The world of science offers a perplexing career track: Scientists spend nearly a decade learning how to do great, clean experiments, interpret data accurately, and think creatively and independently. Then they land a professorship and are faced with the responsibility of overseeing their own laboratory. All of a sudden they are thrust into a new type of job for which they've never been trained: management. And like any business, a laboratory can flourish or flounder by the quality of that management.
Short of earning a master's in business administration, the resources available to supervisory scientists are few and far between. For the lucky ones, however, a course or program that teaches both the business side of running a lab and people-management skills can truncate the learning curve.
"The people problem is the main issue," says H. Dudley Dewhirst, a management professor at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville. He teaches a one-week course, "The Engineer/Scientist as a Manager," which is directed toward researchers in their first supervisory position. "Scientists have doctorates, they're very bright. Some seem to think they don't need to worry about the people stuff."
Julie Theriot agrees. An assistant professor of biochemistry at Stanford University, she wrote about leadership skills in managing a laboratory for the American Society for Cell Biology's "Women in Cell Biology" series. "Scientists are very naïve about human nature," she says. "What comes as a big surprise to individuals is the realization that everyone else is not like them."
You don't have to wait until you get your own lab to begin learning what it takes to manage one. Postdoc programs like the one for biomedical students at the University of Pennsylvania's medical school offer a variety of workshops on topics like how to set up and manage a laboratory, how to hire good employees, and how to resolve conflicts, among others. The program's director at Penn, Trevor Penning, says he has only enough money to offer the workshops to about half of the medical school's 800 postdocs. "And usually there's standing room only."
A Laboratory as a Small Business
One of Penning's sessions instructs postdocs to view a lab as a small business. "New professors are given an empty lab and some money and are told to go make it work. People can make a lot of mistakes. If you mismanage your set-up money, you can find yourself out the door very quickly," he says. A lot of what future principal investigators hear at the workshops is new to them. "Postdocs are not involved in the day-to-day managing of a lab," he says. "Although they might supervise someone, it's not the same when they're in charge of the whole ball of wax."
Penning recommends setting both long- and short-term goals and writing out a timeline for future achievements. "For example, by year 3 of the tenure track, your department needs to know you can get and renew grants," he says. Those goals should include writing and submitting papers. "Academics sometimes procrastinate about getting work published -- they just want to do one more experiment. But your committee needs to see it published -- it's no good sitting in your lab notebook."
One of the most "excruciatingly important" aspects to learn is time management, Penning says. Ms. Theriot admits she has yet to figure that one out herself. The challenge for new assistant professors, she says, is to adjust to a more complicated schedule: "You used to be single-minded as a grad student and postdoc. Now you're writing grants, teaching classes, and still doing experiments."
People Skills
Someone who has to weigh chemicals or measure radiation ought to pick up accounting practices relatively easily. More difficult is learning how to work with large number of independent thinkers, whether they are colleagues, bosses, or students, says Dewhirst, the management professor at Tennessee.
"Engineers seem to think if they tell somebody they're doing something wrong, the person will just turn around and start doing it right," Dewhirst says. But scientist managers can't simply point out a mistake. They need to motivate people and coach them to guarantee good performance.
Scientists running a lab also need to worry about morale. For example, postdocs and graduate students can become discouraged when difficulties arise in their research projects. "At this point, everybody we work with is an adult," Theriot says. "I always assume everyone's doing the best they can. So if there's a problem, there must be some reason for it." Giving lab members the benefit of the doubt when a project goes wrong encourages people to work in the manner in which they are most comfortable and productive.
Friends, Lovers, Co-workers
Personal relationships are one of the hardest issues to handle in managing a research lab. The role of professor, Theriot says, requires a certain distance from students and postdocs. "We're used to being one of the group, and all of a sudden we become one of the management, and it's a fundamentally different position," she says. "Behave differently with people you manage then you would with a friend. It's the hand that's dealt -- you have power over them, and they don't have power over you."
She says that socializing with some people in the lab and not others -- intentionally or not -- can foster jealousy and resentment among those who weren't included. But far worse is becoming romantically involved with an underling in the lab. "I think that's evil," she says. "Talk about a potential abuse-of-power situation. If it's that big a thing, the person can go to another lab. Don't sleep with anyone that works for you."
Professors set the tone and can foster equality in the lab. "Set times to meet with everyone in the lab for the same amount of time," Theriot says. "If opportunities come up, like a meeting you've been invited to speak at, spread the opportunities around." Theriot says that will help the group work as a team.
Final Warning
There are plenty of management books and courses that you can turn to. Your university may offer executive-education courses on management that would be helpful. But no matter how many courses you take or books you read, some things you will simply have to learn on the job. Says Penning, "When setting up a lab, the initial experience will be one of schizophrenia. You need to be in the lab to do experiments, but you need to write grants, too. You need to learn to be a great multitasker."
And when you run into conflicts, don't hesitate to ask for advice. Try to remember, you're not the only scientist-turned-untrained manager out there.
