Managing a research team

How can you best manage your research team?

This page will take you through aspects of effectively managing a research team.

These will include setting expectations, building your team, monitoring progress and motivation, and importantly for any team, delegation.

A group of people sitting around a table in a seminar room.

What is a research team?

The key characteristic of a research team is that it comprises a group of people working together in a committed way towards a common research goal.

Research team diversity

There are many different configurations of research teams in academia. They may comprise co-investigators, fractional or pooled staff, technical and clerical staff and postgraduate research students. There may also be inter- and intra-institutional dimensions and increasingly international ones; some team members’ contributions may well be largely virtual, via email, phone or remote call.

Team members may have different disciplinary backgrounds, different motivations and aspirations, and different cultural backgrounds. Over time, team members’ roles may change from being core (fully dedicated to the research goal) to peripheral (committed to this research goal, but also working in one or more other teams), and vice-versa.

Assessing the balance and composition of your team

The balance and composition of the team in terms of skills, expertise and other contributions will be appropriate to achieve the team’s objectives
The research team leader needs to be confident that team members have, or can develop, the necessary skills and knowledge for the research in hand
You will make recruitment decisions on that basis.

In addition to knowledge, experience and skills, individuals have different behavioural traits or characteristics they bring to the way they carry out their work and these can be aligned to roles in the team: some are good at seeing a big picture, others are good at detailed work. The need for these different roles will emerge at different times and it is worth considering the composition of your team to ensure you have a balance of strengths.
For more information on this, check out the Belbin team roles.

Your responsibilities as a manager can include:

Establish, agree and communicate standards of performance and behaviour
Establish style, culture, approach of the group
Monitor and maintain discipline, ethics, integrity and focus on objectives
Anticipate and resolve group conflict, struggles or disagreements
Assess and change as necessary the balance and composition of the group
Develop team-working, cooperation, morale and team-spirit

Develop the collective maturity and capability of the group – progressively increase group freedom and authority
Encourage the team towards objectives and aims – motivate the group and provide a collective sense of purpose
Identify, develop and agree team- and project-leadership roles within group
Enable, facilitate and ensure effective internal and external group communications
Identify and meet group training needs
Give feedback to the group on overall progress; consult with and seek feedback and input from the group.

Setting expectations

There are areas where you should provide clear leadership and set expectations for your team. Where appropriate you should involve the team in decision-making; this helps build a sense of participation and commitment.

Working arrangements – this can include expected office (or lab) hours and the flexibility of such arrangements
Your availability – if you find yourself frequently away from your research team for extended periods they need to know your plans. Be clear as to how often you will be available for consultation and how you can be reached
Division of responsibilities – make sure every individual knows not only their own responsibilities but where responsibility lies for all other parts of the project and how their work fits into the team
Lines of communication – everyone should be clear about who to ask about what issue(s) and how information will come to them

Monitoring and reporting arrangements – researchers need to know when they will need to report, to whom and how results will be measured
Standards of work – all should be aware of the quality and consistency that you expect from your team
Ethics – each member of your team should understand how they should approach their work, especially where there are ethical sensitivities
Deadlines – make sure it is clear when each part of the project needs to be finished and not just the final deadline.

When setting expectations make sure that you:

Communicate early, clearly and often – make sure that from the outset of a project everyone involved has a clear picture of what you as a team are trying to achieve and how you expect them to approach the task.
Be realistic – there are few things more detrimental to a researcher’s performance than being burdened with unrealistic expectations, whether the complexity of the task assigned to them or the time-frame available for it to be completed. Make sure you have a clear picture of the capabilities of your team before setting expectations. You may also be required to manage the expectations that others have of your researchers and intervene if you fear requests from elsewhere in your institution or outside are burdening your team with too many responsibilities.

Maintain two-way communication – establishing expectations works best as a dialogue. In this way you can ensure your researchers accept and understand what you are asking of them and help them develop a sense of ownership over the project. You will also want to understand what their expectations of you are.
Be prepared to be flexible – things change, either through experience or a change in circumstances, expectations that were reasonable at the start of a project may no longer be reasonable later on. The job of a manager is to realise this and adjust accordingly. Once again, if expectations change, make sure you communicate this to everyone involved.

Monitoring progress and motivation

Once you are satisfied that your researchers are clear as to when and how progress is reported it will give you confidence to allow them and you to get on with the work.

When establishing reporting mechanisms remember:

Regular reporting helps – don’t only focus on the finished product. Even if you think a task is relatively straight forward, requiring regular updates on progress – whether at regular times (e.g. at a weekly meeting) or at specified stage of the task – can be enormously helpful in keeping a project on track
Make clear what is being measured – if a target is measurable ensure that all involved are aware of what will constitute success. This will not only make sure that your team is working towards the same goals but that you are provided with the relevant information to make a judgement

Establish clear lines of responsibility – it is important that your researchers know who is responsible for reporting on a task and to whom they should report. If you are away for any length of time, make sure you delegate responsibility for maintaining the reporting mechanisms in your absence
Keep the reporting mechanisms active – in a busy team it is easy to let reporting slip. Make sure your researchers know the importance you place on regular reporting and that your reporting mechanisms are adhered to.

Informal supervision

Just as important as the formal reporting mechanisms is the informal supervision that occurs on a daily basis. How you manage your researchers in this way will depend on the complexity of the task and the experience of the researchers involved. Your approach might also change as you delegate specific tasks and responsibilities. You will also want to give consideration to how individual researchers fit into their team and work with others.

Remember to:

Encourage your researchers to communicate regularly with you and with each other
Make it clear that it is OK to ask for help and admit mistakes
Praise work done well and keep criticism constructive.

Motivation

Some factors that have an impact on a researcher’s motivation, such as institutional salary levels or the wider job market, may be out of your control but there are important factors that you can influence.

Here are three broad strategies for maintaining the motivation of staff in your team:

Recognise and praise: recognising and praising the work your researchers do, both the quality of the work and the effort they put into it, is something that is easily forgotten, especially in busy periods. Explicitly recognising when they meet your expectations is essential to maintaining the morale of your team
Provide challenges and responsibility – people are much more likely to give their work their full attention and effort when they feel they are being challenged. Constantly repeating familiar tasks or working within a comfort zone will test the motivation of even the most conscientious researcher. Being confronted with new challenges and invited to take on further responsibilities can motivate and give a sense of achievement
Develop your staff – giving your researchers the sense that they are developing their skills and moving forwards in their career can be very motivating.

What are the motivating factors that someone can feel in their role?

Achievement – the personal satisfaction of completing a job, solving its problems and seeing the successful results of one’s own efforts
Recognition – the acknowledgement of a job efficiently done – this may be something which arises from within the individual or be acknowledged by others
Work – the positive effects of the job upon the person – your job may be interesting, varied, creative and challenging. However, different people may find the same job more or less interesting; what is interesting to one person may be boring to another

Responsibility – the degree of control the person has over work – the amount of control that people can exercise is, in part, influenced by the authority and the responsibility that goes with it
Advancement – the opportunity to achieve promotion within the organisation – advancement also occurs when someone is given more freedom to exercise initiatives in his/her normal work
Growth – the opportunities to gain new knowledge and develop skills – it may be seen as the opportunity to use developed skills and abilities or to realise further potential in the job.

Delegation

Delegating within a research team

With thought and planning, delegation can be a strategy that benefits both you and your researchers.

Delegation usually requires you to hand over a measure of responsibility for a job and allow your researcher to use their judgement to overcome problems and obstacles that may come along. It is empowering someone to act on your behalf.

What are some of the benefits of delegation?

For you:

Ensure an engaged and motivated team
Help you complete the project on time
Free up your time
Allow you the space to develop as a leader
Enable you to appreciate the full range of capabilities of your team.

For your researchers:

Development of new skills
Increased motivation
Exposure to new experiences and people
Encourage a sense of ownership of the project outcomes
Helpful in career progression.

What to delegate to your research team

One way to approach this is to think about all aspects of the project and ask, ‘which of the tasks are ones that only I can do?’ Most of the jobs that remain are suitable for delegation.

When deciding which tasks you wish to delegate to your researchers, consider the capabilities of your researchers and their development needs. Consider the person you are delegating to and the task you are asking them to complete. Your approach to delegation is going to differ depending on how confident you are that they can complete the job independently. Ask yourself:

Does this researcher have all the skills and knowledge needed to carry out the task?
Are they willing and confident enough to assume the responsibility?

Top tips for delegation:

Routine tasks should be distributed evenly (including yourself)
Don’t make the same person continuously do the most tedious and mundane of the tasks
Delegation is about allowing your staff to expand their skills and experience
Talk to your researchers about their professional aspirations and how their work on the project can help them work towards their goals.

Successful delegating

Delegation will often start with negotiation. Talk to your researcher to make sure they are happy with what they are being asked to do and negotiate with them to establish how much autonomy they will have, how and when they should report back to you, how often you’ll be available for consultation and when the task may be considered finished.
At the outset of the task make sure the reporting mechanisms are discussed and agreed. The further you are from the day-to-day work on the task, the more important these mechanisms become.
Don’t rush either the delegation process or the task itself. Take time to ensure you have delegated the right job to the right person and that all aspects, including reporting, are fully understood.

Make sure your staff are aware of the standards you expect and the criteria you would use to judge success.
Make sure they have enough time to do a good job. A researcher undertaking a task that is new to them will most likely work at a slower rate than you would. Anticipate that and allow for it; setting unrealistic deadlines for your staff will only lead to corners being cut and mistakes being made.
Give out praise when appropriate and make sure criticism is constructive. How you react to the results of delegation is a key part of team-management. You may have high expectations of the quality of your researcher’s work but still make sure you acknowledge work well done and when genuine mistakes are made try and make your criticism fair, objective and constructive.

Be aware of your power

Even if you have an excellent relationship with your researchers, you still have power over them, and this may affect the way in which they communicate with you.

What could researchers under your leadership find difficult to do?

Say no to a request: some staff will gladly accept (or feel obliged to accept) any tasks you give them regardless of how busy they are.
Admit they don’t know: whatever the stage of their career, researchers will come across tasks that they simply have not faced before. It is your responsibility to make sure that the researcher you delegate a task to either has the necessary skills to complete it or that you have put in place arrangements to help them acquire those skills. Ask if they have completed similar tasks in the past and discuss their experiences to get a full picture of their abilities. Perhaps training may be needed before they take on the job.
Admit they don’t understand: make sure you always explain the task clearly. Researchers often need far more guidance than principal investigators realise so don’t assume your researcher knows the background and process as well as you. Explain what, why, when, how and who. Explain any potential pitfalls that could be expected.

Maintaining responsibility

The extent to which you are involved will vary depending on the experience of the person to whom you have delegated and the importance of the job but, however much responsibility you delegate, you will still need to monitor the tasks and ensure that adequate reporting mechanisms are in place. Achieving the correct balance between delegation and maintaining responsibility is a management skill you will develop.

Things to take away

The key characteristic of a research team is that it comprises a group of people working together in a committed way towards a common research goal.
In addition to knowledge, experience and skills, individuals have different behavioural traits or characteristics they bring to the way they carry out their work and these can be aligned to roles in the team.
Where appropriate you should involve the team in decision-making; this helps build a sense of participation and commitment.
Delegation usually requires you to hand over a measure of responsibility for a job and allow your researcher to use their judgement to overcome problems and obstacles that may come along. It is empowering someone to act on your behalf.

Useful links

Managing a research team

Leadership for Principal Investigators (PIs)

Influence and leadership

Your research communities