Building and Leading a Team Dorothy Shippen, PhD Professor Biochemistry & Biophysics Texas A&M University Email: [email protected]
Dec 28, 2015
Building and Leading a Team
Dorothy Shippen, PhDProfessor Biochemistry & BiophysicsTexas A&M University
Email: [email protected]
Acknowledgements
Dr. Margaret Briehl Dr. Daria Panina NSF Shippen lab members: past, current
and future The school of hard knocks
Resources
Making The Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty (BWF/HHMI) http://www.hhmi.org/resources/scientists.html
At The Helm: A Laboratory Navigator and At the Bench: A Laboratory Navigator - Kathy Barker
Decisions, decisions – Curr Biology 1:1 1996.
Guide for mentors – Nature 447:791, 2007
sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine
Building a motivated research group – Molecular Cell 27:151, 2010.
Leading the Lab
Set the general scientific direction
Hire the right people
Communicate expectations
Keep each lab member motivated
Recognize and resolve conflicts
Promote the next generation of scientists
Hiring the right people
Your ultimate success depends on your ability to hire the right technicians, students, and post-docs and empower them to do their best work.
- Thomas R. CechFormer President,HHMI
The right people
I don’t really know where we should take
this bus. But I know this much: If we get
the right people on the bus, and the
wrong people off the bus, then we’ll
figure out how to take it some place
great.
- Jim Collins, authorGood to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap and Others Don’t
The wrong people
People are not a scale of 1-10. There are
negative people. - Jim Forney
In a lab, one bad apple really can spoil the bunch.
CHOOSE WISELY!
Purdue University
Communicate your vision and your expectations Recruit people who embrace this vision.
Attracting Good People
Get the word out – your current lab members can be good recruiters of new talent.
Recognize that good scientists do not have to be a “mini me.”
Recruiting – The Interview
Discuss applicant’s background, qualifications and career goals (What attracted them to your research program?)
Clearly convey your expectations during the interview
Get input from current lab members Call the references (ask probing questions including
information about interpersonal skills)
Trust your instincts
Lab Culture
Build a place in which the lab members understand your expectations and agree with those expectations and try to fulfill them. They must internalize those expectations and think of them as their own.
-Terri Orr-Weaver MIT
Deliberately create the lab culture or it will create itself.
Aspects of A Lab’s Culture
• Scientific excellence
• Work ethic – hours in the lab versus productivity
• Teamwork vs. individual effort – balance building
careers of individual members versus achieving
programmatic goals
• Mentoring – the role of teaching in the laboratory
• Your leadership style
• Lab citizenship – lab jobs and shared workspaces
The direction-self-direction scale
Guided independence and scientific creativity
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Micromanagement Sink or swim
“The skill lies in giving young researchers the freedom to expand on their ideas but gently reining them in when they are off track.”
Guide For Mentors – Nature 447:791, 2007
Creating a desirable lab environment
Express enthusiasm for the science! Be respectful - treat your students and
postdocs as colleagues Listen to concerns and encourage input Reward collaboration and thoughtful risk-
taking
“Family” ties?
“You should act professionally in a professional relationship. Family relationships are best reserved for the personal sphere. The advisor is not a parent, and the postdoc is not a rebellious adolescent, the graduate students are not rival siblings, but it seems as though they are if you watch the dynamics in many laboratories.”
-Cory Bargmann, UCSF
The members of your lab cannot be your confidants. You have to be the boss.
Roundtable Meetings
Everyone presents their most recent results (or roadblocks) at each meeting
All members of the group provide feedback Technical problems are solved by the group Collaborations are established New models are discussed Students and Postdocs mentor each other
Other innovative Approaches & Tools
State of the lab talk - Funding status, hiring opportunities
Strategy discussion or retreat - Set a lab meeting aside for brainstorming together on future directions
Place “bets” on the specific outcome of cool experiments - Losers bring ice cream or pizza for the lab
Celebrate the scientific successes and other important milestones - Champagne, dinner at the PI’s house, lab lunch etc.
Motivation
Conventional wisdom: Motivation is the one thing you cannot teach. A person is either born with it or they are not.
Building a motivated research group
1. Competence: build competence and confidence gradually, clearly stating the purpose at each step.
2. Autonomy: the project should emanate from the person and not an external source.
3. Social connectedness: Someone else in the group (preferably the PI!) must care about the project.
The “TOP” model
Uri Alon, Molecular Cell 27:151, 2010.
Recognizing Conflicts
“For heaven’s sake, Elroy!...NOW look where the earth
is!...Move over and let me drive!”
“Eraser fight!”
(Major) Conflict Resolution/Management
Practice prevention
Look first at yourself
Consider the personalities & hear all sides
Moderate a group discussion
Decide on a resolution
When thinking of asking someone to “get off the bus”, ask yourself…
Have I given the person some type of notice or warning and given a clear indication of what s/he is doing wrong?
Have I given the person assistance to learn new or difficult tasks?
Have I treated the person any differently than other members of my lab?
Does documentation in the person’s file support the reason for discharge?
Asking someone to get off the bus
Work with your Human Resources Dept. to follow institutional policies
Discuss the situation with confidants/mentors
This will not be pleasant. Remember, you run the show. You must act in the best interest of the entire group. If you are losing sleep over the situation and dread seeing that person in the lab everyday, it is time to face the music and make a change.
Present at lab meeting
Write a manuscript
Help review a paper
Give an invited talk for the lab
Attend a national meeting
Mentor an undergraduate student
Discuss work with a visiting scientist
Rewarding excellence
You are a role model.
• Model resiliency. Let them see you sweat. Show that you
can not only survive rejection of manuscripts and grant
proposals, getting scooped, but do better science because of it.
Learn from failure!• Model collegiality. Be respectful of all of your colleagues,
including secretarial and cleaning staff. Look at your students
and postdocs not as who they are now, but as who they can
become.“Making a living is not the same as making a life.” - Maya
Angelou
Resources
Making The Right Moves: A Practical Guide to Scientific Management for Postdocs and New Faculty (BWF/HHMI) http://www.hhmi.org/resources/scientists.html
At The Helm: A Laboratory Navigator and At the Bench: A Laboratory Navigator - Kathy Barker
Decisions, decisions – Curr Biology 1:1 1996.
Guide for mentors – Nature 447:791, 2007
sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine
Building a motivated research group – Molecular Cell 27:151, 2010.