- Having Difficult Conversations
No matter how in tune you are with your colleagues, at some point, you’ll find yourself in conflict and needing to have a difficult conversation. In my leadership roles at VUMC and elsewhere, I’ve had plenty. Here are some strategies for making these conversations less stress...
- Hiring tips for new group leaders
I became familiar with the hiring process from the standpoint of an applicant, most recently as a newly recruited Assistant Professor. Despite this lived experience, being at the leading edge of hiring my own team is much less familiar. Here, I share some tips and tricks for new ...
- Flight Tracker: Streamlined Career Development Tracking & Analysis
Career development programs, no matter what stage of the academic career they cater to, face similar challenges. A wide range of information about scholars is available, from demographics, publications, and grant submissions to pilot funding, composition of mentor panel, training...
- Build a Great Team: Help Your Staff Help You
Whether you have a few hours a week of a lab tech paid for by your startup funds or you've been running your own lab for years, a high functioning team can help you achieve your research goals. Senior research staff often have greater insight into the details of executing resea...
- A Guide to Managing Research Teams
Research training programs rarely teach management of staff and trainees. Particularly for those of us who go on to careers in academic medicine, our ability to effectively manage a team is critical to the success of our career. Graduate school, fellowship, and postdoctoral tra...
- 10 Tips for Supervising Research Interns
I recently came across this post on Twitter that said, “I’m mentoring an undergrad researcher for the first time! What advice would you give for how to be a good mentor?”
Supervising students is one of my favourite parts of academic life. The post made me think about how I sup...
- Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter
Are you a genius or a genius maker?
We've all had experience with two dramatically different types of leaders. The first type drain intelligence, energy, and capability from the ones around them and always need to be the smartest ones in the room. These are the idea killer...
- Accommodating Employees with (Invisible) Disabilities
61 million people in the US—one in four—have a disability. Beyond stereotypes, “disability” can include conditions that can’t be observed directly. Consider these examples:
A staff member with depression is struggling to mobilize in the mornings and get to work by 8:00.
A...
- Not that Kind of Boss: Tales of Team Management and Mentorship
One of the more challenging aspects of being a principal investigator (PI) and running a research lab is people management. Labs are complex environments comprising hourly technicians, salaried research scientists, undergraduates in their first lab, graduate students in training,...
- 10 Takeaways for Managing Undergraduate Research Assistants
Tiffany Woynaroski, PhD, studies speech development in children with autism. She also mentors 14 undergrads as part of her research team.
The undergrads on Tiffany's team are an integral part of her lab and involved in all aspects of her research.
Over dinner, she told me why ...
