Understanding Emotional Intelligence: perhaps a secret to success?

Last week at the NIH, Daniel Goleman delivered a talk about Emotional Intelligence and how it influences leadership.  The premise of Emotional Intelligence is that understanding your emotions, the emotions of others, and how the two interact allows us to be more successful and happier.

Emotional Intelligence suggests that to be successful the following traits are important:

• Self awareness:  being able to assess and understand your emotions and having self-confidence
• Social awareness: having empathy, organizational awareness and service orientation
• Self-management: having emotional self-control, adaptability, initiative and optimism
• Relationship management: developing others, influence, providing inspiration, conflict management and teamwork

While that all seems well and good, we often hear that scientists lack these types of people skills.  The urban myth is that as long as you are smart enough you can succeed, without having to worry about how you interact with others.  But, there is no researcher that operates in a vacuum—especially today in the word of team science and collaboration.

So, how do you become more aware about these topics, and use them to become more successful?

1. Reflect on how you respond to stressors.  Are there particular things that you know are hot buttons for you?  In the topics that cause you stress, are there any similarities?  What happens?  Be detailed when you think of these; who is involved, what do you say (or not say), what is the outcome?  What do you wish you would have done or said?
2. Practice different responses.  One way to get a better response is to practice it, even if it does not feel “right”.  Think about this as writing with your non-dominant hand.  It is possible, but it takes practice to make it legible.  Is there a time when you saw someone else handle a situation well, what can you take from that challenge you witnessed?   When you reflected on a situation did you see another response that would have been better?
3. Understand the other person’s position.  This is not to say that you agree, but that you see the problem from their perspective.  How can you use that information to build a working relationship?
4. Breath.  By focusing on your breath you can help reduce stress.  This is also called Mindfulness.

There is no passive solution to understanding these topics, you have to practice.  We teach techniques in OITE leadership and management courses.  Workplace Dynamics covers understanding yourself and others and our Management Bootcamp has a whole session on working with Emotional Intelligence.  We have even started to present these topics at national meetings such as Experimental Biology.

If you are an NIHer, you can Watch Daniel Goleman’s talk from last week.  If you want other information on Emotional Intelligence check out the book list on sites such as Amazon or from your local library.

Research the topic, and learn to be more successful in science by embracing that people are part of our success.

Your Medical and Dental School Application Plan

It’s the end of January, which means if you plan to go to medical or dental school in August 2014, you need to start the process now.  You’re thinking to yourself, “What?  Most schools don’t have application deadlines until October, or even November.  Why are we talking about applications now?”  That’s a great question, and a simple one to answer: Getting into medical or dental school takes time and planning.

To keep from being overwhelmed or from missing an important deadline (when is your MCAT or DAT test date?) you need to create a schedule, complete with a calendar of important dates and deadlines.  OITE has put together a basic schedule that you can use to create your own, more detailed one.  The first step in creating your schedule is to go to the OITE Online Resources page and download the “Medical School Application Schedule for Admission in August 2014.” While you are on the OITE Online Resources page, take a look at the other resources OITE offers to help you with the application process.

Now that you have the OITE schedule, contact your undergraduate institution’s pre-professional advising office. Pre-professional advising offices offer a wide variety of services to assist you in getting your application together, and ensuring it is as professional as possible.  Contact your office, and let them know you are applying this year, and make sure you incorporate any of their deadlines into your schedule.

Your next step is visiting the American Medical College Application Service, or AMCAS, website.  AMCAS is a non-profit application service provided by the American Association of Medical Colleges.  You create an account, complete an online application, and select which medical schools you want to receive a copy of your application.  You create one single application and AMCAS provides that application to each school.  For those of you interested in Dental school, the American Dental Education Association has a similar service called the Associated American Dental Schools Application Service (AADSAS).

Most US medical and dental schools only accept applications through AMCAS or AADSAS. Visit the AMCAS or the AADSAS website to learn about the process.  Enter into your schedule deadlines for when you plan to complete the different parts of the application.  After you complete and submit your application it can take up to 6 weeks of processing before it can be sent to your schools.  You should plan to have all your application materials ready for submission to AMCAS or AADSAS in early June. That way, if your top choice school has an early application deadline, you will not miss it.

Finally, take advantage of the seminars and other resources OITE offers.  The Application Schedule for Admission in August 2014 includes the dates of workshops on writing personal statements and filling out applications.  You can also arrange an appointment with the OITE’s pre-professional advisor.

Don’t procrastinate and try to cram the entire application process into a single month.  Instead, build a calendar of deadlines and milestones that break up the application process into small, achievable steps.

Making the Transition to a New Position

You have a new job!  (or hope to soon).  Here are some tips to make the transition to your new position successful and as easy as possible.

First, remember that transitions are always tough.  While you are likely very excited about a new position, the transition can be overwhelming, especially if you are moving to a new location. You are closing out a chapter in your life that has likely lasted between two and five years (or more).   You are saying goodbye to friends and colleagues and disrupting an established routine—so some anxiety is totally normal.

Finish strong and leave your current job on a positive note.  Finish those last minute experiments, organize those freezer boxes, clean your personal spaces (bench, desk, etc), train other people in the group on what you do, and organize/clean/save important computer files and emails.  This always seems to take longer than you think it should, and many of us have put this off to the last minute and then scrambled to finish everything before we walk out the door.  Also, decide how many of those last minute experiments can honestly be done before you leave.  Someone else in the lab can likely perform the rest after you leave.

Make sure you take time to say goodbye to people.  Things can be chaotic as you transition, and sometimes we forget the people.  Schedule enough time to say goodbye (without over-scheduling so that you are going crazy trying to keep your social calendar in check).

If your new job requires you to move, ask the organization you are moving to for relocation help.  Even if this will just be a colleague that will point you in the right direction for good neighborhoods, childcare, restaurants, etc.  Finding a good place to live will make the transition much easier.  You can even search the alumni databases or Linkedin to find other people who are in that location to get guidance.

Make a plan for your arrival at your new job.  Some recommend a 90 day plan of what you would like to get done.  A good book on is The First 90 Days, by Michael Watkins.  Also, if you are heading to an academic appointment, you may want to read Making the Right Moves (published by HHMI), and At the Helm by Kathy Barker.  Create a summary and overview of your position, as you see it.  Then make a list of goals that you should (and can) complete in your first 30, 60, and 90 days.  In this, also mention the assumptions that you have and any required resources needed in order to make this happen.  This gives you some good guidelines and goals as you move into a new position with many other unknowns.

Build a good reputation with both your new boss and your new coworkers.  Be part of the team.  Volunteer to tackle doable projects.  Ask your co-workers on the best places for lunch and coffee (and even invite them to share in a cup of coffee with you).  Don’t try to integrate too quickly into every conversation.  Remember, these people have built a bond and you will need time to really understand all of the nuances of the relationships.

Finally, make sure to take some time for your own work-life balance.  Finding new places in the community is a great way to find a new support system, to gain friends and to make this transition less lonely.

So good luck!!!  And keep in touch…..your transition now makes a terrific success story for those coming through the ranks behind you!

Get More Done: Take A Break

The title seems a little contradictory.  How is it that you can get more work done, but spend less time working?  According to a New York Times article about a study from the University of Toronto Scarborough, it is because small breaks make you more efficient.  The study authors suggests that the brain “becomes fatigued after sustained use and needs a rest period before it can recover, he explains — much as a weight lifter needs rest before doing a second round of repetitions at the gym.” 

So here are a few of the tips from the article:

• Symptoms of needing to take a break are drifting or day dreaming.
• If you are in “the zone,” keep working.  It isn’t working hard that drains your brain, it’s when you are forcing yourself to go on when you really need a break.
• Taking too many breaks leads to procrastination.  So, be smart about it.  Everything in moderation

Here are a few ideas for break:

• Go for a walk – Even just doing laps on your floor gets you moving and gives you a break from your work.  If you are at the NIH and don’t want to melt in this heat wave, consider walking the track in the basement of building 10.
• Go get a coffee (or something else) with a co-worker – After all, you have to walk to where the coffee is and having someone with you makes it less likely you will just sit and start thinking about work.  According scientists who have spent time in England, many labs there still take a break in the afternoon for tea (or other beverage) for about 30 minutes.  In fact, there is often a break in the morning as well for around the same amount of time. 
• Stand at your computer while you read the OITE Careers Blog – The article mentions that standing while doing your work can help relieve some of the brain drain.
• Take a nap – We are aware this is not a culturally acceptable practice here in the USA, even if it is supported by science.  However, in other cultures a break in the afternoon to rest is quite common.  The Spanish Siesta is famous, and so I asked a visiting fellow and friend from Spain about how the “Siesta” works in the research community.  She pointed out the siesta is as much about food as it is about sleep.  The main goal is to sit down together around the table and have a meal as a family or group of friends.  If you can grab a siesta in that time, that’s even better. 

Working hard is a hallmark of the research profession.  Most scientists I know take a lot of pride in putting in long hours.  We are certainly not suggesting that any of us not work hard.  However, research suggests that taking breaks can help us work smarter as we work hard.  And isn’t that what we all want to do?

 

 

Helpful Tips to Managing Stress and Anxiety In Interviews

Interviews are often essential stepping-stones to the next career stage. You know you are qualified, yet you may worry that you will be too nervous to perform well enough to get the position. If even the thought of the interview makes your palms sweaty and your heart race, believe it or not, that’s normal.  According to some estimates, as many as 40 million Americans suffer from situational anxiety.  As interview season is in full swing, we are seeing and hearing a lot of anxiety from trainees about pending interviews.  With the help of our Career Counselors and our Leadership and Professional Development Coach, we have come up with a few tips on managing your anxiety during an interview.

 Before the Interview: 

• Develop confidence in yourself. Interviews are important, and may have a say in shaping your future. However, they are not the only criteria under which you will be judged for a position.  You were invited for an interview.  That in itself means you are a strong candidate and the organization you are interviewing with wants you to do well.  Often, anxiety in an interview can be linked to anticipation of the outcome.  The same symptoms of anxiety for someone fearing failure can be interpreted as excitement by someone anticipating success.  Be confident and think positive.  

Top 7 Reasons That You Should Visit A Career Counselor

In the beginning of January, we posted a calendar with monthly steps to move your career forward.  The February task was to meet with a career counselor.  Here at OITE, we have two career counselors on staff.  Anne and Elaine were kind enough to introduce themselves on the blog a couple of years ago.  What makes them an enormous asset for you is that they exclusively advise scientists.  They understand the career dynamics of fellows here at NIH and researchers in general.  They have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience in career counseling and have already helped hundreds of fellows take the next step in their careers. 

Whether you know where your career is heading or not, meeting with a career counselor can help you be more competitive in fulfilling your career goals.  With the help of our two career counselors on staff at OITE, we have determined the top 7 reasons to visit a career counselor.

Families and Training: Finale

For the final post of our conversations with NIH trainees about having a family during their training period we asked:

Do you have any advice for NIH trainees thinking about starting a family?

Their answers: 

Anna: Find a daycare that you are 100% comfortable with. Accept that your child is going to get sick and you will have to miss some work. Plan ahead with your spouse what you are going to do if the child gets sick or if the child’s day care is closed for whatever reason. If you can afford to have people help you out at home (ie- a house cleaner), do it.

Natalie: The key thing is learning how to stop thinking about kids while at work and to stop thinking about work with the kids.

Michael: Surround yourself with other cooperative colleagues, and your chances of success are improved.

Mark: To keep my productivity at normal-ish levels has taken discipline.  I prioritize ruthlessly—taking on only maybe 1 in 10 projects that are brought to me.  I say no to bad projects even if it hurts my relationships with mentors.  The way I figure it, a post-doc only has his/her time.  Allocation of this scarce resource is the only determinant of whether a post-doc succeeds.

Stephanie: I was a postdoc for a little more than two years before my first son was born. This gave me time to get acclimated to the new lab and model organism, and bring one project to completion. I think it was a great decision to give myself a little while to adjust to the postdoc before bringing a baby into the mix.

Liz: I once attended a work-life balance seminar where an audience member asked the panelist how to know if when it was a “good time” to start a family since each stage of the research career track comes with obstacles.  The panelist responded: “The best time to have children is when you and your partner decide it’s time to have children.”  Her response resonated with me because there’s clearly no one correct answer.

 What advice would you add?

Families and Training: Part 2

The second part of our series about having a family and being a trainee asks the question:

What were the challenges you faced?

Your productivity takes a sizeable hit. Everybody mentioned this one. Stephanie explains, “Expect that your productivity during the first 6-12 months post-baby may be far less than what you are used to. This is due to lots of factors: Lack of sleep, hormonal changes for mothers, adjusting to a vastly different way of life, figuring out how to use work-time more effectively because undoubtedly you will have less time to devote to work if you are participating equally with your partner in child-rearing duties.”

It’s hard to remain competitive. According to Mark, “The worst part of having kids during my postdoc is that I find myself competing against childless postdocs willing to work 55+ hours a week. At most, I am able to work 40 hours a week (with daycare pickup, then dinner, then bath, then preparing lunches for the next day, sweeping food off the floor, washing bottles—well, there’s no extra time at night to squeeze in extra work).”

The element of unpredictability. Michael, an NIH clinical fellow, explains: ”Whatever level of predictability you expect in your other life goals (clinical care, experiments, grants, etc) does not apply to children.” You never know when your child is going to wake up with a fever and need to stay home. This can wreak havoc with a well-planned schedule and leave you scrambling at the last minute.

Paying for child care on a trainee salary. Infant day care can be difficult to find and can run $1500-1800/month. The NIH day care centers have extremely long wait lists (years, even). Once you find good day care, it may take up a large chunk of your stipend. Furthermore, fellows don’t make W-2 income and are thus ineligible for the child care tax credit or a spouse’s child care flexible savings account.

Feeling guilty. Anna explains, ”What I struggle with now is the feeling of guilt that is common among a lot of working parents. I don’t feel like I’m giving 100% at home and I know I’m not giving 100% at work. I constantly feel like I should be working longer hours and weekends, and then at the same time I feel like I should be spending more time with my daughter. That’s not something that has gone away nor do I think it ever will.”

It can be done though!  Join us later this week for some pieces of advice to having a family while being a trainee.

Families and Science: Can They Mix?

This is the first of a three part series about having a family during the time of your scientific training.

When is the right time to start a family? This is really an impossible question, since there’s never a perfect time. The balancing act of work and family is a challenge even under the best circumstances.

We talked to NIH grad students, postdocs, and clinical fellows who decided to go for it during their time here. We compiled their lists of pros and cons, and sought their advice for students and fellows considering taking the plunge.

Question 1: Why was this a good time for you to start a family?

Their answers:

A flexible work schedule that allows wiggle room for sick days and day care emergencies.

Manageable workload compared to what they expect later in their careers. Though NIH students and fellows often work long hours, several shared their desire to get the baby years over with before their work lives get even busier, for instance as new faculty members running independent research labs. This was the case for Anna: “The reason my two kids are going to be so close together in age is that I wanted to have my second child also during my postdoc, rather than as a new faculty member.”

Maternity and paternity leave (for IRTA/CRTA fellows): 8 weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of child. Many fellows discuss their amount of leave with their principal investigator or supervisor. FTE fellows (such as research and clinincal fellows)  first must use their annual leave, and then can take unpaid family leave or receive annual leave donations.

Health insurance for IRTA and CRTAs covers nearly the entire cost of the pregnancy and covers dependent children at no additional cost. FTE health insurance is a bit more complicated, but there are still very good options.

The NIH Nursing Mother’s Program. This was a life-saver for many of the new mothers we interviewed. The program features breastfeeding and return-to-work classes, phone support from lactation consultants during maternity leave, and lactation rooms available in multiple buildings on campus.

The ticking clock. Several trainees pointed out that their NIH years occupied a key place in their reproductive lives. They were willing to face any challenges rather than risk potential consequences of waiting.

The opportunity to adjust to parenthood before making long-term career choices. It’s hard to know in advance how having a baby will affect your career goals. Some fellows felt relieved to have been able to figure this out relatively early in their training. For Stephanie, “[having children during my postdoc] allowed me to look for a job with my own career priorities in place. I knew what I could handle, work-wise, while parenting two small children.”

Believe it or not, parenting can actually make you a better scientist. You wouldn’t necessarily predict this, but several trainees said that having children actually made them MORE productive at times, because they came to work each morning knowing that they had a limited number of hours to accomplish something that day. Natalie, a grad student in NIDDK, said ”One of the reasons I have been successful thus far in my career stems from my struggles as a parent. I have learned that being focused (a must for working parents) actually puts you one step ahead.”

Coming up in the next two posts:  Challenges to having a family during training and words of wisdom.  Check back soon!

Job Stress, Resilience and Support

Most of us have experienced job stress at times. When you add job stress to the demands of everyday life and the challenges of deciding on a next career step, it can be hard to move forward.

We know how important it is for fellows to seek support for these challenges and yet at the same time how difficult it can be to ask for help. Just think about all the stresses associated with starting a new training program; getting acclimated in a new lab, getting settled in a new location (possibly even a new country), and adding  personal and family concerns. On the other end of your training new challenges will surface as you look to make your career move.

Below are some good resources related to resiliency and dealing with these stresses, giving you tips to cope and move forward toward your goals.  One important common theme in these resources is the mediating effect of support from other people to help us to deal with challenging situations and stress.

So, whatever your situation might be:

• You have just arrived and are finding that fitting in difficult;
• You are trying to figure out what to do after your fellowship;
• You are involved in a difficult job search;
• You are changing the way you look at how you balance all of the roles you play (student, researcher, parent, partner, friend, caregiver, etc) ;  or
• You are trying to figure how to deal with a stressful situation in the lab

Remember to reach out for support; to find colleagues who might be going through a similar situation and counselors or OITE staff to help you with your concerns.

References:

Look at the OITE website for more resources at:
http://www.training.nih.gov

The Job Stress LIFE BOAT by John B. Arden, Ph.D.
http://www.permanente.net/homepage/kaiser/pages/f36626.html
Mind Matters: Resilience by Irene S. Levine
http://sciencecareers.sciencemag.org/career_magazine/previous_issues/articles/2011_06_10/caredit.a1100051