Like in any industry, clinical trial teams face challenges that can delay their progress. The high-stakes and dynamic nature of these projects makes them more complex to navigate—and when teams involved in these clinical trials underperform or fail, the consequences can be severe. 

These pitfalls can lead to costly delays and increased risks that not only impact sponsors and investigators but ultimately affect the patients and compromise the goal of delivering them life-saving treatments. A McKinsey report highlights the bigger effect of underperformance of clinical trials, stating that “the current climate for biopharma innovation is seemingly ideal, with 4,300 clinical trials starting in 2022 alone, R&D productivity remains stubbornly low.” The study points to lengthy clinical trial timelines and increasing trial costs as causes for this low R&D productivity. 

Clinical research improves patient care, boosts human health, and advances medical knowledge. That is why it’s important to know the challenges usually encountered by clinical trial teams and address them early on to avoid drastic consequences. 

Over the years, Cultivate has worked with clinical trial teams across multiple therapeutic areas through partnerships with Top 5 CROs and Top 20 pharmaceutical companies. Our collaboration with these high-stakes groups allowed us to identify the common issues that can derail team performance and success. At the same time, we’ve determined the best practices to help them overcome these challenges and perform at their best. 

4 Common Pitfalls of Clinical Trial Teams and How to Avoid Them 

1. Lack of Clear Communication

Clinical trials often involve cross-functional teams spread across different companies, locations and departments, working on different hours and aspects of the study. 

Because of this, communications can be fragmented among the members of the team and other collaborators outside of the study teams themselves. This miscommunication can involve ineffective dialogue channels, lack of information sharing, and misalignment among the people involved. All these can create confusion resulting in duplicated efforts, missed deadlines, and non-compliance with protocols. 

High-performing teams can implement structured and consistent communication processes to avoid this broken communication and the eventual misunderstandings that come with it. They should encourage open and transparent dialogues with regular touchpoints to ensure all team members are aligned on the objectives, progress, and challenges. 

2. Unclear Roles and Responsibilities 

In a high-stakes environment where multiple departments, roles, and stakeholders are involved, people can lose sight of who is responsible for what and when certain tasks should be completed. This is why misalignment or misunderstanding of expectations among team members is one of the usual pain points in clinical trials. 

When roles and responsibilities are unclear, it can lead to redundancy of tasks, confusion in the process, and delays in the overall progress. Moreover, ambiguity affects the team’s confidence and trust in each other. It creates a "siloed" environment where collaboration falters, causing inefficiencies impacting the research. 

From the project’s onset, clinical trial teams should establish a comprehensive plan outlining each task, who is responsible for it, and when it needs to be completed. Regular check-ins are also crucial to ensure that responsibilities are being carried out as expected and to address any confusion or changes in the timeline. 

3. Poor Team Cohesion 

Because they work under intense pressure, people in clinical trials may focus more on the immediate tasks and challenges they must address. They can easily get caught up in day-to-day work, focusing on immediate deadlines and individual responsibilities. 

While attention to detail is critical, losing sight of the bigger picture—the shared goals and purpose of the trial—can cause teams to become uncoordinated and disjointed. It becomes harder to foster collaboration and motivation, which are essential for achieving timely and high-quality results when team members find little connection to the overarching mission. 

To keep everyone on the same page, it’s important to regularly communicate the shared goals of the clinical trial and how each individual’s role contributes to the bigger picture. Leaders should remind teams not only of what they’re doing but why they’re doing it—helping them stay connected to the ultimate purpose of bringing new, life-saving treatments to patients. Periodic reflections on the project’s progress and reaffirmation of the mission can help teams re-align when they get sidetracked by smaller issues. 

4. Insufficient Onboarding for New Team Members 

Clinical trials often involve long timelines, and throughout a project, new team members may join as replacements or additional support. However, these newcomers can struggle to integrate into the existing team without a proper onboarding process. 

Insufficient onboarding leads to confusion about roles, unfamiliarity with the project’s status, and a lack of understanding of team dynamics. This can hinder task progress, create unnecessary friction between team members, and lower overall team performance. Furthermore, the entire trial can suffer from miscommunications, inefficiencies, and a longer ramp-up time, putting crucial deadlines and quality standards at risk. 

Create a robust onboarding process that gives new team members the resources they need to get up to speed quickly. This includes clear documentation of the trial’s progress, defined roles, team expectations, and relevant protocols. Assign a mentor or point of contact to each new member to ensure they feel supported as they integrate into the team. Regular check-ins with new hires can also help gauge their understanding and smooth the transition into their role. 

Empowered Teams are Successful Teams 

Successful clinical trials depend on more than just expertise and protocols—they require well-functioning, cohesive teams. Addressing common pitfalls like miscommunication, unclear roles, misalignment, and insufficient onboarding is crucial to ensuring that teams can collaborate effectively and stay on track with the project’s goals. 

Cultivate understands these unique challenges clinical trial teams face. We’ve seen firsthand how the right teamwork strategies can turn underperforming teams into success stories.  

Through our clinical trials teaming solution, we help teams tackle these pain points directly. We leverage our comprehensive teaming ecosystem to empower teams working on critical projects, in particular: 

• We provide a systematic, proactive, and intentional approach to teaming, which supports people in the flow of work through check-ins, resources, coaching, and nudges. 

• We help embed positive teaming habits and behaviors that foster positive team norms, which improve collaboration and performance. 

• We drive tangible results and generate value for our partners. Among them are one neuroscience study with 18 months with zero escalations ($198K savings); one BioPharma company and its CRO with zero turnover for 12 months ($467K savings); and another study with multiple studies enrolled up to 3 months ahead of schedule ($90M savings). 

Are you ready to take your clinical trials team to the next level? Know more about our comprehensive teaming solutions. Download our guide on "8 Teaming Behaviors for Clinical Trial Team Success.” 

Contact us today to learn how we can help your team achieve its full potential.