As one moves up higher on the academic ladder, it is inevitable that their responsibilities keep changing shape. At some point, every researcher grows from being a timid graduate student fumbling around in the lab to learning how to manage a research team of their own at an academic institution or at a research organization. The excitement of this new role might be accompanied with some anxiety regarding the challenges that one might face while figuring out how to build a research team and forming an effective research team structure. Team work in research is essential and any issue in the team reflects in the work. So, if you have ever wondered how to lead a research team and you are looking for avenues that can improve your managerial skills, this article can help you get started.
1. Identify the right people for your research team
When you think about the question how to build a research team, the first step is to choose the right people for the team. As an efficient team leader/manager, one of the primary responsibilities is building a research team and establishing a research team structure that can help you achieve the goals envisioned by your lab or institute. The first step toward this is identifying people that can not only perform delegated tasks effectively, but can also adapt smoothly to the culture of your institute. If you are leading a heterogeneous research team of technicians, interns, graduate students, and postdocs, it is important to consider their individual calibre and time availability while assigning specific roles. The question of how to manage a research team will become simpler to answer once you have gauged your teammates’ capabilities.
2. Utilize the strengths of individual research team members
Managing research teams goes beyond just ‘managing’. The key to becoming a good team manager is developing a thorough understanding of the core characteristics of individual members of the research team. Building one-on-one relationships with team members can help you understand them better and help them achieve their most optimal performance. Some individuals perform well under pressure and stringent deadlines, while others perform better at their own pace. Similarly, some members thrive in a competitive environment, while others in the research team prefer a collaborative environment. The more extroverted members of your research team might be better at handling people-oriented tasks, while introverted ones work better in solitude. Identifying each individual member’s core strengths will help you delegate tasks more efficiently and build a better research team structure, which will in turn lead to better performance and research team work.
3. Invest in mentoring and skill-building within your research team
The best tip for how to lead a research team is to prioritize your team’s growth. A good manager thrives the most when he/she engages in mentoring and capacity building of the research team. Motivating team members to pursue skill building, will help in building and managing a research team that is robust and confident. Investing time in understanding their individual long-term goals and providing them with useful guidance from time-to-time can help develop trust with each team member. As a result, you get a strong research team structure too since each member’s core strengths are further refined. It is also essential for a research team manager to establish a team culture that facilitates good research practices and fosters an attitude of integrity.
4. Keep the communication channels open with your research team
Lack of availability of the manager can directly translate to poor performance of the research team. To learn how to manage a research team, it is important to first consider whether your team is heterogeneous in nature – the younger and more inexperienced members will require your continued guidance and support. It is necessary to be open to feedback on how you can support the team better. This will help build the team’s trust and confidence in you. Hosting frequent lab meetings, albeit of short durations, to discuss urgent and pertinent issues can be one way to ensure that the communication channels remain active. Encouraging open communication can also be extremely helpful in identifying signs of conflict among team members and address the situation effectively.
5. Foster a collaborative attitude and celebrate the small wins
Appreciate the time, energy, and effort dedicated by each research team member, regardless of the outcome of their work. In academia, each failed experiment can be used to enhance the individual learning curve, and allowing research team members to grow through their mistakes will help in boosting their self-confidence. Academicians invariably end up harboring a competitive spirit, since the system is designed to reward individual performances more than collective research team work. This can have deleterious effects on individual well-being as well as projects involving multiple people. Fostering a collaborative attitude, organizing team-building activities, and creating a safe and inclusive environment for researchers from all backgrounds and with diverse viewpoints will help in the improved well-being of your research team.
Do you know the best thing about having a research team? Work on your plate gets divided. And that’s why, developing an empathetic attitude toward your team members is extremely essential. It is wise to acknowledge the fact that you have a limited control over their performance and can only motivate them to a certain extent. Thus, it is necessary to develop an adaptable mind that can readily accept modifications in the previously envisioned goals and strategies to ensure effective team work in research teams.
Additional reading:
- Five ‘power skills’ for becoming a team leader. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00178-2.
- How to lead a research team | Careers | Chemistry World. https://www.chemistryworld.com/careers/how-to-lead-a-research-team/4011327.article.
R Discovery is a literature search and research reading platform that accelerates your research discovery journey by keeping you updated on the latest, most relevant scholarly content. With 250M+ research articles sourced from trusted aggregators like CrossRef, Unpaywall, PubMed, PubMed Central, Open Alex and top publishing houses like Springer Nature, JAMA, IOP, Taylor & Francis, NEJM, BMJ, Karger, SAGE, Emerald Publishing and more, R Discovery puts a world of research at your fingertips.
Try R Discovery Prime FREE for 1 week or upgrade at just US$72 a year to access premium features that let you listen to research on the go, read in your language, collaborate with peers, auto sync with reference managers, and much more. Choose a simpler, smarter way to find and read research – Download the app and start your free 7-day trial today!
