Global pharmaceutical company

Launching science communicators

Challenge

Leadership at a global pharmaceutical giant was concerned by the mounting distrust of science across all disciplines of life science, from biology to agriculture. Scientists needed to build empathy, credibility, and trust with a community that isn’t scientific, in order to foster and nurture trust in science. They needed to evolve into science engagers.

Solution

Individual voices are more powerful than corporate messages. The company sought to have scientists within the corporate R&D function engage in community and industry events, and on social media to share their voices and views in support of science. The goal was to enlist thought leaders across the 1,600-person organization to post and engage on science topics related to their work and passion. 

The communications training we envisioned was very ambitious. The scope of the effort was truly global across our entire Science organization and the nature of the training was unlike anything we had done previously.

Decker worked closely with the learning team to co-create and deliver a multi-module virtual training program that included group training sessions, individual coaching and peer support. Over the course of X weeks scientists learned critical communication skills that enabled them to engage with lay audiences in a way that was authentic and inspiring.

Impact

Scientists transformed their core communications skills and embraced an audience-centric mindset. Participants created prototypes for specific social media platforms and tested messages for community and industry events. As a result, they brought authentic and powerful voices to the public dialogue around many disciplines of science. While the impact of the engagement was by definition external, the internal impact on engagement and enthusiasm with the global organization continues to be seen as each cohort builds upon and learns from each other’s work.

This vision required a partner who would be truly collaborative and work hand-in-hand with us to develop, pilot, and scale a next-generation communications training program. Decker proved to be the perfect partner. Their execution was flawless, the results exceeded our expectations, and we truly enjoyed the entirety of our year-long engagement.