How to become a Good Lab Manager, Elizabeth Sandquist, ASBMB Today

This resource first appeared in issue #3 on 24 Jan 2020 and has tags Becoming A Manager: Other

This is an older post but it’s one of the most read on the ASBMB blog, and it was posted on twitter again because the upcoming ASBMB meeting will have a workshop on the topic.

The post is well worth reading, and extremely relevant to us. Its top tips, which Elizabeth expands on extremely well, are:

You can learn management skills.
Have a five-year plan for your lab.
Set clear standards and expectations.
Optimize your management style for each lab member.
Listen to your lab members.
Walk around the lab daily.
Learn when to say no.
Be prepared when small amounts of free time become available.
Get to know the people at your institution who can help you.
Celebrate successes with your lab.

Number 1, that management is a set of skills you can learn and start doing passably well rather than being a personality trait or an inclination that you had or didn’t, was a crucial thing for me to understand, and it makes everything else so much easier. Other tips I’ve seen not followed as often as I’d like in research computing or software environments are 3., the clear standards and expectations, 4., optimize your management style for each lab member (which is easy if you’re having one-on-ones!) 7., saying no, and 9, connecting effectively cross-institutions. In our environment I’d probably add a points about giving feedback and hiring.