Team:NAWI-Graz/Contribution
Team:NAWI-Graz
Contribution
A crash course on Management and Project Leadership
We are not gonna lie. Managing an IGEM-Team is a challenge. Researching all the ideas and presenting them in front of your teammates. Consider the ideas of your colleagues, discussing and talking about how you could possibly implement them. Settling on a topic and forming it into a project, researching and learning everything there is about it. Then planning the lab work and everything starts coming together slowly. Now that you have a plan, you can go on to the actual lab work. After weeks or months of hard work, interacting, learning, a lot of stuff going on in your personal life and an exam in two days. So, naturally you think about quitting. The lab plan is not working at all, everyone is all over the place and the deadlines are not met. And who should you go to in your team, that is working just as hard as you? No one feels invested anymore. You are frustrated, and rightfully so!
See where I'm going with this? This situation is, to say the least, not desirable. Most of my teammates, myself included, have had those thoughts over the course of our project. And because of that we have come to realize that we want to contribute a selection of soft-skills to the future IGEM-Teams.
The correct approach to project management is important because it ensures risks are properly managed and mitigated against to avoid them becoming issues. It is essential in a project of this scale to have a proper overview of your deadlines, time schedule, as well as your team-members and their duties regarding the project. Managing your time and resources correctly and efficiently will not only impact the rate of your progress, but can prevent time loss as well as mitigating problems before they become too hard to handle.
Pretty much every team will experience certain obstacles and issues they have to overcome, but unfortunately often they occur at times when it’s really inconvenient or your focus is already on a different issue. In our case it happened in the middle of the project. We were at our wit’s end, because the cloning was not successful, even though we tried multiple approaches to resolve this issue, only to realize the flaw was already there from the start. The primers to amplify the two parts for the ligation into a plasmid were not properly designed. Our take away from this was, that before getting hung up on the details in your practical work, make sure to carefully plan and design every step of your procedure to avoid problems and having to retrace your steps afterwards.
Another important aspect of working on a major project like this with your colleagues is planning your logistics and organizational matters in advance. What you mildly underestimate prior to starting such a project, you have to be aware that a lot of work takes place outside the lab. Trying to get lab-benches or meeting rooms, gathering sponsors or writing interview questions. When it comes to bureaucracy better start sooner than later and be double safe than sorry.
Never assume anything until you can see it being handled or have received confirmation. Most of the time it is faster to either call the person in a public office than to write an email and wait for a reply. The best practice is just determining a person's location of practice and directly arrange a meeting with them face to face.
Money is also a very delicate topic in a non-profit competition such as IGEM. The sponsors trust you to use this money for the cited reasons in your financial-plan only. Keep them updated on the progress of your work and keep every receipt to maintain transparency for your team and your sponsors.
Make sure everyone is on the same page about the project and the immediate next steps. Discuss everyone's next task at the end of every team meeting. Not only does it help to remember the task but it also shows the team what other members have been doing and keeps everyone motivated. Also starting to work on the Wiki early is highly recommended! I cannot stress this enough. The time it takes to get set up and get used to it is incredible unless you are well versed in HTML.
Leadership and Management
Leadership is a delicate topic in group projects like IGEM. As authoritarian as this may sound, but you need some form of leadership. No one has to be there, no one has any monetary gain from this work. And it will be actual work, finishing this project. And as the example above pointed out or because a combination or all of the things went wrong, and want to quit. But if there is a leader in the group that you can confront about all of this, that takes you seriously, considers your points and is willing to take action, a change can still be made. Leading a team of volunteers requires a wide variety of traits and actions. The ones we find most notable are listed in this chapter.
Responsibility
However you got into the leadership position on your team, either by choosing or by election, you now have a responsibility for the project and the people that want to be working with you.
Know yourself. Define and understand your values, live by them and use them as a roadmap.
If you promise to do something, do it well and with the whole project in mind.
Don't make excuses. If you are a respectable leader, there are none.
Learn to communicate. Get familiar with techniques like the “Socratic dialogue” and other methods of communicating
Get yourself a coach or a mentor. Someone that has had actual real experience leading.
Listen and don't judge.
Meetings with team members are never a disruption or a waste of time.
Embrace the truth. Encourage candid criticism, be skeptical about things that seem too good and never let authority become a truth.
Don't think your idea is great because you worked hard for it. It might not be the best.
Team Management
While reading you may have realized that Team Management is very important while running through your iGEM experience. Let’s get deeper into this topic - here are some strategies to get your team organized.
First of all, there are many ways to manage a team. Each way may not fit each team; for example is the authoritarian way, where one person rules and decides everything, probably not the best for a creative, innovative and communicative iGEM Team.
It is best if the members of the team can create their own visions about the project and discuss ideas with fellow teammates. This needs an open and respecting environment and leaders who listen. Low hierarchies, so that there is no discomfort or surmounting in talking to the leader, is desirable.
A positive environment is extremely important, but also the self-discipline of every person. There are deadlines, and team members have to perform and complete tasks in a certain time frame. Time management is not easy for everybody. As a leader you have to make sure that everybody finishes his or her tasks before the deadline.
It is also essential to keep in mind how occupied people are. One strategy is to explain the task to the team member and give him or her some time to think about it, if there is the time to complete it before the fixed date.
In summary: as a leader it is very important to listen to teammates, accept constructive criticism and communicate properly. Keep track of the project, resources and deadlines and intervention when needed.
Conflict Management
Working in a team closely with a bunch of other people will lead to conflicts of personal or professional interest.
It is important that there is at least one uninvolved team member, who listens and tries to understand why the persons are upset and is able to mediate. This means that the conflict has to be erased in a sensitive and confidential way.
There are several ways and strategies out there to clarify the situation and find a solution, but in summary there are some general aspects that you should keep in mind if there is a conflict in your team.
Stay calm, even if there is a huge conflict in your team
Be objective and listen carefully to the team members.
Make an overall picture and investigate the situation.
Find a way to handle the situation.
Ask the people if they agree to the suggested solution or if they can improve it.
Settle forward! People should not hold a grudge.
Observe, if things have become better.
[5]
Mental Health Awareness
People feeling high pressure, unbearable workload or constant tension, are more likely to develop Mental Health issues like Depression or BurnOut Syndrome. What does that mean for an iGEM Team?
The workload during the iGEM competition is extremely high, additionally people won’t only work in their special field of study - they also have to develop new skills like programming, organising and managing a team, writing highly professional E-Mails, filming and editing videos, troubleshooting the very own project, and so on.
This puts a lot of pressure on the team members. For sure, everybody wants to give his or her best and one is personally involved - so make sure, and it is highly recommended, to speak with your team about mental health awareness.
Check regularly, if team members can handle their workload or need a break, for example in a Mental Health Awareness meeting. It is important that people are not afraid to tell, that they need some time off to get back on track. Team Building improves mental health and conflicts inside the team can be burdensome - so make sure that you are aware of conflict potential.
Contribution to improved parts for the iGEM registry
Description:
The Nawi Graz iGEM team 2021 designed a phosphate sensing device that detects phosphate and expresses the autoinducing AHL synthetase LuxI (BBa_C0061) which produces 3OC6HSL. This can bind to the transcription factor LuxR. Therefore, this sensor-sender-device can detect phosphate and produces AHLs as an output, which on their part can serve as input signal for a AHL receiver such as the GFP Producer controlled by 3OC6HSL Receiver Device (BBa_T9002).
It was created by exchanging the GFP of the positive-phosphate-phoA-GFP-sensor (BBa_3928002) by the autoinducer synthetase for AHL (BBa_C0061).
References
[1] https://medium.com/actiresults/team-management-techniques-for-managers-4151372271e3
[2]https://blog.proofhub.com/team-management-techniques-ab9174bd5b58
[3]https://aboutleaders.com/5-team-management/
[4]https://www.wrike.com/project-management-guide/faq/what-are-project-management-skills/
[5] https://www.peoplehum.com/glossary/conflict-management
[6] https://www.cio.com/article/3625675/20-tips-for-supporting-team-mental-health.html
[7] https://engageforsuccess.org/engage-for-success-blog/better-mental-health/