Encourage dialogue
As you are moving through your communication steps in a time of transition, you need to listen and act decisively. Make an impression on your employees, not just with your words but with your willingness to listen and react to what your people are saying.
“If you’re in a situation where you need to restructure and rebuild a business, you have to listen to people,” Higgins says. “And listening doesn’t always mean agreeing with them. You don’t have to always agree among yourselves, but you do have to listen. You have to really hear out angles and perspectives, the potential downsides. You have to play out the chess game, mentally run through scenarios. And the only way you can do that is by listening to people.”
When weighing new ideas or a future direction for your company, you need to be a convincing devil’s advocate. A part of listening is to offer opposing viewpoints and see if an idea can withstand criticism.
“Set up a scenario where you think you have a perspective or view on how something should play out, take the alternative view and ask your team why you shouldn’t do this. Some people will share their perspective without prompting, but I don’t drop it until I’ve worked out the whole thing. You need to ask questions and challenge people, really have a vigorous, interactive dialogue, almost to the point where your colleagues think you really aren’t in favor of this. You get to that point, and often that is the point where it crystallizes and you want to make the idea happen. But before that point, you just keep testing it.”
Ligand had to shrink to become healthier and more focused. From peak revenue in the $180 million range in the middle part of the just-completed decade, Ligand generated revenue of just under $39 million in 2009. But the company is back to focusing on its original core business of pharmaceutical and biotech research.
And the result has been a company of people who are much more engaged in the company’s mission and feel a strengthened sense that their work is contributing to the company’s overall goals.
It goes back to the proof in the pudding. You can communicate at great length, but employees have to see how their jobs help the company as a whole.
“Whatever the projects and assignments are, in order for people to get back and do their daily routine, they have to be personally excited about what they’re doing,” he says. “They have to continue to be engaged in what they’re doing. They have to believe that the research and projects they are performing are worthwhile and are going to help the company in the long run.”
HOW TO REACH: Ligand Pharmaceuticals Inc., (858) 550-7500 or www.ligand.com
