4A. Mentoring and managing your science team: Setting goals, giving feedback and creating individual development plans.

Note: All of our workshops are sponsored by client organizations for their employees, staff or affiliates. At this time we do not offer “open enrollment” workshops. Please contact us for details.

Available for on site delivery and online via Zoom

Funding agencies are increasingly requiring that scientists in management or leadership positions receive training in mentoring graduate students, postdocs and other types of trainees. Like being a good manager, being a good mentor requires time and effort on the part of scientists in management positions. But the payoff is significant – well mentored trainees are motivated and productive and can contribute significantly to the productivity of a research group. This workshop is adapted from our Workshop 4 (Managing Your Science Team) and expands upon it by introducing tools that are critical for creating and maintaining good mentoring relationships. The workshop uses team-based discussion, group exercises and role playing to enable participants to practice behaviors associated with excellent mentoring. The topics covered in the workshop include:

• What mentees need from their mentors.

• The characteristics of high-quality mentoring relationships.

• The difference between mentoring and managing and why that is important.

• Six key tools you need to use in your mentoring relationships.

• How to set concrete, challenging and achievable goals for scientists and trainees.

• Using a five-step approach to give useful feedback that trainees can hear and use.

• The central importance of individual development plans: how to create and review them with mentees.

• How to conduct a performance review so your scientist-mentees know how they are doing.

Target audience:

This workshop is targeted to scientists in a management or leadership roles and who manage or supervise trainees, graduate students or postdocs in both academia, research institutions or private-sector settings.