Evergreen B
Lessons Learned from Leading: Effective Collaboration and Leadership as Women Researchers (306555)
*Lisa M. Bramer, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory*Kelly G. Stratton, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Keywords: leadership, management, challenges, collaboration, communication
As statisticians and data scientists we have the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary teams and address research questions across a plethora of domains. However, as with many career paths, in statistics women are often in the minority, and this presents numerous challenges in leadership and collaboration. We present our experiences and lessons learned from navigating such challenges in the research setting from two different perspectives: (1) As a line manager of 15 staff from diverse backgrounds, Lisa is responsible for fostering career development of researchers while remaining active in her own research portfolio; and (2) as a project manager of a large, multi-year project with team members split between two primary institutions, Kelly is responsible for coordinating the completion of project deliverables as well as being engaged as a statistical contributor. Many difficulties that we have encountered stem from differences in communication styles, backgrounds, experiences, and motivations. Based on our experiences in overcoming these challenges, we will share tips and tricks to communicate clearly, make effective plans (and contingency plans), and motivate a team.