Despite her decade-long experience as a principal investigator, Jean was repeatedly surprised at the amount of effort that was required to manage her group. Of course, coordination of experiments, data analysis, and grant writing were all expected.  But, dealing with personnel, their diverse personalities and inevitable clashes were not something that she expected when she envisioned leading a research program. 

One particular technician perplexed her much more than the others, Linus. He was late all the time.  His lab partners complained about him on a regular basis. He was not fulfilling his job responsibilities and the other had to take up the slack. Jean decided that it was time to address his tardiness.

Soon after Jean resolved to address the problem, Linus wandered in late, again.  To demonstrate that she was in charge Jean followed Linus into the lab and yelled at him in front of everyone. She explained that his tardiness was unacceptable and it had to stop. She explained that she meant what she said and she was angry.

“Linus, you need to come in on time!”

The yelling did not go over well.  Linus was upset, and appeared in her office in no time.  He told her that she was demeaning and the public yelling was not necessary.

Jean had to admit, he was right.  The yelling did not feel good to her either, and it was clear that it accomplished nothing. Jean apologized and the two had a productive discussion.

Eventually after several additional discussions and ongoing open communication, Linus eventually started to arrive on time and he communicated when he was going to be late. With three children at home he explained that getting out of the house in the morning was not always easy. They agreed that he had quite a bit of computer work that could be done at home after the kids went to sleep. So, if he was late, he would make up his time at home.

Jean learned how to manage the scientists in her group by reading the literature on management and leadership. Amongst the research she read, Linda Hill’s writings stood out.Linda Hill of the Harvard Business School outlines eight tenets of leadership, with authenticity being one such characteristic. Jean is not the yelling type, and upon reflecting on the episode with Linus, she recognized that this was not who she was — this was not authentic behavior. Jean learned to find the strengths of each person who reported into her and stay focused on those strengths.  Sometimes that required moving people from one project to another.

Although she continued to encounter bumps in the road, the lab ran smoothly.  And, importantly, Jean was able to support the success of each scientist in her lab as they progressed down their own career paths.