#newPI: First 90 Days
JFK ascended to the US presidency on January 20, 1961. In his inaugural address, he said, “Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans”. There was a clear transition both in his life and in the USA. Almost immediately, his presidency was beset with challenges and difficult decisions. On 4 April, Kennedy approved the Bay of Pigs plan to invade Cuba. The plan failed miserably. Around the same time, Americans watched the Soviet Union send the first human into space. Despite these challenges, JFK also accomplished some important goals, such as calling for the establishment of the Peace Corps program.
Although perhaps an unfair standard, US presidents are assessed by their first 100 days in office. They are expected to have a plan for these first three months and to accomplish a lot. The standard originates from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s presidency beginning in 1933. To counter the effects of the Great Depression, he organized a 100-day special session of Congress where an unprecedented 15 major bills were passed.
Starting a new lab or leading a new team might not have the same global implications as becoming president during the Cold War era or the Great Depression. However, a leader’s start in any job can set the tone for themselves and those around them. As a lab leader, a lot will come at you. Everyone will want a piece of you and your time. You are the new shiny “thing” in the department.
I think it is critical to slow down to be intentional in the first 90 days (below I explain why the 90 versus 100 days) as a lab leader.
There are several common pitfalls I’ve observed for new lab leaders. First, I see a lot of new lab leaders starting in their role as if it were a continuation of their time as a postdoc or PhD student. I see a lot of new lab leaders who cannot break out of the shell of their past roles. In other words, lab leaders need to “stop acting like a grad student”. There are subtle ways in which new lab leaders show immaturity, most of which boil down to referencing their past work. For example, phrases like “During my PhD program…”, “As a grad student, I worked on….” and so forth show you are a recent student. You are no longer at your previous institution and you are in a whole new world. The difference between being a graduate student or postdoc and that of a lab leader is not the difference between checkers and chess. Instead, the difference is more akin to being trained to run a 100-meter race and then being asked instead to compete in a 10-sport decathlon with events you’ve never practiced.
Second, the role of a lab leader is so fundamentally different than any past responsibility for most lab leaders. As a lab leader, you are now expected to hire and onboard staff, mentor trainees, apply for and manage grants, teach, and so much more. A common refrain among new faculty members is that they now have to do several roles in which they have no training. Yet, I rarely see lab leaders take serious stock of this situation to then onboard themselves. Unfortunately, formal (and useful) onboarding programs are rare for new lab leaders. Instead, a lab leader needs to onboard themselves.
Third, new lab leaders fail to grasp the incentives and goalposts of their new role. A common mistake for new faculty members is to sign up or agree to many service responsibilities. Yet, only some, if any, of these service responsibilities may count in a future promotion. For example, if you are on the tenure track, the first goal should be to understand the requirements of obtaining tenure and then work backward. I agreed to join several research projects and grants early on in my faculty career. I failed to grasp how much work each project would be and how little reward each offered given I was simply a middle author on a couple of papers. The value per hour was not there, especially not in terms of tenure. Similarly, it is key to start learning how your institution works. Each institution has a variety of hidden, espoused, and enacted values. These values may then lead to incentives that govern the institution. In a previous post, I argued that understanding how your institution’s budget operates is one key part of understanding the incentives at play. Before you pitch a new course or apply for a grant, I think it is wise to understand which levers you might be engaging to accomplish your goals and those of the institution.
How do new lab leaders avoid these pitfalls and get caught up to speed more quickly? The inspiration for the title of this piece comes from Michael Watkin’s excellent book, “The First 90 Days: Proven Strategies for Getting Up to Speed Faster and Smarter”. The book outlines key moves when transitioning into a new leadership role. The book is an excellent read, but I’ll review the main ideas here and place them in the context of being a new lab leader.
Prepare Yourself: Formal onboarding programs do not always exist to ensure the success of lab leaders. I find it helpful to conduct a SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) analysis at these key points to determine how you might best onboard yourself.
Accelerate Your Learning: I set up so many coffee meetings with folks in my university when I first started. I spent a lot of time simply trying to understand the landscape and the people. In addition, there are many books and resources out there for new lab leaders. I am surprised by how little attention new lab leaders give to thoughtful commentaries on these subjects. I’ll share a whole post on my favorite resources soon.
Match Strategy to Situation: As a lab leader, you have to adjust your strategy to fit your various responsibilities. For example, I find the idea of being a “hands-off” or “hands-off” mentor an odd paradigm. I think mentors have to adjust their approach depending on the student.
Negotiate Success: In the first month I was on campus, I told my department chair my teaching and grants plans for that year and a rough sketch of my ideal teaching schedule over the next five years. I can now return to this document to note whether I am on track or not.
Secure Early Wins: I see a lot of new lab leaders wait until their lab is set up perfectly or they have all their teaching dialed in before securing early wins. I think this is a mistake. In academia and elsewhere, the gears of progress and change are slow. A paper might sit in review for a year or more. I think it is key to get some early wins even if small.
Achieve Alignment: As a lab leader, you are responsible for mentoring others, but you also exist in a larger department and institution. There is a tricky, but important balance to finding alignment between your mentees, your goals, and the priorities of the institution. As I noted earlier, the need for good alignment is
Build Your Team: You are no longer just a scientist. You are now a manager and leader as well. I believe the people you bring onto your team, especially early, can be the greatest source of joy or frustration in your role. You want a broad pool of candidates and then a thoughtful rubric to sort out applications. Your team will be small, so every individual can make a big impact on your life.
Create Alliances: I don’t mean alliances in the Game of Thrones sense. Instead, you need to build connections and a support team beyond those that you manage. I spend hours in conversation each month with other faculty and staff to discuss issues that may emerge or simply to get their feedback on my teaching or mentoring.
Manage Yourself: Although highly trained and productive given their recent hiring, most lab leaders have no idea how to manage their time and themselves. There will be tremendous growing pains as you determine a schedule and routine that works for you in your new role. For example, it took me years to settle into a teaching schedule concentrated on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I can now protect my deep, intellectual time on M/W/F for teaching preparation and writing.
Accelerate Everyone: As a lab leader, you will spend a lot of time and money on the people you manage. Be sure to set them, and yourself, up for success by helping them set a 90-day plan. You might not have received a lot of onboarding, but that doesn’t have to be the case for your mentees.
I think it is critical to stop, think, and then build a plan to be intentional in the first 90 days as a lab leader. I know how easy it is to get bogged down in unhelpful activities or to make costly mistakes. At the end of the day, the most productive lab leaders are those who can manage themselves and lead others. As a new lab leader, you are not the first to be on this path. You have to onboard yourself for success.