Too often, feedback is a codeword for criticism. Many managers want to know how to criticise their staff. Many years ago, one of my manager’s, let’s call him Gernot, noticed my tendency for self-critical reflection. He deliberately focused on giving me positive feedback so that I would not lose sight of my strengths. He knew […]
Positive Feedback Loops Read More »
Interruptions have always been the bane of a researcher’s life and at the same time researchers need interactions to thrive. Most operate an open door policy and are annoyed about the level and style of interruption that ensures their own time is not so effectively used. In many cases, it seems that staff or students
I Only Need a Minute … Read More »
Letting people stay in their comfort zone has a bad press; more people recommend setting stretch goals for your people so that they develop. These two ideas are actually complementary, as the simple chart Shows The inner or comfort zone represents the set of skills and tasks that a person has mastered; they’re comfortable doing
Develop the Comfort Zone Read More »
When discussing with clients how to lead their staff, one question that arises often is, how much initiative should my people show? In their classic HBR article, Management Time: Who’s Got the Monkey?  Oncken and Wass lay out a five-level scale of managerial initiative (1 – 5 in the figure). My clients’ staff are more resourceful and
How Much Initiative Do You Want? Read More »
In August 2013, Melanie Glickman and I were invited to run a mini-workshop at a post-doc retreat in the Swiss Alps. The beautiful landscape was conducive to good and creative work. One of the workshop topics was what career options are open to post-docs who do not want to pursue the traditional academic career option of
Group Leader is Not the Only Career Option Read More »
Clients regularly ask me about how they might criticise a colleague or employee, without that person taking offence – or how they might broach a delicate topic with someone. In most cases, the first step involves offering the colleague or employee some feedback. This is because an easy way to broach the topic (be it
How Can I criticise Without Offence? Read More »
I often hear from clients about the side effects caused by the tension between their desire to collaborate and their people’s need for individual success. These can take the form of people hiding data from their colleagues or not putting them in shared directory structures. Some researchers resort to labelling their bottles of materials in a
Darwin’s “Missing Link” That Could Revolutionise Your Team Read More »
Late one evening, when we were all sitting around and philosophising about life, a friend of mine said to me, “you know, you’ve clearly cold-bloodedly masterminded your career.” Through the rear-view mirror, it all looked planned. Hand on heart, none of it was planned. Instead, I developed and adopted a strategy that increased my options
Stop Planning and Enjoy a Better Career Read More »
Ask a fresh-faced, bright-eyed Ph.D. student at the outset to name their career goal and a majority will say, “professor.” Although most of them will never get there. The numbers that achieve this goal are very low indeed, varying somewhere between 0.5-10%, depending on the country and discipline. One of the problems is that, inside academia, a non-academic
3 Ways to Boost Career Options for Your People Read More »
It’s often said that the most important task for leaders is to develop their people. While there’s more than a grain of truth in this, there’s also an old saying from personal growth, Let It Begin With Me. To be able to develop others, you need to care for your own development if only so they can
3 Skills to Improve Your Leadership Read More »
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