Leadership and management in bioanalysis (1)
A fair assumption might be that most of the readers of the journal Bioanalysis or the associated website, Bioanalysis Zone, have a background as a scientist both in their education and, for most, work-place training. There are probably a few readers who ’double-majored‘ or went on to attain an MBA, but if you are like me, probably the extent of formal education you received in business was a single economics or accounting class. Management classes were for the guys that had the afternoons off while the rest of us were in the lab, puzzled about why that reaction had turned to black goo instead of beautiful orange crystals. I ended up in analytical chemistry and not organic for a reason. I think most laboratory organizations do a pretty good job with additional training in the advanced scientific aspects of their organization(s). Every lab has a mass spec or chromatography guru who loves to teach the new staff, and I find that our QA colleagues are always there to make sure we are proficient in the appropriate regulations: fifteen straight years of GLP courses for me! This is all great to get your scientific career off the ground, but along the way, we find ourselves moving up in seniority in the organization. Our careers will head in the direction of the lab guru – or we move into the dark side of management. Either way, we become leaders, and if you are like me, you are probably a leader who didn’t get a lot of leadership instruction until you got there. Quite frankly, at the time, I didn’t think I needed it, but it didn’t take me long to realize how wrong I was.
I remember my first performance appraisal with a new direct report who had been my peer before my recent promotion. My goal was to give him some constructive criticism, but after our discussion he had some less than complimentary feedback for me. He was kind enough to explain to me that he didn’t mind the advice and he didn’t disagree with what I said, but that my delivery needed some (a good deal) of work.
I was mortified. I thought I had it all figured out.
That was about 12 years ago, and in those 12 years since I entered the dark side of management, I’ve realized that I can never get enough tips, tricks and advice about management. I have also seen that there are a lot of unique challenges to managing scientists in our particular discipline of bioanalysis.
Occasionally, I’m known to rattle on when I start on a topic and, apparently, that is what I was doing in a recent conversation with Sarah Bishop of Bioanalysis. I only vaguely recall the initial conversation, but a few months later she contacted me and said, “Remember at the conference when we were discussing you writing a management column….” I really didn’t remember the conversation, but it sounded like a fun, new challenge to take on. At 40 I think it is safe to say I’m in the middle of my career: I have learned a lot and have a lot to learn. Although I’m committed to keeping as close to the lab as I can, I am certain that my career is headed toward more management than lab. I find that I learn by doing, so writing this column might be considered a selfish endeavor as much as an opportunity to share some of my experience with others. I intend to learn a lot about management, leadership and myself along the way. I am also very interested in what other leaders in and out of the field of bioanalysis might have to share with us, so approximately half of the columns in this series will be written by invited contributors from a nice list of people I know and respect. I’m certainly open to ideas for topics or contributors. I’ve also got a long list of ideas for columns that I’m eager to write for you. I’m not personally a fan of most management books, so you won’t see many, if any, quotes, reviews or discussions about someone’s seven habits or where they put their cheese. Mostly I just don’t have the patience to read what I find to be very dry material. I do hope, however, that you’ll find my contributions give you some new ideas or help you with your personal management challenges. I’ll be telling a lot of stories, so if you worked with me over the years, you might recognize a few of them. I am looking forward to taking on this new challenge, and I hope you will become a regular reader.
