How to Delegate and Still Stay on Top of Things Carol A Paronis McLean Hospital / Harvard Medical School

Two Separate Topics How to Delegate How to Stay on Top of Things What to delegate To whom to delegate How to Stay on Top of Things Communication Flexibility (Trust)

How to Delegate Know yourself Know what needs to get done Strengths and weaknesses Personality; boss, mentor, or micromanager Know what needs to get done Know the people and culture of your lab

How to Delegate Know what needs to get done What can be done by others What needs to be done by you Writing grants, papers Reviewing Ordering supplies Experiments Training Equipment maintenance Cleaning Data Analysis Administrative duties Teaching

How to Delegate Know the people and culture of your lab Everyone has strengths and weaknesses Colleagues Post-docs Graduate students Technicians Interns / Undergrads Overachiever Slacker Future colleague Career technician Worker

How To Delegate Don’t delegate only things you dislike It sets a good example to show that you are willing to do what it takes to get the job done Learn to delegate your least favorite things This will keep your professional life full of passion

How to Stay on Top of Things Have meetings One-on-one meetings Group meetings Data meetings Business/technical meetings Daily, weekly, monthly meetings Social meetings

How to Stay on Top of Things Who does what? Everyone is talented / has strengths Give everyone some responsibility Don’t delegate before arrival Avoid pyramid schemes Special cases: Managers-in-training How to stay on top of Post-docs

How to Stay on Top of Things Communication with you Stay in the lab 1 day per week or 1 hour per day Consider an “open door” policy Give positive feedback Communication with each other Overlap responsibilities

How to Stay on Top of Things Be flexible; recognize changes Personnel New responsibilities yours theirs Growing Pains