairs team, and I shadow her on one of her core teams working on regulatory affairs for a new product launch.
What kinds of challenges do you face?
Sometimes the questions we get from regulators are vague or difficult to understand, and the guidance they offer can be ambiguous. So, there’s some trial and error. But there are also a lot of resources, whether it’s training or guidance online, or just asking your manager for help. And once you finally figure something out, it’s so satisfying!
There’s also a lot to keep up with in regulatory affairs, which I think is especially hard when you’re new to the field. Regulations are constantly changing, but you do get used to that. Management also provides a lot of tools to help. We have access to a global database called Tarius, and our partners from other teams will come in to educate us and give us a more in-depth understanding of their work.
For me personally, time management has been a challenge. On top of my usual responsibilities, I might be covering for an open role or someone who’s on leave, and I always want to balance the day-to-day with learning new things. But I’m in a mentorship program that’s given me some tools for prioritizing and even delegating, and my manager really helps, too. I have had times when I felt like I was working at every opportunity, but that was because I wanted to—our team is actually very flexible.
While something like COVID-19 obviously requires adaptation, our managers are very understanding of our boundaries. For example, I just got a puppy, so I’ve blocked time on my calendar for training him. Cepheid has grown a lot since I joined four years ago, but I still feel like management is understanding of our needs.
What have you learned since joining Cepheid—and how does the company support that?
My first couple of years here, I was working toward my global certification from the Regulatory Affairs Professionals Society (RAPS). Preparing for the exam takes a lot of time; thankfully, my manager Ting Chen and my entire team were very supportive. And I do think getting certified has made me better at my job; when you understand the background and history behind a regulation, it’s much easier to interpret the current guidance. A lot of the regulations in Southeast Asia, for example, are based on the ones in the U.S. and EU. The more educated you are, the easier it is to quickly find the answer when a teammate comes to you with a question.
And even though I’ve earned my certification, continuing education is still critical in our field. Whenever I see something new, I like to dig into it. Our team has “no-meeting Fridays” every week, so we can focus on building regulatory intelligence. Management definitely understands that there’s new guidance out every day, and it’s important that we keep up to date.
Tell us what it’s been like to contribute to the COVID-19 fight.
Very fast-paced, especially at the beginning. Obviously, this was an unprecedented situation, so the regulatory authorities were adapting in real-time, coming up with new requirements—and we had to adapt along with them. We were constantly on watch to see what guidance they were releasing, and that was exhausting at times. But it was a great learning experience. Of course, each country wanted to move as quickly as possible, and they worked closely with us to expedite approvals. In a place like Singapore, for example, where it would normally take about a year to approve a test kit, we were able to do it within a week or two.
For me, the big takeaway was that we should be working toward more harmonization between countries. We’re often providing very similar documentation to each and standardizing that could make a big difference in an urgent situation like COVID-19. There have been some efforts toward that in the industry over the years, and I’m looking at how our team might be able to get involved.
You’re also a teacher and mentor, both within Cepheid and beyond. Tell us about that work.
The teaching was at San Jose State University, where I studied with Sowmya. She asked me last year if I’d be interested in helping her update her curriculum to align with recent regulations. That was another great learning experience because I was reading so much, from so many different countries. I also got to add some things that I thought would help the students. And I learned a lot from their questions, too! Sometimes it’s really tough to find the answer, and you have to do a deep dive.
The mentoring is here at Cepheid, working with people in our internship program. Because I was an intern myself, I wanted to give back once I had a few years of experience and felt like I was ready. It’s also been an opportunity to see what some aspects of people management look like, in case I want to explore that at some point.
Because of the pandemic, the entire internship program was remote, and I couldn’t just stop by my mentee’s desk. But we adapted pretty quickly. We met every morning to talk about what she was working on—and even a bit of our lives outside work. She had a great attitude, and I really enjoyed it.
What are your plans for the future?
In the short term, I just started working with Australia a couple of months ago, so I’m excited to learn more about their regulations. Our team also supports our Regulatory Affairs colleagues across other regions as new regulations take effect, and I’m looking forward to helping out with that, too. Down the road, I do think people management is something I’d like to explore, and there’s certainly lots of opportunity at Cepheid; we’re growing so quickly. But I have some things to learn before I get to that point. Right now, I want to focus on just being as good at regulatory affairs as I can.
Ultimately, my goal is to be an expert—a one-stop shop when someone has regulatory questions. And when they’re facing a challenge, I want to be someone who can help come up with a solution.
In a lot of companies, regulations are sometimes seen as a hurdle because there are a lot of requirements to meet. But I think we can have much more value as partners, working with our colleagues to get products to patients as quickly as possible.
Interested in joining Anisha and the rest of the Cepheid team? Check out open roles or join our talent community today.
Duchess Adjei joined Beckman Coulter Life Sciences in the middle of the pandemic—and took on a role, and a team, that had never existed before. One year later, she reflects on what drew her to the company after stints at the American Red Cross, Eaton Corporation, the NBA, and the Special Olympics; explains how her work has evolved since; and shares where she and her small-but-growing team are headed next.
What do you do at Beckman Coulter Life Sciences?
My work is rooted in continuous improvement and figuring out the best ways to create innovative experiences for our internal customers. I’m responsible for designing and leading our global communication efforts—primarily our internal communication, though I also support several of our external social media channels, like Glassdoor and LinkedIn. I work out of our Indianapolis headquarters and provide thought leadership to our president, senior leaders as well as associates across the business on change management activities; mergers and acquisitions; inclusion efforts; supporting each functional group across BEC LS; and strengthening associate engagement. It’s my responsibility to help make sure associates across BEC LS feel proud about the work they do every day.
I’ve only been here for about a year, and my role is new, so we’re kind of building the plane while we’re flying it. I started with a lot of assessment work; we did a global survey and also interviewed associates to get some insight into their experiences and how they think about our internal communication channels. Then, I put together a strategy to help us inform, engage, and inspire associates around our strategic priorities for the business. It was imperative that we bring associates along on our journey to make sure everyone understands who we are as a team and what we can do to support them.
Tell us about your path to Beckman Coulter Life Sciences and Danaher.
I have always had communication, marketing, branding and public relations roles. After majoring in marketing and communication, I worked at Eaton Corporation, and after a few years, I completed an executive graduate program at Northwestern University. I’ve immersed myself in a variety of industries, from diversified power management to academia to sports and international not-for-profits. Most recently, I worked with the American Red Cross, leading crisis communication for disasters all over the country. That was rewarding work, but after a few years of constantly jumping on planes, I was looking for what I like to call “a different kind of busy.”
I was open to moving back into the for-profit sector, but I really wanted to be part of a brand that was making a difference in people’s lives—so the critically important work being done at BEC LS, and at Danaher overall, was exciting to me.
I also enjoy building a team and a function from the ground up, so I’ve been happy to delve into this role. Plus, because Danaher has associates all over the world, I knew I’d be able to make an impact on a global level.
What do you believe makes a good leader?
My leadership philosophy is really rooted in empathy. I do a lot of listening, especially when I’m coming into a new role. It’s important to have some quick wins, but I do my best not to jump in and disrupt right away. I try to assess the landscape, understand the needs of the business, the culture, and really take into account what’s happening around me before I move forward with a strategy.
Managing all of that in the middle of a global pandemic has been an interesting experience for sure; normally, I might visit a manufacturing facility to speak with frontline associates and gather insights in person. But being virtual has given me the chance to use other senses, like listening critically to learn from others’ experiences. Even before the pandemic, people were busy balancing life and work —watching their kids, going to meetings, dentist appointments, family emergencies. As a leader, it’s imperative to pay attention to that, and to make sure people have the space to take care of their mental health.
That’s actually one of the elements that really inspires me about Danaher: Family comes first. We hear it from our executives often, and it’s felt throughout our organizations. It’s really special.
I also often think a lot about situational leadership. I try to adapt my own leadership style to meet the needs of my team members. It’s helped me establish a rapport, which is so important to bringing out the best in people and encouraging trust. The Danaher Business System (DBS) also influences my leadership style, because there are a variety of tools and processes that help me support continuous change and improvement.
What’s challenging about your work?
We all want more time in the day! BEC LS is growing exponentially—and while that’s exciting and inspiring, it also means there’s a lot of change, especially for a lean team like ours. I’d love to be able to execute on everything we’re envisioning, but we have to prioritize how our team meets the communication needs of the business. Sometimes that might mean pushing back when someone asks if you can take on a new project and figuring out what you can make work in a limited period of time. But we always figure out how we can make magic happen.
While our work is challenging at times, it’s valuable to celebrate our successes as a team. When BEC LS wins, we all win! Our team has a lot of supporters who assist with that by sharing their appreciation and excitement about our work. That’s so vital for us, especially because our team is new. I love that people are seeing the value of communication and realizing the impact we can have on the business. Whenever I hear that positive feedback, I make sure to share it with our team right away.
What are you looking forward to right now?
There’s a great deal taking place right now. I’m looking forward to learning more about life sciences, which is a new industry for me. I’m excited to really lean into DBS, the opportunity to decide which tools are best utilized, in which situation, and to try and infuse a continuous improvement mindset into every element of the work we do. And now that we’re getting our communication strategy in place, I’m excited to continue implementing and measuring data to support our business priorities. We’re putting together a new Global Communication Council with associates from different functions, levels, and regions, and I think having this group as a sounding board will be great. A lot of our work is trial and error—doing AB testing, seeing what works, figuring out how to go in a different direction when an idea isn’t successful. But that’s actually the most exciting part. I really feel like I’m in the right place at the right time, and this is just the start of what I hope will be a very long journey with BEC LS and Danaher.
Interested in joining Duchess and the rest of the Danaher team? Check out open roles or join our talent community today.
When Aisling Lynch started studying analytical and physical chemistry at the University of West Florida, she didn’t know that a few years later she would end up right across the street—at Pall, a Danaher operating company that develops filtration, separation and purification solutions.
Six years after joining, this lifelong learner reflects on projects that have kept her interested—from R&D work to launching a local chapter of Danaher’s LGBTQ + Friends associate resource group; explains what it was like to transition genders on the job; and shares how she promotes psychological safety (a theme of Danaher’s 2021 Pride celebration) for LGBTQ+ associates and allies alike.
What do you do at Pall?
I work in the Media R&D group, which handles the polymer science and chemistry Pall uses to develop membranes for filters. Our team contributes to projects at various stages—sometimes we research structures and methods we haven’t used before; sometimes we work on a new membrane for an existing project; and sometimes we consult on the launch of a product we’ve developed.
The types of products we work on run the gamut, too, because membranes have many different applications. When I joined six years ago, I started off working on microelectronics membranes, which are used in the production of computer chips. I’ve also worked on membranes that are used in viral filtration and biopharmaceuticals. And now I’m part of the team that’s responsible for hollow fibers, which are shaped like porous straws—they’re used across multiple industries, from food and beverage to biotechnology.
Can you give us an example of a project you’ve worked on, or a problem you’ve solved?
Sure. I spent some time with another group last year adjusting media that our team had developed. It’s a sterile connector for vaccines and pharmaceuticals, and it has to “fail correctly,” meaning it’s welded to the rest of the product in such a way that it detaches at just the right time. You want it to filter everything, until you don’t! I brought in some knowledge we’d gained from a previous project, and we were able to come up with a solution that made the connector more reliable.
Tell us about your background and what brought you here.
I studied biological anthropology at the University of Florida, with a minor in zoology—I was focused mostly on evolutionary biology in primates, though I also did some work on fish mating habits. Unfortunately, I graduated right before the financial crisis and didn’t find a role in my field, so I ended up taking a job as an office clerk at the university. After a few years, I decided to get a second degree in chemistry, which I really enjoyed, and I applied to the University of West Florida (UWF) in Pensacola. I’m from here, and I wanted to move back to help take care of my dad, who has a disability.
I ended up focusing on analytical chemistry, and I did some projects on pollutants accumulating in the food chain. One involved testing tissue samples from shark livers as a way to identify hotspots of chemicals called polychlorinated biphenyl, which can damage the endocrine system. I knew about Pall when I was in school, because it’s right across the street. Mike Ishee, who is now my manager, also graduated from UWF and I’d attended a few of his talks.
If I’m learning, I’m happy—so I decided to apply for a position with Pall because I could tell there would always be something new to keep me interested. Plus, it seemed like a cool place to work—which turned out to be true. I went through my gender transition here, and my colleagues were amazing.
Tell us more about that experience. What was it like to transition at Pall?
People went with it. I can’t say no one batted an eye; one or two people had questions. But as long as you’re asking sincerely, I don’t mind talking about it. I’d actually known I was trans since I was young, and I’d attempted to come out at 21 but got scared back into the closet. So, by the time I joined Pall, I had spent years ignoring my true self. Eventually, that just comes to a head. If I didn’t deal with it, I knew my work and everything else would suffer.
I started the transition in 2019, but coming out at work was really a process. I told the people I wanted to tell, in my own time. I started with my closest coworkers, who were awesome—they took me out to get my first ear piercings for my birthday! Once I was comfortable with them knowing, I told my boss, who was super cool, and then I just worked my way up the chain of command.
I wasn’t sure what the policies were and how things would work, and those conversations helped assuage my worries. People didn’t always have answers right away, but over time they found them for me.
About a year later, I had to go on medical leave for ankle surgery. Because I was out of the office, I was able to be Aisling 24/7—that’s who I was to my friends, that’s how I was comfortable. During that leave, on National Coming Out Day, I came out on Facebook—which included coming out to coworkers who didn’t yet know. At that point I came to realize I was going to experience the same acceptance at work that I experienced with friends and those closest to me. Ever since, I’ve been me—Aisling.
You started the local chapter of Danaher’s LGBTQ + Friends associate resource group. Why did you want to get involved in that way?
I’d done advocacy work before, on a different topic—I was the local leader for the American Chemical Society, which does outreach and promotes scientific literacy. With LGBTQ+ and Friends, I’d already joined as a member, but then late last year I thought, “Maybe there’s something else I can do.” So I’ve been working on communications and spreading the word, getting our chapter up and running. I think it’s important that we’re visible.
If you’re a member of the LGBTQ+ community and you worry about losing your job because of it, you understand the value of working somewhere that truly supports its LGBTQ+ associates. Seeing Pall and Danaher follow through on their commitments to D&I is huge—it means one less thing to worry about; it means less stress in your life.
And it can be a big help for our allies, too. We recently started a reverse mentoring program, pairing up ARG members with associates who want to support their colleagues. I’m working with a manager who has a couple of LGBTQ+ team members and who realized she had some questions. It’s been going well—we all learn something from one another.
Tell us about your goals for the future, in terms of your career and the ARG.
On the career side, I want to keep growing—to become a better scientist, and to develop skills like project management. I’m also working on a master’s degree in materials chemistry at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT).
Ultimately, research and development is what I love to do, whether it’s being handed a problem and figuring out a solution, or stumbling upon something interesting and seeing what I can do with it. As long as I can practice curiosity, I’m good.
With my ARG work, I just want to help people feel more comfortable being themselves and with one another. It can be easy as a member of the LGBTQ+ community in the Pensacola area to make assumptions and get defensive about the beliefs others might hold. But I do want to avoid reverse gatekeeping. If someone’s kid comes out and they’re looking for advice, we can help. And of course, we want to make sure LGBTQ+ associates are always comfortable being themselves at work. Everyone deserves that, whether you’re the only religious person in a group of scientists or the first trans person in your office. You should always feel safe being who you are.
Interested in joining Aisling and the rest of the Pall team? Check out open roles across Danaher or join our talent community today.
From mastering visual daily management, a Danaher Business System tool, to managing a distributed team, Claire Arthurs is an efficient everywoman. For the last 18 months, Claire has held a unique dual role as both Scrum Master Manager and Engineering DBS Lead at IDBS. That means she spends a lot of time conducting “test storms” to figure out the best tools and processes to help her team put out a steady stream of software releases and updates. Below, she shares her career path, the details of working with DBS, and what she’s most excited about next.
Tell us about your role. What are you working on day-to-day at IDBS?
When people ask me what I do, I often say, “You might be here awhile while I explain!”
First, as Scrum Master Manager on the Engineering Leadership team, I manage a group of seven scrum masters and one project manager. Because we’re a software company, we work with agile development, and I’m always looking to improve our processes and ensure that the team is productive and efficient at putting out high-quality products. And of course I’m also looking out for the welfare of the team.
Second, as the Engineering DBS Lead, I’m responsible for teaching and implementing DBS principles and tools to the 80+ employees within Engineering, which is the biggest department at IDBS. It’s challenging to distribute my time between the two roles, but I enjoy it. Continuous improvement is both a Danaher mindset and a passion of mine—we can always be more efficient. Ultimately, my day-to-day is quite varied and depends on what we’ve got going on throughout the year with our software.
You’ve spent most of your career at IDBS. Tell us why you came and about your journey at the company.
I’ve always wanted to work in R&D. I have a degree in Chemistry, with a focus in Medicinal Chemistry, and a PhD in Organic Chemistry from the University of Manchester, where I looked at potential anti-cancer drugs. My first job was as an Analytical Scientist at Servier, a French pharmaceutical company based in Gerrards Cross in the south of England, which was really interesting work. After about two years I was beginning my next job hunt, and I got a call from a recruiter about a software tester role at IDBS. To be honest, I was asking myself, “What’s a software tester?” Lucky for me, they were specifically looking for someone with chemistry experience to act as a coach and teacher.
At IDBS, I worked my way up from a tester to a test lead until a maternity leave cover for a program manager came up. I decided I’d give it a go for nine months and could always return to my test lead role, but I enjoyed it so much that I stayed on and became a scrum master. It was a steep learning curve at first, and I had to learn everything from scratch. Despite feeling completely out of my comfort zone, I learned how to install a database, work with Oracle, and so many other things with the help of wonderful mentors.
Ultimately, I owe a lot of my journey to doing things that make me uncomfortable—and today, I manage a whole team of scrum masters. I had also been pursuing DBS as a sideline back then, so when the Engineering DBS Lead opened, I took the opportunity, which is how I ended up with a dual role.
What are some of the challenges you face?
First of all, IDBS is growing very quickly, and it’s challenging to keep up with all the different streams of work and balance the time spent between my two roles. Our varied software release timeline often means there’s a pull on my time in one of the areas more than the other. I’m the first person my team comes to for answers and support, but I can’t always reply as quickly or thoroughly as they’d like. I’ve had to get comfortable with not knowing every detail myself, and I try to lead by example. The goal is to document our assumptions and take educated risks in order to move forward. If we have to rework, we’ll rework.
Another challenge is that I’m bringing new, ambitious talent onto the team, and I know they’ll soon move on to new roles. The need to build up my team with a good succession plan and make sure there are no gaps is always at the back of my mind. Overall, it’s key to my role to make sure my team can move forward without getting blocked. It’s hard, but we’re getting better at it all the time.
How does DBS impact the way you work?
We often take the DBS tools, originally designed for manufacturing, and tailor them for engineering. One of our success stories is with visual daily management, which helps us track critical metrics like pass rates and build failures in automation. Our motto is to automate as much as possible with minimal manual effort—this helps us make sure we’re adding value instead of overhead. We do weekly visual management where we look at the data and say, “Okay, that’s red. Why is that red? Let’s have a think about what we can do to make it green.”
We also make use of the DBS problem-solving process; the Engineering team is good at what we call “try storms,” where we try something out, see if it works, then change it and come back and try it again. In general, if we use the tools the way they’re prescribed, we get a waterfall-type approach of delivering software. And there are also times we flat-out realize a tool won’t work for us, and that’s fine. We only want to use the tools that give us the most value, while staying true to the principle of the tool itself.
How do you make sure everyone is on the same page when it comes to software releases?
We’ve got 14 feature teams, and we all work constantly towards releases, whether they’re incremental updates or big releases for major modules. This generally involves a biweekly release of new software or software updates, so it’s typical for us to work in two-week sprints. There’s a scrum master on each team, sometimes shared across teams, to help everyone work through challenges and make sure we always deliver on time.
Additionally, it helps that, since IDBS became part of Danaher, we’ve increased our transparency with other departments. The goal of the Engineering team is pushing software to market, but we now understand that Marketing, Sales, and Customer Support all need to be ready to support the release, too. The whole company has regular Town Halls, and departments have begun holding monthly gatherings to celebrate wins and share best practices and we’ve really benefited from the way this brings people together.
What are you most excited about for your work in the months and years ahead?
Most of all, I’m looking forward to seeing my team in person. I recruited three new people last year, and I still haven’t met two of them face-to-face. Though we’re all used to working from home by now, I can’t wait to get together and talk about what we want to improve for the future. It will be so nice to go back to the office and see everybody.
Meanwhile, I always want to make it easier for my scrum masters to be successful in their jobs. Although I’m very engineering-focused from the DBS side, I’d like to branch outside Engineering, learn about the rest of the Danaher OpCos, and potentially get involved in doing Kaizens and events with Sales or with the commercial side of the business.
Last but not least, we’re just putting out a new product called Polar, and I’m excited about how it will be taken up in the market and what improvements we can make on that offering. With the continued integration across teams, the goal is to iterate and get value to our customers more quickly.
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Interested in joining Claire and the rest of the IDBS team? Check out open roles across Danaher or join our talent community today.
Whether it’s parenting during a pandemic or helping her globally distributed team transition to working entirely from home, the last year has offered no shortage of challenges for Kirti Bhogle. But thanks in part to Radiometer’s supportive culture, she and her colleagues have been able to take those challenges in stride. Below, Kirti shares what drew her to the company, what she’s learned as a manager during COVID-19, and what she’s excited about in the years to come.
What do you do at Radiometer?
I’m a manager in the software department of our Research & Development organization; we work on developing new medical and in-vitro devices. It’s my job to plan projects and establish the process we’ll follow, then keep things on track for release. That includes a lot of stakeholder communication—collaborating closely with our colleagues on the hardware side in Electronics, Mechanics, Chemistry, Compliance, and QA to understand what they need, and then translating those requirements at the product level. Because Radiometer makes diagnostic equipment and other devices used to treat patients, we must meet precise standards. We can build in all kinds of fancy functionality, but it won’t matter if it doesn’t meet regulations or keep people safe.
From there, my job is really about mentoring my team and helping them execute, whether that’s giving them clarity on a task or just asking if they have any hiccups and removing impediments to their work. We have close to two dozen people, half here in Denmark and half in Bangalore, India, where Radiometer has a development center, and we also sometimes interface with a project team in San Diego at SenDx, which is another one of Danaher’s businesses under Radiometer America.
Tell us about your background and why you joined the team.
I studied computer applications in India, where I’m from, and after I finished my master’s I started working for a consultancy there, managing a team that worked for various clients. One of those clients was based in Denmark, and I ended up moving here for a year to work on a project. They asked me to stay as an employee, but I wanted to go back home and start a family.
I did, and my son was born in 2009, but it was tough—I was working 12 to 14 hours every day, and I felt like I wasn’t giving him enough time. I knew from living in Denmark that the norms around work-life balance were very different, so I got in touch with the company I’d been at before, and they offered me a position. I worked there for several years, and then Radiometer reached out. At the time, they were just starting to build the distributed team in both Denmark and India, and they thought I might be a good fit.
It was a completely new domain for me; I’d never worked in medical devices. As I learned about the product, I was intrigued. I remembered having to get blood tests when I was pregnant, and how critical it was that those results were correct. I liked the idea of being able to contribute to that process in some way and make a difference.
What’s learning and development like at Danaher—especially when you’re new?
I feel like the company has really invested in not just what I need to complete a project, but my own personal development. When I joined, there was a well-defined onboarding plan, and it was customized to my background. I had a lot of mentoring from not only my own manager but the specialists we work with in project management and compliance. And the guidance went beyond just a few hours of training—it was continuous support until I felt completely confident on my own. There are also a lot of opportunities to learn new tools and skills here, not only through the Danaher Business System but externally as well. For example, when we decided to implement a SAFe workflow, which stands for scaled agile framework, I was able to get certified and do a six-day training.
I started at Radiometer as a project manager, and I’ve also had a lot of support moving into my current role—even in terms of deciding whether I wanted it at all. My boss and the management team thought I could succeed in a people management role, but they didn’t push or just throw me into it. We talked about what it would take, the challenges I’d face, and the training I’d need, especially managing a team that’s located all over the world. I decided to go for it, and now I’ve brought on my first new team member and we’re in talks about expanding the team further.
Tell us about some of your challenges.
One that comes to mind is shifting from a kanban workflow to a scrum-based system, and then to SAFe. That was a couple of years ago, when I was in the project manager role, and there were a lot of reservations at first. We have a wide variety of experience on our team, including some associates who have been with Radiometer for decades and were used to a certain process. Plus, we were on a deadline to deliver a project, so people worried about changing the process and structure.
I think what really helped was the message from management that it was okay to fail. My manager was very much an ambassador for SAFe, but we still framed it as something we’d try for one release. If it succeeded, we’d expand from there. And that’s exactly what happened—we established the foundation, and the rest of the department is now making the same transition.
Another challenge has been bridging the cultural gap in terms of geography. Here in Denmark, people tend to be quite upfront, whereas in India, people might not argue with someone more senior to them out of respect, even if they don’t actually fully agree. And of course, we all have different personalities, which can also create communication gaps. I remember we did an interesting exercise during a team-building workshop—we gave everyone the same sentence, and then each of us shared how we interpreted it. Our answers were so different! I think experiences like that have helped us open up a bit to understand and celebrate our differences. Before the COVID-19 outbreak, we also made sure to travel at least once per quarter; the team in Copenhagen would visit the team in India, or vice versa. We also had a company-sponsored “ONE team” event in Dubai for a week, where both teams participated. That time being face-to-face and solving problems together is so important.
What’s different about leading a distributed team during COVID-19?
The pandemic has definitely prompted me to adjust my leadership approach. Some of it is logistical, like arranging for shipping when an associate needs physical access to a device, but most of it is just making sure people have support. Some of our team members have very young kids, or kids at home who would normally be at school, and they might need more flexibility around when they work. Trust is important; it’s my job as a manager to set expectations, but I don’t want to pressure people to do exactly what I would do or to keep certain hours.
We in the management team have also tried to put some extra effort towards knowing the temperature of the team, whether people are feeling stressed—and making sure they feel comfortable speaking up. That can be tougher not only because we’re missing our quarterly visits, but because even those of us who usually work in the same place haven’t seen each other for so long. But we do our daily stand-ups on video, and if I notice someone more introverted seems uncomfortable raising an issue with the full team, I’ll bring it up during their one-on-one and see how I can help.
What are you looking forward to right now?
Beyond the opportunity for things to open up so we can all get together again, we have a release coming up near the end of the year that will be a major milestone for our team. We’re working toward rolling out a new generation product in 2024, and this is the step that will set us up for the next two years.
Interested in joining Kirti and the rest of the Radiometer team? Check out open roles across Danaher or join our talent community today.
