The Real Reason Why Most Drug Companies Are In Trouble

Can the pharma industry transform itself and recruit and keep the brightest people?

YES, but they need to:

• Develop a new mindset and start to think about your employees as customers. The shift in perspective will help you recognize how valuable your employees are to your success and be more aware of what their needs might be.

• Focus on the relationships. When your customers call, you are there to answer their questions and concerns. Be available to your employees as well. This means being accessible, patient, a good listener, and open to seeing things from their points of view.

• Communicate well and often. This is, after all, your team we are talking about. Seek out their input, welcome their feedback, and give consideration to what you hear. Everything you gather is data; the important question is what you do with that information.

• If someone is good at something let them stay where they are. If an employee is a great Direct-to-consumer (DTC) marketer, then don't make them to rotate to the sales force to get sales experience. That is a waste of talent and is going to frustrate your employee. Define areas of expertise and let employees grow into a position and share with others their expertise.

• Make sure managers don't take the easy way out and back their direct reports. Any manager that tells someone to "suck it up" and get it done without understanding the consequences does not deserve to be a manager in any organization.

• Have senior executives meet with the rank and file in small informal settings for open and honest communication. Just because senior executives say something does not make it happen. There are a lot of people who still go out of their way to make life hard because they are uncomfortable with change.

Unless the pharma industry changes the way they do business and treat their valuable employees better, pharma and biotech companies are going to pay a steep price strategically.

When you are treated like just employee 72919 you are going to  do just what you need to do....get your paycheck and there is just way too much of that happening right now.

(Abstract from the source: "The real reason why most drug companies are in trouble” | www.worldofdtcmarketing.com)