Delivering the impossible – how I launched a brand new product four months earlier than planned

R&D Manager Gayle, who's worked at RB 16 years, on how entrepreneurial thinking has helped her succeed.

At RB, we move fast. That’s exactly what Gayle discovered when she was challenged to deliver a brand new product, four months ahead of schedule.

How did she do it? By thinking entrepreneurially.

What being entrepreneurial means to Gayle:

To me, being entrepreneurial means thinking differently all the time. There are so many things happening that you don’t necessarily think about being entrepreneurial. You just have that mindset, the ability to always think differently. We will always be able to achieve what we’ve set out to do because we can think differently to find a solution, or we’ll overhaul the way we are doing something.

Entrepreneurship at RB:

During my time at RB, one of my biggest challenges was delivering a brand new product. This was difficult in the first instance because we were working with a new manufacturer, which meant that there were many unknowns.

Launching the product four months earlier than originally agreed, however, proved to be the biggest challenge.

If we didn’t push ourselves to reach this target, we wouldn’t be able to launch for another six months, resulting in the potential loss of hundreds of thousands of pounds in revenue. The size of the prize made us even more motivated to take these risks.

The tight deadline required us to completely reassess our ‘traditional’ processes. It was about thinking ‘how can we get to the finish point faster.’ We thought about processes that we would normally run sequentially and considered running them in parallel.

One of the barriers in the project was changing the mindset not only of the people in the team, but also those on the periphery that we interacted with along the way.

Securing their buy-in and communicating to them what we were doing differently and why was essential.

To achieve this, it was necessary to take risks and make sure that everyone was comfortable with them.

In the end, we actually managed to launch earlier than planned, which was a fantastic achievement.

We worked well together as a team; we all trusted each other and we knew what everyone was responsible for. Communication was incredibly important, and it enabled us to work better together.What was the funniest thing that happened during this project?

One of the funniest experiences that happened during this project was when we had to stick little ribbons to 1,500 insoles in just 3 days. It was a strange task, but essential for reaching our target.

We were running a test with consumers but we didn’t want them to know that it was a Scholl product – the Scholl logo embossed on the insole didn’t exactly make this easy!

Instead of remaking the product, we thought about creative ways to avoid the problem, of hiding the Scholl logo with something that the consumer wouldn’t be able to peel off.

That solution was glue, ribbon and a lot of effort.

RB people profile:

• Name: Gayle
• Job title: R&D Manager Foot Care
• Worked at RB for: 16 years
• First joined RB: I began my career at RB in 1999 as a graduate, having completed a PhD in organic chemistry.
• Something not many people know about you: When I started at RB, I was quite quiet. You can’t survive like that here. You have to get in there and give it your all. If you believe passionately in something, then you have to stand up for yourself. I think I’m definitely more confident now. RB is a place where you have to develop confidence 

Quick-fire question:

What is the future of consumer health and hygiene?

Thinking about megatrends, ageing populations and obesity on one side, but on the other side governments are struggling to keep up with the healthcare demands of a growing population.

Consumers will have to take more responsibility for their own wellbeing and that’s where consumer health and hygiene will become critical. It will simply become part of what they expect.

And they will expect that from the brands that we offer as well – that we are engaged in that wellbeing.

Instead of it being ‘problem – solution,’ people will want to be healthier in general as well.

I think RB will be at the forefront of that, particularly when you look at the brands that we have – it’s definitely a territory that we can own.