Meetings often get a bad rap as annoying interruptions to our “real” work. However, a well-run meeting can have quite the opposite effect. A great meeting should produce collaboration - a sense of dialogue and community among participants, clarification - new and useful information, and invigoration - a renewed energy for continuing the project after leaving the meeting. Follow the tips below to learn how you can run a top-notch meeting.
Topics: Science Careers, Management for Scientists, Early Career Researcher
This is the fifth in a 5 part series on Management for scientists. Subscribe to the Addgene Career Advice Posts here.
We are inundated with articles and books on the topic of leadership. Perhaps one of your advisors or mentors has urged you to work on developing your “leadership skills”. Leadership is prized at all levels of an organization and is also one of the most common criteria required for a promotion. Yet little explanation is given for how someone can or should demonstrate this quality.
I am often asked to give career seminars on Leadership Skills. After attempting to put together such a presentation many times, I could never actually figure out what skills were really leader-specific. How is leadership different from good management? Aren't all career skills leaderhsip skills when done well? Do you just have to know it when you see it?
Topics: Science Careers, Management for Scientists
This is the fourth in a 5 part series on Management for scientists. Subscribe to the Addgene Career Advice Posts here.
Once you are responsible for managing others you will only be successful in your role if you become a master at delegating tasks and responsibilities. The manager is not expected to DO all the work – she is expected to make sure the work gets done and done well. Involving your team effectively is now your new measure of success. It is imperative that you resist the temptation to “just do it myself” or micromanage –you don’t have time for that and you won’t be as productive. For example, the many resources available on the Addgene website didn't come into being through the actions of a single person but through the coordinated efforts of many individuals.
Topics: Science Careers, Management for Scientists
This is the third in a 5 part series on Management for scientists. Subscribe to the Addgene Career Advice Posts here.
Feedback is help and it should result in authentic assistance for the recipient to become more effective and successful. Giving timely and useful feedback is an absolutely required aspect of being a successful manager. Great bosses tell people where they stand clearly and routinely. They are clear with each employee about what they do well and where they need to improve, and they’re also clear about how the person is doing overall. Employees hate to wonder what you think of their work.
Topics: Science Careers, Management for Scientists
This post was contributed by Dora Farkas of www.FinishYourThesis.com and is one of many posts in our career series. Click here to subscribe to our career posts.
Do you have a difficult supervisor, or do you have to work with difficult people? Each time I ask this question at my workshops, I get nods from nearly every participant.
Topics: Science Careers, Management for Scientists
