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How to Choose the Right Culture & Communication Partner
By
Ann Melinger
Communication and HR leaders in life sciences are responsible for far more than simply overseeing a corporate function. You’re tasked with building the culture that powers breakthrough innovation and brings life-changing solutions to patients. When you’re scaling rapidly, entering new therapeutic areas, or integrating teams after a merger, you need to create cohesion between scientists, clinicians and commercial teams while maintaining the rigorous focus that drives discovery forward.
The stakes couldn’t be higher for you. A disconnected culture in life sciences can undermine innovation and accelerate turnover of top scientific talent. It can slow the path of crucial therapies to the patients who need them.
Here’s the good news: Teaming up with the right outside partner can transform how your organization aligns, collaborates and innovates.
After decades of partnering with life sciences organizations, we’ve learned how to collaborate to truly catalyze cultural transformation. Even if you’re navigating rapid growth, launching a breakthrough therapy, or building cohesion across therapeutic areas, the right partner can help you maintain cultural and communication consistency while driving (and demonstrating) measurable business outcomes.
In this guide, we’ll share clear, actionable practices for finding the right partner to strengthen your life sciences organization’s culture.
Let’s begin.
But first, how can a culture and communication partner help you?
We’re specialists who understand the unique dynamics of life sciences organizations — from research and development through commercialization. We help organizations like yours communicate complex scientific work in ways that unite teams and drive results for the company, and especially for patients.
The right partner knows how to help life sciences companies:
✅ Translate complex scientific concepts into clear, compelling narratives that resonate across your organization
✅ Navigate the delicate balance between scientific rigor and engaging communication so that messages maintain accuracy while driving action
✅ Build cultural cohesion during periods of rapid growth, therapeutic area expansion, or integration, merger, or acquisition
✅ Create communication frameworks that support knowledge retention and cross-functional collaboration
✅ Align communication with the highly regulated nature of life sciences, while maintaining engagement and authenticity
An experienced partner can help you create a more connected, innovative and high-performing life science organization. We use our industry expertise and proven strategies to support your culture through key transitions, like rapid growth, new therapy launches or team integrations.
Ultimately, partners like bink have seen first-hand that in life sciences, culture is about more than employee engagement. It’s about creating the conditions that accelerate innovation and ultimately bring your life-changing solutions to the patients who need them most.
9 best practices when looking for the right partner
When embarking on this journey, remember that the best partnerships bloom when both parties share a common vision. That’s why it’s so important to carefully consider the qualities of the ideal partner for your organization. You must find a partner you can trust to build a deep understanding of your business while never shying away from sharing forthright feedback and perspectives.
Here are some best practices to help you get started!
1. Find the right fit
When choosing a partner for your life sciences organization, look beyond general communication capabilities. The team you select should demonstrate a deep understanding of scientific workplaces and the unique dynamics of research-driven organizations.
The right partner will know how to engage different audiences within your organization —from research scientists to clinical teams to commercial functions. They should share examples of navigating similar challenges, like maintaining cultural cohesion during rapid scaling or building alignment between R&D and commercial teams.
Key questions to ask:
✔️ Has the partner worked with scientific organizations at your stage of growth?
✔️ Can they demonstrate experience communicating complex scientific concepts?
✔️ Do they understand the regulatory environment you operate in?
2. Choose a strategic advisor
Life sciences organizations face unique inflection points — launching breakthrough therapies, entering new therapeutic areas or integrating acquired companies. Your partner should help you anticipate and navigate these transitions, not just react to them.
Look for a partner that asks probing questions about your growth trajectory and brings perspective from similar transitions. They should help identify potential cultural friction points before they impact performance and create strategies to maintain cohesion as your organization evolves.
Key questions to ask:
✔️ What experience do they have with your specific growth challenges?
✔️ How do they measure the impact of cultural initiatives on business outcomes?
✔️ What frameworks do they use to maintain consistency during rapid change?
3. Share context and data
Success in building a strong culture requires deep understanding of how your teams work. Share data on how your people prefer to receive information. Provide context about your therapeutic areas, development timelines and regulatory constraints.
The more your partner understands about your organization’s scientific foundation, the better they can help you build communication approaches that respect both rigor and engagement needs.
Key questions to consider:
✔️ What employee research can you share about communication preferences?
✔️ What technical or regulatory constraints impact your communication?
✔️ Which past communication approaches resonated with your teams?
4. Embrace trust and collaboration
Trust is the currency of any successful partnership. This means looking for the partner you can rely on to understand your voice and convey your messages authentically. It also means being open to ideas that may push you out of your comfort zone.
Collaboration should be a two-way street, where ideas are shared freely, and feedback is not just given but welcomed. Early on in your interactions with any potential partner, be sure to gut-check yourself.
Ask yourself:
✔️ Do I feel like I can trust this person/group of people to be “straight” with me?
✔️ Do I believe they’ll always put my best interests first?
✔️ Will I be able to make time to build a relationship so they can get to know me, my work and my team?
If the answer to any of these questions is a “no,” you may not have found your ideal partner match.
5. Design clear governance and ways of working
Operating in a regulated environment requires careful attention to process. Establish clear protocols for reviewing content, managing confidential information and coordinating across global teams.
Your partner should take the lead in creating frameworks that maintain your compliance while encouraging efficient collaboration. This includes defining approval workflows, establishing confidentiality guidelines and creating clear escalation paths.
6. Maintain respect for your unique audiences
In life sciences, authentic communication includes respecting how scientists want their work presented. Your partner must understand when to maintain technical depth and precision, and when to create simpler translations for broader audiences. Some researchers may prefer detailed technical explanations that showcase the rigor of their work, while others seek help making their findings more accessible.
This nuanced understanding shapes every communication choice. Your partner should adapt their approach based on the data behind scientists’ preferences while ensuring information flows effectively across your organization.
Ask yourself:
✔️ What methods does this partner use to learn about employees’ communication preferences?
✔️ What process do they use to validate both technical accuracy and desired level of detail?
✔️ How do they balance scientific depth with organizational communication needs?
7. Establish measurement frameworks
Life sciences organizations need a nuanced understanding of their metrics and engagement scores. Work with your partner to develop measurement approaches that demonstrate impact on productivity, innovation, and ROI.
Your measurement framework should connect cultural initiatives to meaningful business outcomes. Track how improved communication affects knowledge sharing between research teams, accelerates development timelines, and supports talent retention. The right metrics help you show senior leaders how strengthening culture drives scientific progress.
Key questions to consider:
✔️Which metrics will track impact on employee productivity?
✔️How will you measure effectiveness across therapeutic areas?
✔️What business outcomes matter most to your senior leaders?
8. Leverage expertise for complex changes
The most valuable partnerships shine during transformative moments, like when you’re entering new therapeutic areas, integrating acquired teams, or scaling operations globally. These transitions require specialized expertise in maintaining progress while shaping an evolving culture.
Your partner should bring tested approaches while adapting to your organization’s specific needs. They should help you identify potential friction points early and create strategies that keep teams aligned and focused during change.
Key questions to consider:
✔️ What experience do they have with your type of transformation?
✔️ How do they help preserve scientific culture during growth?
✔️ What methods do they use to maintain momentum during transitions?
9. Share context (very) generously
Don’t hold back information when working with your chosen partner. All too often, clients leave out practical contextual details and background information. Does your leadership team value speed over perfection? Let your partner know. Do specific topics strike a nerve with your employees? Let your partner know!
Provide a wealth of information about your organization — including details on company culture, operational intricacies, past communication efforts and future aspirations. Share what your team is measured on so that your partner can help you shine.
The richness of your shared information allows your partner to construct a strategy that fits your organization like a glove.
When to get outside help with culture and communication
Life sciences organizations face unique culture challenges, and an outside partnership can accelerate success.
Here’s when to consider bringing in specialized support:
🧬 You’re expanding and growing
When entering new therapeutic areas or launching breakthrough products, you need to maintain scientific excellence while building cultural cohesion. Your culture and communication partner can help align new teams around a shared purpose and create frameworks for cross-functional collaboration.
🤝 You’re navigating an integration
Whether merging organizations or integrating acquired companies, you need to unite different cultures while preserving valuable institutional knowledge. An experienced culture partner can help build bridges between teams and create shared ways of working.
🔄 You’re transforming ways of working
Implementing new research platforms or collaboration tools? A partner that understands organizational change can help ensure your teams adopt new approaches without disrupting critical work. They’ll help translate technical changes into clear benefits that resonate with your teams.
👥 Your small comms team needs support
For lean communication teams supporting complex scientific organizations, a communication partner provides specialized expertise and execution support. They become an extension of your team and can help you maintain quality while managing increased workflow.
📊 You need to strengthen measurement
When you need to demonstrate how communication efforts impact research productivity, innovation or business outcomes, a partner can help you establish the metrics that matter for your organization. They’ll connect cultural initiatives to business outcomes like development timelines and talent retention. They’ll also help you demonstrate the ROI of a strong culture and expert communication, so you shine with your leadership team.
🖥️ You’re about to launch a new tool/platform
Implementing a new communication tool or platform like an intranet is a daunting task. A partner can help make the transition smoother. They ensure you’re getting the most out of your new (and expensive!) tech investments. You can also get help with finding the right tool, training your team and optimizing the tool for your specific needs.
🤓 You need actionable insights from employee data
Swimming in data and trying to figure out what to do with it? (Or worse, you have no measurement practices in place yet?) Your partner can help you make sense of the data and metrics from your communication channels. Plus, an objective third party to review data or conduct focus groups is always a good idea.
💪 You need support getting everything done
There are moments when the workload just becomes too much. Whether it’s due to a spike in projects or the ever-growing demands of your company, having an extra set of skilled hands (and brains) can make all the difference. With so much on your plate, an outside partner can step in to lighten the load and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.
The right partnership accelerates innovation
The right partner improves communication. They help you create the cultural conditions that accelerate scientific innovation and measurable business results. When evaluating potential partners, look for a team that understands your scientific foundation, respects your unique culture and brings proven approaches to strengthening research-driven organizations. In the end, it boils down to whether your partner helps you create the cultural foundation that helps bring your breakthrough therapies to patients faster.
With the right partner, you can build a culture that supports innovation and accelerates the path from scientific breakthrough to patient benefit.
Follow these best practices and you won’t just keep up with the fast pace of change, you’ll be ahead of the curve.
The best cultures are built with purpose and intention. Let’s do it together.
