Click for more information and to register: career.ucsf.edu/mm

The Research Mentor/People Manager training is back! Sign up for our popular virtual series that teaches you to manage someone else's performance and prepares you to lead team in industry and academic! Built at UCSF through an NSF grant and tested with both industry and academic scientists as well as clinicians, the Mentor/Manager series teaches you practical day-to-day skills to set expectations, give feedback and more!

Module 1: The 7 people manager (supervisory) tasks to manage someone else's productivity, morale and well-being
Wednesday, October 1st, 2025 at 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. PST

• In this workshop, participants identify the skills they have and those they need to develop to effectively manage the productivity of their mentee/employee. First, you will self-evaluate your strengths and growth areas in executing the 7 fundamental people management responsibilities: (setting expectations, teaching/training and delegating, the three types of feedback, rewarding achievement, addressing performance issues, managing the inevitable conflict inherent in even the most functional teams, and providing appropriate protection and support).
• Second, we'll dissect the specific strategies individuals with research mentoring and/or managing responsibilities can use to equitably balance decisions in fulfilling their roles as a scientific mentor and/or a manager. Finally, participants consider ways to receive support and further develop their skills and abilities in these areas.

Module 2: How to transparently set (performance and conduct) expectations
Monday, October 6th, 2025 at 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. PST

• Have you ever been surprised or frustrated that someone in your lab isn't meeting performance or conduct expectations? Are you wondering about organizational management benchmarks, strategies, and best practices for setting expectations transparently? Then this is the session for you! In this workshop, we'll discuss challenges and tactics to share the wide range of expectations that need to be set - from promptness to productivity and problem-solving.
• Participants will also learn organizational management best practices for articulating, refining, reinforcing, and/or updating expectations. Next, we'll cover how skillful leaders avoid common pitfalls (e.g., articulating only the "what" but not the "how" of expectations, failing to include tacit expectations, setting boundaries around key expectations such as problems, etc.) Finally, we'll point out links and materials to institutional resources for further support.

Module 3: Teach/train and delegate: Using best practices to get your people up to speed
Wednesday, October 8th, 2025 at 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. PST

• Effective training practices are essential in any organization but particularly important in research and clinical organizations. The constant evolution of knowledge requires a solid training process to stay up to speed on innovative technology, best practices, and expertise, and the consequences of errors can be high.
• In this module, we discuss common training issues that can result in a loss of productivity for individuals and their teams. We propose evidence-based approaches to avoid, detect, and correct these training issues.

Module 4: Communicating effectively: developing your own feedback strategy and style
Monday, October 13th, 2025 at 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. PST

• Do you feel most comfortable offering positive (or kudos) feedback? Do you tend to avoid or sugarcoat corrective feedback? Are you unsure what 'evaluative' feedback is? Then this is the session for you. In this module, we begin by dissecting the three types of feedback that everyone (including you) needs to be productive: kudos, corrective, and evaluative feedback.
• Participants will practice giving feedback using a protocol that works for both kudos and corrective feedback. Next, participants will modify the protocol as they consider their style (including their personal values, approach, and language). We'll discuss strategies to gain buy-in and determine how the recipient can best hear and act on that feedback, as well as how to engage when the recipient has a strong reaction to feedback.

Module 5: When someone isn't meeting your expectations: Strategies and resources to manage performance effectively
Wednesday, October 15th, 2025 at 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. PST

• When someone repeatedly fails to meet performance or conduct expectations, many research mentors/managers frequently under or over-correct and mistakenly attempt to handle the situation alone (rather than reaching out for support). In this session, participants will learn tactics to determine how their particular organization expects them to manage performance or conduct issues, how to access organizational resources to help them navigate the situation (including HR, Learning, and Development, etc.), and common mistakes and approaches (including building a circle of support/self-care) to manage one of the most challenging responsibilities for any mentor/manager.

(Monday, October 20th, 2025- Break)

Module 6: How to effectively hire the best people for your team: Which strategies will you use?
Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025 at 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. PST

• In this workshop, participants will learn evidence-based strategies to assess and select the best candidate for their team.
• Participants will learn how to transparently structure the overall hiring process, begin to develop their own questions/rubrics to assess for their priority qualifications, consider steps to prepare and manage a hiring committee, and discover tactics to mitigate others - and their own - unconscious biases to ensure that the best candidate isn't overlooked.

Module 7: Skillfully supervising people who aren't you: Managing different work styles
Monday, October 27th, 2025 at 12:00 - 2:00 p.m. PST

• In this module, participants consider how individual differences in values, approaches, and relationships to work can impact productivity, morale, and team member retention. We also discuss tangible steps mentors/managers can take to cultivate high-functioning environments intentionally. We consider several factors that may make up our individual' operating systems' when we engage in work, including how we prefer to communicate, make decisions, feel organized, and manage change/conflict.

Module 8: The 5 strategies to help everyone do their best work and create a sense of team belonging
Wednesday, October 29th, 2025 at 12:00 -2:00 p.m. PST

• Many scientists with mentoring/managing responsibilities have the best of intentions, but lack clarity about which specific decisions and actions result in everyone on their team feeling a sense of belonging and invested in the overall success of the lab/team. In this session, you will learn a framework to benchmark which decisions, behaviors and actions support an effective workplace ecosystem.
• Secondly, we will outline 5 overarching strategies that can improve the productivity, morale and well-being of everyone on your team.
• Finally, you will practice applying these strategies to your own work life, by intentionally building them into a common work responsibility (a 1:1 or lab meeting).