Taking My Own Medicine (In a Good Way)

I’ve been looking back on how far we – this whole community – has come and coalesced this year, and while I’m not sharing some notable stats right now (that’ll come soon, I promise),I wanted to talk about both why and how it’s been possible.

So, what’s the big secret?

I’ve been doing all the things for myself and this community that we as communicators recommend as best practices for our clients and companies!

As someone who’s used to being behind the scenes, like a lot of you are, this has been a monumental shift and admittedly, is still a work in progress.

I still have to pause and take a deep breath before every single one of these weekly videos!

To get to the “why” we’ve been successful, it’s because we defined our mission up front and have stuck to that no matter what.

From day 1, Ticket to Biotech has been here to cultivate conversations and connections for biopharma communicators.

But “how” we’ve done that this year has undergone metamorphoses many times over.

Because all of you have been so generous with your time, your positive energy, your candid feedback, and you’ve taken a leap of faith to support our grand vision, you’ve enabled me to stay agile and pivot constantly – all while staying true to what we’re here to do.

Together, we’ve done what this industry does best: experiment, scrutinize the results, take what we learned, and try again until there’s proof of concept.

The magic that’s happened as a result of all these efforts is rooted in your trust in me and this community. Thank you.

Productive Coffee Chats

Want to meet for coffee? That little phrase can mean so many things: meeting someone for the first time, networking, an informational interview, reconnecting after a while, or maybe just a general catch-up. And now, having a Zoom coffee chat doesn’t necessarily even mean coffee is involved!

What a great tool to have at our disposal, when so much of our job as communicators relies on knowledge-sharing and building meaningful relationships– up, down and across our organizations.

Yet, coffee chats in the professional sense without a clear purpose can often be unproductive.

The goal can be simple, but still, it’s important to have one. Are you in learning or intelligence-gathering mode? Do you want the other person to actively work with you differently? Or maybe you want to be kept in mind for future collaboration or job opportunities?

As Scott White recently advised during Ticket to Biotech’s AMA session, prioritize the top 3 things you want the other person to know.

In our experience, it’s helpful to establish who’s driving the conversation. While a formal agenda is usually atypical in a setting that’s meant to be informal, most of the time, wouldn’t you agree that the invitee looks to the person doing the inviting for guidance?

Especially in our industry and even more so in our profession, people generally want to be helpful and don’t mind talking about themselves when asked, but folks are busy.

So, even if the coffee chat objective is pretty simple, how do you make sure it’s still worthwhile for both parties?

Unconventional Networking

Especially coming out of the pandemic, gone are the days when formal get-togethers are the main source for building your network.

It’s often said that life sciences is a small world, and that would make biopharma comms an even smaller world.

But by our count–which by the way, is definitely incomplete–there are over 200 consultancies and firms who either focus on or have dedicated biomedical comms expertise. Not really that small, right?

We got to thinking about a few of the opportunities for unconventional networking to build meaningful connections and want to share what we came up with.

It might seem unnatural especially for introverts, but it’s totally fine to comment on posts published on LinkedIn, in a professional setting, with your feedback, thoughts or POV. We at Ticket to Biotech LOVE when we see a comment from someone new because that means our message is resonating with a wider reach.

This is a funny one that communicators will appreciate. Chatting up people wearing biotech swag at NON-biotech events, especially when doing a hobby.

Another approach that we feel is underrated is networking within one’s own company–whether you have a huge comms team and want to better understand other focus areas, or are getting to know colleagues who work in completely different jobs. As an added bonus, understanding the backgrounds and motivations of your peers can only help us be better communicators.

We could go on, but we’ll leave you with one final tactic that we hope won’t be unconventional too much longer. That’s messaging communicator peers through Ticket to Biotech, via Slack, LinkedIn or one of our programs. Definitely use this communicator community as your extended network!

How are you using T2B, and what other uncommon networking tactics have you found beneficial?

Supervisor, Mentor or Sponsor?

So often, supervisors become mentors or mentors become sponsors, but it’s worthwhile to be intentional when building this aspect of your network.

By definition, a supervisor observes and directs the execution of tasks.

So, what does a good manager look like to you? Regardless of what level you’re at, are you actually seeking someone to literally direct your work, or do you want a mentor, or maybe a sponsor?

A mentor is an advisor who can offer advice and help you work toward your goals. It makes sense that many of us seek a supervisor who’s also a mentor.

Most think of a mentor as someone more senior to them, but there’s also peer mentoring and reverse mentoring.

To paraphrase a recent HBR article, the difference between a mentor and a sponsor is that a sponsor actively advocates for someone and uses their connections to open doors.

This article spotlights new research actually derived from following pharma companies for 25 years and goes on to say that women in particular often benefit from having a sponsor. “Third-party ties allow women to be seen through the prism of their strengths and competencies rather than through a lens clouded by societal preconceptions.”

Whether you have a great boss who’s also your mentor or you work for yourself, our profession as communicators is built on a foundation of relationships.

It takes time for such relationships to blossom, but our aim is for Ticket to Biotech to be a place to reconnect with each other as well as to jumpstart new connections, including for mentors and sponsors. What do you seek in these types of relationships?