Casey LonderganHaverford College

(with extensive input from past and present workshop mentors)

Time Management; andMentoring

Time management

• If you wait until the last minute, it only takes a minute.• SS

• Everything takes π times as long as you think it will. • MW

• Work (especially teaching) is a gas; it expands to fill the space available.

• The only thing we really have is the current moment.• TNH

• Don’t reinvent the wheel. (Ever)

For not reinventing wheels

https://teachbettersavetime.wordpress.com/

What are your goals?• Career: teaching, research, service• Personal: family, financial, self

– Others?

J. Morgenstern “Time Management from the Inside Out”

Your clearest goals will get most of your time (even if you don’t realize it)

Path of Life Garden

Priorities• I say yes to…

– Many scientific opportunities– Non-scientific opportunities that are of real interest to

me– Causes I care about

• I try to say no to…– Anything else I can reasonably say no to

• Learn to say no!– Can you suggest an alternative?

Service

• Important, but… it will find you!

• Decide how you want to make your mark and focus on those things

• Visible service (external and local) is most useful to you

• Invisible service is not rewarded– Keep track. Keep a log

• Cultural taxation is a real problem.– Keep track; cultivate helpers and mentors; help out your

peers and your department members

Service: Advising

• Have greased lanes to available resources– Make calls and create handshakes as needed

• Lean on colleagues’ expertise

• Make to-do lists with students (where they are the do-er and not you)

Teaching

• The first time through a class will probably be time consuming and

difficult

– take notes to maximize re-usability of activities and materials

– don’t reinvent the wheel (i.e. use others’ videos/activities)

• Start the term “tough” to minimize special requests; have a clear

syllabus that you can point to. Set clear expectations!

– Have active learning/active doing talk on zeroth/first day

• Don’t get hung up on 1:1 email conversations (use a forum like

Piazza)

• Use classes to recruit research students (and to do research!)

Teaching

• Create open channels for feedback and use it to change things!

• Office hours

– Don’t call them “office hours”

– Move them around to places and times of clear student

presence

– Make connections between students/nucleate student groups

• It’s ok to close your door (or go somewhere else)

Research…

• Invest time in quality training for the first few students; check in regularly with all subsequent students

• Use project or idea baskets/boxes/notebooks• Keep a regularly updated idea list

• Don’t reinvent the wheel

Research: Staying organized

• Time is your limiting reagent; if you run out of time, you are the rate-limiting step

• Electronic calendar for group (and PI)• Electronic task manager• Lab management software/apps

– Quartzy– Slack

• “Clear your desk”

• Use shared spreadsheets– Mind-mapping, to-do lists

Research: funding

How to get funding:

1. Get help and mentoring2. Talk to program officer3. Submit grant proposal4. Fail.5. Breathe6. Get feedback/reviews7. Submit grant proposal

8. Succeed (after as many cycles as it takes)

Research: ideation

Think about these questions:• When did you have the best idea that you’ve had

in the past two years? What were the circumstances/ingredients that led to that idea?

• How can you lay the groundwork for more ideas and open-ended thinking?

Planning Sheets for Projects and People

Project Personnel Progress To do Misc ManuscriptActive site 1 Grad student

(postdoc), undergradC1A, D2A, E3A, F4A decreased activity

Kinetics, binding Then mutagenesis

Active site 2 Grad student Survival, mut assays completed

In press

Dynamics Grad student Need to re-makeconstructs

Grad Student 1 Co-workers Progress To do Misc/Long-term ManuscriptActive site 1 postdoc, undergrad C1A, D2A, E3A, F4A

decreased activityKinetics, binding, two more constructs

Then mutagenesis

Active site 3 Undergrad, collaborator

Substrate specificity of G5A, H6A, I7A

In press

DNA DNA structures designed

Need to re-makeconstructs

Projects

People

Hypothetical examples

Current Manuscripts Spreadsheet

# Project Personnel Outline To do/Waiting on Manuscript Status65 Protein active

siteGrad student, undergrad

Loop impt for activity Submitted 12/19/2016Reviews received 2/1/2017In press 7/5/2016

66 Protein dynamics Grad student,collaborator

Single Cys Backup journals X, Y, Z Submitted 5/31/2017Reviews received 6/20/2017Revision submitted 7/25/2017

67 Protein activity Grad student, collaborators

Kinetics, structures,thermodynamics

Backup journals A, B, C Submit by 9/1/2017

68 Protein activesite

Undergrad, Grad student, collaborator

ranking vs activity Fold in with theory paperTarget journal XBackup journals A, B, C

69 Protein-protein interactions

Grad students Localization Activity, Grad student is writing

70 Dimers Grad student,undergrad

Distribution, kinetics Spectroscopy; UG writing

71 DNA damage responses

Grad student, MSstudents, undergrads

Genetic profiling, UG part written

Replicate of blots; Grad studentis writing

Current Manuscripts

Hypothetical example

Current Manuscripts Spreadsheet

My example

Good mentors are available to their mentees and group when needed

1. Plan your time to prioritize your group members and yourmentoring. (e.g., before semester starts, block out allgroup/individual/research meetings)

1. Create a unique communication channel for your group members.-Personal contact info (with boundaries)-Email priority-Slack or other app

2. Enable your group to make plans and organize events (with yourreview and assent), and then be there when they do.

Prioritizing your mentees

• Care genuinely about every person

• Recognize that mentoring is helping each person identify and achieve their career goals, not replicate your career goals• Nobody is exactly like you – be aware of “hidden

curriculum” and diverse work styles/needs

• Set goals and evaluate progress in a clear and transparent way

• Foster ownership – involve your entire group in decisions about lab culture and report/meeting format

High-impact mentoring practices

• Introduction to the laboratory • Expectation setting/Lab mission statement

• Plans of work• Focus on course requirements & program milestones• Establishes path to degree completion

• Review of student progress (annual/semester)• Focus on research and professional skills• Used to set productivity goals for lab• Formative assessment for where student should spend effort on

skills development

• Individual development plans (IDPs)• Career focus• Student reflection on what they enjoy and are good at in their work life• Fosters discussion on long-term aspirations• Used to discuss what it will take to succeed in chosen path• Sets action plan for career exploration

Sample developmental documentshttps://tinyurl.com/y45kmgh5

Individual development plans

sample IDP from New Faculty Workshop website

Vision: what are the most important things for you to do as a mentor? whatdo you value and what do you want your group to value?

Plan: what is a system you can put in place to achieve your desiredoutcome? (this is just like designing your teaching!)

Communication: how can you communicate that system to everyone inyour group with a high level of clarity?

Action: what are the things that will make it tough to follow through and howcan you overcome that?

Be systematic…

What matters to you?• program milestones• research goals and progress• publications and presentations• professional development and formulation of career plan• grades (especially for undergraduates)

How can you evaluate and communicate?• weekly or monthly 1:1 meetings• annual review or evaluation• group meetings• program requirements

The format of reports and meetings should be designed to evaluate all of the things that matter

Nobody should wonder how they are doing

• Everyone needs to be trained to join a new lab. UGs can be very,very central members of any lab. UGs can also be more creativein many instances than grads/postdocs.

• Intellectual ownership is key to continuing motivation. UGs shouldnot just be peons who don’t get to see the PI.

• Team roles must be clearly enunciated from the top.

• Work to empower voices from your entire team. Always providemultiple channels for feedback, suggestions, and ideas.

• Mentoring documents work. Very clear expectations from theimmediate start are very important.

Mentoring undergraduates

What matters to you?• Service• Teaching• Running a lab• Writing• Grants• Negotiating life…

You deserve a mentor that can talk about each of these things with you• In your department• Outside your department• Outside your institution

Make sure you have effective mentors

You run a research group with many personalities. One afternoon Carly, a 3rd yeargraduate student, comes to you visibly upset. James, a 4th year graduate student inyour group has referred to her as a “bitch”. You call James into your office, where youclearly express that in your laboratory there is zero tolerance for derogatory statementstowards a fellow group member based on gender, race, age or any other stereotype. Asthe PI you understand that there will be disagreements, but statements like this areinflammatory and are completely unproductive towards settlement of any conflict. Jamesapologizes to you and agrees that the use of this word was in poor taste and furtheragrees to apologize directly to Carly. He marches into lab, and announces loudly toeveryone present (who by now know what is going on) that he was wrong, and heregrets calling a Carly a “bitch”, what he meant to say was that she is an “asshole”. Hisopinion is that there is no way that could be construed as a gender-biased statement, sohe is in the clear.

• What could the PI have done differently in this situation? (keeping in mind thathindsight is always more clear…)

• What actions could/should be taken with respect to James? Will any of these potentialactions help to fix the problem? Is there a risk that some of the possible actions mightfurther exacerbate an already bad situation?

• Are there ways to diffuse the broader tensions in the lab as a result of this altercation?

Case study: Explosive personalities

Case study: Struggling studentI had a very, very smart and capable undergraduate studentwhose mother died during her freshman year. She keptworking hard and was getting straight A’s and taking extraclasses every semester. Two years later, she stoppedshowing up regularly to group events, and her classattendance dropped off precipitously. She only infrequentlyresponded to direct email contacts from me and mycolleagues and did not respond to communication from heracademic students’ dean.

What (if anything) should you do?

Mental health crisis in academia

Science 2018

Mental health crisis in academia

• “See something/say something/do something”Resources for students

• Get to know your campus counseling staff (invite to faculty/group meeting)• Carry relevant numbers/brochures with you• Be willing to walk/introduce students to key resource people• Write lab policies that support self-care and mental health

Take care of yourself!

• You can’t be an effective leader and mentor when you are not taking care of yourself!

• Sharing your own struggles and self-care regime can destigmatize mental health challenges.

• When you devote time to self-care, you give your group members permission to do the same.

My self-care regime

• Yoga 5-6 mornings a week

• Therapy every 1-2 weeks

• Daily sitting meditation practice

• Some sort of walk with my partner almost every day

• Lots of cooking (for me and all of my people)

…Life• What is most important to you? • Can you keep it that way?

• Do not sacrifice sleep, diet, and exercise

• Simplify your life– Clothing?– Delegate, outsource, automate– Travel organization/apps/checklist– Sign up for TSA PreCheck/Trusted Traveler

You can’t prepare for everything…

Are you effectively managing your time?

• Don’t mistake activity for achievement. • John Wooden

• Use time-logging/time-tracking software– A basic spreadsheet works fine– Figure out how long things actually take!

• Prepare for your week, Sunday night prep time, schedule your work

• Practice daydreaming

• Write every day

Managing multiple demands

• Keep track—write down everything you have to do/are doing– But avoid the 15-page to-do list

• Decision-making process– Delete, delay, diminish, delegate

» Does it have to be done? Now? In this way? By me?

– Don’t let the perfect be the enemy of the good enough.

• When are you going to get everything done?

J. Morgenstern “Time Management from the Inside Out”

How to find quality time

• “Stack” your meetings/commitments

• Turn off alerts, set times to answer email rather than in real time

• Avoid the “tyranny of tiny tasks” (Timothy Wu)

• Do you always need to answer your phone? (No!)

• Open-door policy? Always available?

• Take a writing/thinking retreat and/or a research group “retreat”

Distinguish between:

Not Important ImportantNot UrgentUrgent

From “Making the Right Moves” HHMI and BWF

Make your time count

“cos

t”

impact

Get help!• Professional services

– Coach, project manager– Organizer

• Therapist

• Mentors, colleagues– Everyone here today!

• Don’t be afraid of self-experiments– Do them, and observe closely

dailymoneyshot.net

Resources

clonderg@haverford.edu

https://teachbettersavetime.wordpress.com/

Minute paper

• Plan an experiment on yourself:– Write down (in your notes, right now) one thing

that you will try out to prioritize better and/or save time when you return home after this workshop.