People Skills: The Hidden Key to Return on Investment
by Betty Burr and Anton Grosz
Published in the BioTech Times
Biotech is an industry full of brilliant ideas and brilliant people. And if one person could do everything necessary to take a concept from idea to product, brilliance would be sufficient for corporate success. But the complexity of the process at every step of the way requires that different talents and different skill sets be brought together in teams to bring an idea to fruition. Your company and the way it works is the reflection of the ability of all types of people to relate to each other while remaining focused on the company's goals.
People Skills Promote Team Effort
In business as in sports, teamwork means that people have to be able to read from the same page of the playbook, communicate with others, and have the pieces work together in order to achieve desired goals. Yet the basic skills that are necessary to organizational success - such as team building, teamwork, supervisory and management skills, and communication techniques - are not always the strong suit of the technical genius at the heart of the biotech firm.
We all know individuals who can see the long range vision but can't communicate it to their co-workers, who are quick to point out other's faults but slow to praise their strengths, who can communicate with computers but not with people. It should come as no surprise that this is particularly true in industries such as biotech, where a high premium is placed on technical knowledge and expertise and less emphasis is placed on people skills. Yet people skills play a vital role in both short and long term corporate success.
The Exposure Is High
The speed of business today and the great financial investment involved in creating a biotech company only add to the critical need for people skills. Three or four months wasted because departments are not on the same page, or managers are unable to communicate properly, or key employees feel unappreciated and quit, can often be measured in big dollar signs down the road. And if it is a case of losing the chance of being the first one to bring a product to market... well, the results can spell absolute disaster.
Companies outfit their labs with the finest equipment and materials available in the hope of future financial success. Yet these same companies overlook training of their most valuable asset, their people, in the very skills that will allow them to work together and use that equipment most effectively. "It's frustrating," said the Director of Human Resources of one biotech company. "This is a good company that could be a great company if management were just willing to invest a fraction of what it spends on technical skills training on people skills training."
How Are People Skills Measured?
One of the problems in making a case for the value of courses with titles such as Change Management, How to Give and Get Feedback, Conflict Management, and Prioritizing in a Deadline Environment, is that they don't easily lend themselves to quantification of results because of the difficulty in setting up a control group. However, the value is shown in the feedback of employees who have been through the classes. Several Chiron employees describe what they learned as "concrete information," "information relevant to my work," and "...things I can use on a daily basis." And an Abgenix employee, after commenting that the information was "informative and worthwhile," noted that the key was "to put it into practice."
One group that benefits greatly from people skills training are newly promoted managers and supervisors. Often promotions are based on the individual's technical experience and/or knowledge of the project. But what really gets tested in these situations is the person's ability to manage and deal with others. "These sessions may allow me to skip some painful learning of being a manager that I would otherwise have to learn through experience only," said a newly appointed Cell Genesys manager. "It should contribute to both personal and project growth." And another person in the class pointed to "...the importance of focused listening in order to understand what people are really saying, as opposed to presumption and tuning out."
New managers also find meeting management skills training important, especially if they've never run meetings before. "Everything was useful," said one attendee at a recent session at Incyte Pharmaceuticals. And another noted that "With no previous experience, this gave me a starting point."
Industry Awareness Is Changing
"Biotech is a good representation of what occurs in any intensely knowledge-based industry," says the Director of Training and Development at a large biotech firm in the Bay Area. "As the organization grows - and here biotech and large pharmaceutical companies show the same basic structure - technical talent gets placed in positions of leadership without a strategic view of how to develop either their own leadership skills or those of the people they are managing. And since the top sets the tone for everything that occurs, this attitude cascades down through the entire organization."
Historically in the industry, investment is made in promoting project success and project development time lines. People skills have been icing on the cake, something extra that looked good on a resume or a job description, but was not really viewed as applicable to the bottom line. But awareness of the issue is definitely changing. The growth of cross-functional teams, often from different companies, different countries, and different cultures creates a much stronger need for people skills in the product development area.
When Are People Skills Needed?
There is no one template that fits every biotech company. Experience and feedback, however, can point out general signs that indicate when a company should consider an investment in people skills training and what type of training is most appropriate. The signs fall into two broad categories of positive and negative.
Positive Signs Courses Recommended
- Rapid Growth/Promotions Employment Interviewing, Planning Skills, Clarifying Expectations, Setting Standards
- Merger/Acquisitions or Team Creation Teamwork, Team Building, Change Management, Communications, Styles Sense
- New Product Development Setting Goals, Flexibility Management, Utilizing Feedback, Problem Solving
Negative Signs Courses Recommended
- High Turnover Appraisal Techniques, Dealing with the Poor Performer, Expectations and Productivity
- Absenteeism/Missed Deadlines Stress Management, Conflict Management, Coaching and Motivation, Listening Skills
- Compliance Issues Understanding Sexual Harassment, Conflict Resolution, Legal Issues in Management
Clearly, a number of the courses listed above would be appropriate in more than one situation. It is also clear that each firm is unique, and to maximize return on your training investment, it is vital that training be undertaken only after an individual appraisal of your company in concert with a performance improvement organization able and willing to tailor basic people skill courses to your particular needs and corporate culture.
In the final analysis, it boils down to ROI. Since good technical people in
biotech cost so much, it is essential to maximize their ability to get
their jobs done. People skills will make the difference. The ultimate value
of people skills training in biotech is determined by the willingness of
the company to open itself up to learning. In the words of a manager at
Cell Genesys, "It was a good session if you wanted to be helped."