Our business was started when we united to provide support to companies conducting clinical trials in Ukraine. Since then, the list of our services has substantially increased as well as the company’s team and geographic locations.

Today we invite experienced professionals within the industry to work on our projects. Most of the people working for us have a 5-year plus experience and firsthand knowledge in the field of their responsibilities. As such, CTX4 is not only a group of people working together but a team of experts.

Many of us started their professional careers as practicing doctors and medical professionals – the fact that distinctly influenced our way of doing business together.

The founders of the company are Valentyna and Volodymyr Telnov. Valentyna has a decade of experience in clinical trials covering versatile aspects of site monitoring, management and clinical conduct. Volodymyr, her husband, an MD and a PhD, has worked in pharma marketing&sales before digging in clinical trials with Valentyna's help. They are both now are eager to give the company a boost.

Most influencing ideas for business development often come from people outside. The company widely utilizes the help of freelancers and external experts. People with different background and experience of working in international phrarma companies and CROs, make their input in building up on our business processes and identifying new business opportunities.

One of the mainstreams of our company’s values is our ambition to create a beneficial environment for exceptional people. We hire people who can add to our collective experience and who either share our core values or possess the willingness and ability to embrace those values. We look for employees who are not just the most talented but also the best suited to our company. Our people are the bedrock of our business – they perform the services and are the source of our custom centicity that we cherish.

To support our people and make them willing to cling together and to our company, we provide them with competitive salary and healthy work conditions, we readily show our appreciation of their exceptional work, we nourish a nonhierarchical and inclusive atmosphere, we stimulate ideas sharing and education in its various forms.

Speaking the same language both literally and figuratively, we leverage our communication skills at company’s staff educational events. Since English is so important for international business nowadays, we try to make our clients comfortable by developing our linguistic skills. We boast our medical documentation translation services. On our clients’ demand we can prepare accurate translations of any trial source documents from local languages into English.  

We make sure that we create all of the conditions necessary to sufficiently challenge and reward our high-performing people.

How to build a culture of trustA wingman’s approach to business

The integrity, the commitment and focus on preparation are distinct features of millitary team which the business world can adopt.

At the same time people in companies tend to «dwell» going along and getting along. It’s a lot about being a crony and not «ticking people off».

Being a wing-man is to be a trusted partner, creating environments where other people can come for help. It’s about being able to look to your left and right and feel confident that that person, that organization, is dependable, and those core values are so critical.

We should have willingness to tell people things that they need to hear even if they don’t want to hear them. Sometimes it means speaking truth to power.

Integrity first. Service before self.

Commitment to excellence.

In the business world, people say it’s all about relationships, and I think that can destroy the functionality and discipline necessary to adapt, to create environments where others can come to you for help and tell you what you need to hear – not what you want to hear.

Why missions are more important than relationships

You see companies that have cultures that value the individual over teams. You get into these cultures in which individuals are valued based on their net worth, and people get warped. Whether they intend them to or not, they wind up encouraging people to engage in shady practices, in part because that’s how they get rewarded, and in part because people who get caught don’t really get punished.

The millitary motto «Do the right things for the right reasons every time. No excuses» is so often mentioned by corporate chiefs but is so far from being followed by their middle management or employees.

We have to be mission-focused, not relationship-focused. We could be friends, but at the end of the day we have to be focused on doing what needs to be done.

Assign roles and responsibilities. Maniacally prepare for them. Rehearse the contingencies.

Creating that open collaborative communication is important for making smart decisions, for going for the long term objective and not being distracted along the way.

One of my frustrations with the corporate world is often they unintentionally build compensation systems that don’t reward the kind of behavior you’re talking about. They don’t reward somebody for helping the other guy out, warning him when he’s about to make a mistake. We create these compensations systems in which they get no benefit whatsoever from helping somebody else. It’s a system that rewards individuals over the organization.

Regardless of the words that come out of the top people, ultimately people do what you pay them to do, and if you don’t reward them for good behavior, then you are not going to get good behavior.

We need to create environments where people are able to admit when they mess up. If you are going to rip people’s heads off when they admit a mistake, then you are also preventing a culture of trust. You are preventing your organization from making good decisions not just for their constituents, their customers, but for their fellow employees, who will often reap the negative consequences of their peers’ actions.

Culture is extremely important. Culture starts at the top, with an attitude that says we’re going to do the right things for the right reasons every time, no excuses. That means being willing to know yourself, your weaknesses as well as your strengths, and not induldge in doing things you shouldn’t do.

And if you can put it all together, then I think you can make a lot of money and do it the right way, in a way that you can continue to hold your head high.