Comments
Questions
Workplace Dynamics: Understanding How to Work Together in Research Environments
Lori M. Conlan, Ph.D., Career Services Center and the Office of Postdoctoral Services, OITE/NIH
Sharon Milgram, Ph.D., Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE), NIH
|
 Lori M. Conlan is trained as a biochemist, receiving her B.S. in biochemistry from Michigan State University and her Ph.D. in biochemistry and biophysics from Texas A&M University. She worked for several years as a postdoc at the Wadsworth Center, NYS Department of Health, before transitioning from the lab to focus on career issues for the next generation of scientists. Lori started as the director of the Science Alliance, an international career development program for graduate students and postdocs sponsored by the New York Academy of Sciences. She now is at the NIH in the Office of Intramural Training & Education assisting the 4000 NIH postdocs in their personal career choices. Lori is the director of two offices, the Office of Postdoctoral Services and the NIH Career Services Center. She speaks at universities and institutions around the nation on career development topics for young scientists.
 Dr. Sharon Milgram worked for two years as a physical therapist before returning to graduate school at Emory University where she earned a PhD from the Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy. She completed postdoctoral training in the Neuroscience Department at The Johns Hopkins University before joining the faculty at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. There she rose to the rank of Full Professor with tenure in the Department of Cell & Developmental Biology. At UNC Dr. Milgram lead an active research program focused on the cell biology of polarized cells. Alumni of her research group work in a variety of STEM careers in all sectors. Dr. Milgram directed training grants from the NSF and NIH, including a Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU), an Maximize Student Diversity (IMSD) and a Cell and Molecular Biology training grant. She also directed the Interdisciplinary Biomedical Sciences graduate program and was the founder of the UNC Office of Postdoctoral Services. In 2007 Dr. Milgram joined the National Institutes of Health (NIH) where she directs the NIH Office of Intramural Training and Education (www.training.nih.gov), an office dedicated to providing career counseling and professional development opportunities for trainees in the NIH intramural Research Program. The OITE coordinates trans-NIH training programs at all educational levels, including the Summer Internship Program, NIH Intramural Postbac Programs, the Graduate Partnership Program, the Undergraduate Scholarship Program, and NIH Intramural Postdoctoral Programs. Dr. Milgram lectures widely on STEM careers and has a passion for working with trainees at all educational levels.
|
There is broad agreement that scientists must develop strong interpersonal skills to do effective team science and to transition from training to management positions, at and away from the bench. However, some graduate and postdoctoral training programs have struggled to provide training in these areas and many begin their careers with little understanding of the basic principles of management and leadership. Two factors often cited as barriers to providing leadership and management training are cost and the availability of experts who understand the unique nature of biomedical research teams. Another barrier is that many students, postdocs and mentors find little value in “soft skills” training, believing that success in science is driven predominantly by publications, patents, funding, etc. This is unfortunate since the book
Lab Dynamics (1) surveyed scientists and found nearly two-thirds report that interpersonal conflict had hampered progress on a scientific project between 1-5 times in their career. Furthermore, many of our postdoctoral fellows share that navigating how to manage and lead a research team is one of the earliest challenges they face as they transition to independence. Our trainees leaving the research environment to work in science communications, policy, education, law, and other non-bench science careers share similar struggles in management and leadership.
NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education
The mission of the NIH Office of Intramural Training & Education (OITE;
www.training.nih.gov) is to help trainees in the NIH Intramural Research Program develop the career and professional skills needed to succeed in a broad array of science careers. For many years we have offered workshops focused on career exploration, job search skills and science communication (you can find many videocasts at
https://www.training.nih.gov/oite_videocasts); however, like many institutions we struggled to assist our trainees with the development of leadership and management skills.
New Series Developed
After extensive discussions with career counselors, mentors, students, fellows, and experts in many areas of leadership development, we embarked on a two-year journey to develop a series of workshops to provide an education in leadership and management. The resulting
Workplace Dynamics series (
https://www.training.nih.gov/leadership_training) focuses on: 1) increased awareness of self and others using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator® (MBTI; Ref. 2), 2) communication styles and influencing others, 3) conflict dynamics, 4) team theory, and 5) diversity training. Trainees can take all or part of the series which we offer twice per year. Our goal is to help participants gain greater self-awareness and an appreciation that others may tackle problems and approach conflict and group work differently. We hope that by providing a language to discuss these differences, our trainees will be better able to manage themselves and work across difference in the research environment (and beyond). The presentations use lab-based examples that resonate with scientists. Although designed for our population on NIH campuses, we hoped that the materials we develop could be used to more broadly benefit trainees in the extramural community. To date we have had ~400 postdocs and graduate students start and 90 complete the series; we have also presented elements of the program at national meetings, including the National Postdoc Association, Experimental Biology, and the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students.
One thing we have learned is that our trainees appreciate the interactive group work but also like to receive information on helpful resources they can access from home. We will share some of these resources here in the hopes that APS readers can benefit from the reading the material that most strongly resonates with our participants.
Resources Used in Series
Although there are a variety of personality assessments that can be used in leadership and management training, we chose to use the MBTI (2) because it is widely used in academic and industry settings (3). Although there are many outstanding books to gain some understanding of personality types, we find that “Type Talk at Work” (4) is a good fit for our community. Conflict is perhaps the most stressful topic we cover, with many trainees sharing that they lack resources for dealing with and defusing conflict in the workplace and at home. We use the Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode (TKI; Ref. 5) model to introduce the concept of conflict styles and to help participants indentify the styles they use and the styles they struggle with. The TKI model looks at conflict using two factors. The conflict styles are set on two axes, one on assertiveness (based on importance of the task at hand), and one on cooperativeness (based on importance of the relationship). By understanding the different conflict styles, scientists can make effective decisions on engaging a particular conflict.
Another element of understanding conflict is a greater appreciation of hot-button issues and triggers. Our participants find resources from the Center for Conflict Dynamics at Eckerd College (6) and the book,
Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader (7) to be helpful. The information provides a way to explore the triggers that cause conflict, and guidelines for approaching the conflict constructively instead of destructively. This material provides a “protocol” of sorts to discuss conflict.
The book
Crucial Confrontations (8) is another resource we use because it provides a framework and practical tips on preparing for difficult conversations and tense negotiations. The book provides advice on how to know when, and if, you should confront a conflict, how to start a conflict conversation, how to make an action plan to work on the problem with the person you are in conflict with, and what to do when you get an answer that throws you off your planned conversation. There are step-by-step instructions on each component of the conversation that even skeptical scientists can find valuable.
Many of the resources above also discuss giving feedback, but we would be remiss if we did not mention The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) and their framework for feedback centered on “Situation, Behavior and Impact” (9). This method is widely used to give feedback that is specific and informative to both the giver and the receiver. An example could be: “When we had lab meeting on Tuesday (situation) and you came in 20 minutes late (behavior), we all lost time because we couldn’t start without you (impact). Can you tell me what was going on for you that day?” The CCL has a variety of resources on being a better leader, manager and employee in small easy to read booklets.
All of this material integrates well into an understanding of "Emotional Intelligence," a concept popularized by Daniel Goleman. Although we do not teach specific elements of Emotional Intelligence in the
Workplace Dynamic Series, it is a popular part of our two-day management bootcamp (an intense training to prepare our postdocs and fellows in topics such as staffing your unit, setting expectations, motivating others, and additional conflict management training). Emotional Intelligence provides information to strengthen interpersonal relationships and teams by providing a structure to identify self- and relationship-management tools. There are many books on Emotional Intelligence including
Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ (10) and
Working with Emotional Intelligence (11), both by Daniel Goleman.
Finally, we chose to include an introduction to diversity and difference in the Workplace Dynamics Series because we believe we all have a responsibility to develop a scientific workforce that is diverse and welcoming. In this workshop participants discuss their views of diversity and difference and learn about major social group identities in the United States. The concepts of power and privilege are introduced and participants meet in small groups to discuss their own views on how to make the science workforce more welcoming and inclusive. Participants interested in more in-depth material find the book
Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, Third Edition (12) helpful.
Other Resources?
We appreciate that there are many approaches to developing leadership programs and many outstanding books well worth reading (if we only had the time). We don’t mean to imply that the material we use or the books we recommend are the “best” out there, but only that they have been helpful to us. We look forward to hearing from APS readers about other resources. We all share the responsibility to make research environments productive and welcoming and believe that understanding these “soft-skills” will enhance the scientific workforce and promote scientific discoveries.
References
1. Lab Dynamics: Management Skills for Scientists, Cohen and Cohen (2005) New York: Cold Spring Harbor Press.
2. MBTI:
http://www.myersbriggs.org/
3. Bibliography of 12000+ articles on the use of MBTI collected by Center for Applications of Psychological Type, Inc.:
http://www.capt.org/research/MBTI-bibliography-search.htm
4. Type Talk at Work (Revised): How the 16 Personality Types Determine Your Success on the Job by Otto Kroeger, Janet M. Thuesen and Hile Rutledge (2002) Delta
5. Thomas-Kilmann Conflict Mode Instrument (Tuxedo NY: Xicom, 1974) and CPP TKI product page
6. Eckerd College Center for Conflict Dynamics:
http://www.conflictdynamics.org/
7. Becoming a Conflict Competent Leader: How You and Your Organization Can Manage Conflict Effectively by Craig E. Runde and Tim A. Flanagan (2006) Jossey-Bass
8. Crucial Confrontations by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan and Al Switzler (2004) McGraw-Hill
9. Feedback That Works: How to Build and Deliver Your Message, CCL, 2000
10. Emotional Intelligence: 10th Anniversary Edition; Why It Can Matter More Than IQ by Daniel Goleman (2006), Bantam
11. Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman (2000) Bantam
12. Readings for Diversity and Social Justice, Third Edition by Maurianne Adams, Warren Blumenfeld, Carmelita Castaneda and Heather W. Hackman (2013) Routledge
Comments:
Questions: