Why Scientists Need Great Communication Skills

Recently, I was preparing my client, Dr Teresa Deisher, CEO and Founder of  AVM Biotechnologies, to explain her latest stem cell research before both a Senate and Congressional group in Washington D.C.  Dr Deisher is an internationally renowned expert in the field of adult stem cell therapies and regenerative medicine. I asked her if she felt that most scientists needed better communication skills.  

Scientists are Usually Poor at Communicating Their Ideas

Dr Deisher exclaimed “YES! Absolutely.” She followed with,  “Scientists are usually quite poor in communicating their ideas. It is so sad too as it really impacts them in very significant ways and their lack of great communication skills can take a huge negative toll on their careers “

Loss Of Funding Opportunities

This is an important observation. If you are a great scientific researcher and you or your team makes a breakthrough discovery but you cannot communicate the key points of your research, you risk not only making a bad first impression but also losing important funding opportunities.

Potential funders can range form not only individuals, venture capital firms or angel investors who want to understand and back your research, but also key governmental agencies and key political people such as Dr Deisher was going in to present her research to. Each of these groups are essential for most scientists to be able to communicate with and are ones who can fund both a scientist and their labs  for years to come.

Lack Of Clarity – Loss Of Influence

This lack of communication skills not only applies to funding sources, but also to your ability as a scientist to influence others to take specific actions on your behalf..

If you are not able to communicate the relevance of your research, you risk losing traction and influence with such important influential people such as other scientists and other members of the governmental bodies who could really support and push your research further.

Key Mistakes Scientists Make In Their Communication

I called Al Stephan CEO of Stratos Genomics and asked him what he felt were some of the common mistakes he saw scientists make in presenting their research. Al suggested that the key mistakes he sees scientists make are ones like “Many scientists can have a really great idea for research or have done fascinating research already that they want to continue, and you watch them make such a poor presentation that at the end you don’t have the slightest idea what they are talking about.  That’s a real problem when scientists are looking for money for funding.” He added, “Often scientists are also way behind the times as far as their presentation package and Power Point’s are concerned.”

Clearly communication skills are extremely important to every scientist if they want their research to be understood and so that they can get funding. In my next blog I will cover the top five communication skills all scientists need to know.