TRAIN-UP #4: Setting Expectations, Delegating & Evaluating Trainees/Staff In Your Lab

TRAIN-UP: Training
Researchers and INterns for
Upcoming Professors
Workshop 4: How to define and
evaluate success for your
trainees and staff.
© 2016 The Regents of the University of California. All Rights Reserved. Please do not reprint without permission. Naledi.saul@ucsf.edu. Laurence.clement@ucsf.edu
career.ucsf.edu/TRAIN-UP-course
Sample of slides from
our TRAIN-UP series.
In TRAIN-UP, we’re
teaching future faculty
how to set your
trainees/staff up for
success as a part of
creating a high
functioning
(productive and
healthy) lab
We cover everything
from hiring the right
people for your lab
goals to how to set
expectations,
delegate, and give
feedback effectively
Laurence Clement, PhD
Program Director, Academic Career Development
Director, Research in Career Education
UCSF Office of Career and Professional Development
Karen Leung, PhD
Biotechnology Faculty
City College of San Francisco
Naledi Saul, MPM
Director

TRAIN-UP Introduction
to Mentoring & Supervising - Overview
▪ How we will achieve this:
• By providing you with frameworks to guide you through the process
of hiring, training and supervising others in the lab.
• By allowing you to practice using the tools provided to you, with
cases.
‒ This will involve working with other participants in pairs or small
groups.
‒ The OCPD expectations for small group work are that you will
help create and maintain an equitable, collegial and safe
environment for others to share their opinions and ideas.
‒ Confidentiality: any discussion you have with other participants
about their experience is confidential.

Your trainees/staff will need you to set clear
expectations for them to meet your goals
1. Set clear
expectations
2. Assign
responsibilities
(delegate)
3. Evaluate
progress and
Provide feedback
(+ or -)
InterviewPosition
Advertisement
Onboard
Begin
Training/Teaching
Phase
Begin
Supervising
Phase
Set
expectations
Discuss
expectations
Take baseline
assessment
Revise and discuss
expectations to align with new
hire’s abilities (baseline level)
and own goals
Evaluate progress &
provide feedback
What does this look like from the beginning?

InterviewPosition
Advertisement
Onboard
Begin
Training/Teaching
Phase
Begin
Supervising
Phase
Set
expectations
Discuss
expectations
Take baseline
assessment
Revise and discuss
expectations to align with new
hire’s abilities (baseline level)
and own goals
Evaluate progress &
provide feedback
“You will be responsible for
processing large amounts of
samples to be analyzed at a later
date.”
“So far, you have been able to analyze X
samples, and the quality of your work
has been great. We will be able to use
these for data analysis. You also have
met your goals of mastering complex
techniques and run experiments
independently.”
Your trainees/staff will need you to set clear
expectations for them to meet your goals

Case Study – Diana & Clark
▪ Clark is an undergraduate intern in the Wayne lab and has been
there for two weeks, working with Diana, a postdoctoral scholar.
Clark is a freshman in a small local college where he is thinking of
majoring in science. He took an introductory biology class last
semester and did ok.
▪ Diana has decided to have Clark do some cloning for her, using
bacterial cells to amplify the plasmid. She is trying to express a
human protein in her cancer cell lines so she can test different
drugs and would need Clark to get her the construct she needs for
her transfection.
▪ Diana starts by giving Clark some reading to do – the last paper she
published about the human protein and a review about the drugs
she is going to test. She then prints out information about the
principles of mammalian cell transfection so he understands the
goal of his experiment. A few weeks later, she asks Clark if he
understood what he read and if he has any other questions that she
can answer. Clark says he understood everything and that it was
very interesting.
▪ A month later, she hears Clark speaking to another lab member and
realizes that he believes that the cells he is transforming are
mammalian cells. Not only is Diana surprised because she thought
that he had learned about bacterial transformation in his biology
class, but she realizes that he is lacking a lot of the scientific
knowledge she thought he would know by now.
Pair Up & Discuss!
How is it that Diana
missed that Clark
was still lacking
some of the
fundamental
scientific concepts
she thought he had
learned?
What could Diana
have done
differently?

Diana’s teaching goal:
That Clark understands the fundamental
scientific concepts behind the project and
the experiments he will be doing
What Clark learned:
Scientific concepts around the project, not the
experiments he will be doing.
Issue 1:
Diana does not know what
Clark learned until she
overhears him
She hadn’t designed
success metrics or
assessments before she
started
She did not evaluate
whether Clark had
reached the teaching goal
Issue 2:
The strategy Diana used to
teach Clark was
unsuccessful
She didn’t know
what Clark didn’t know
She didn’t evaluate Clark’s
knowledge before she decided
on a teaching strategy
How Diana knows this:
She heard Clark explain what he was doing to
someone else in the lab
Reminder: Diana & Clark

InterviewPosition
Advertisement
Onboard Begin Training/Teaching Phase
Set learning
goals
Discuss
learning goals
Revise and
discuss
learning goals
to align with
candidate’s
level and goals
Evaluate
progress &
provide
feedback
Reminder: Diana & Clark
Design first
stage learning
goals for
concepts and
techniques
Assess
baseline
level
Design
strategy
Overall learning goal:
learn the fundamental
concepts behind the
Diana’s work (anti-cancer
drugs,
human protein targeted,
methods used including
mammalian cell culture
and bacterial
transformation)
1st stage Conceptual
learning goal:
understand the process
of bacterial
transformation, and
structure of plasmids
Next week,
I’d like you
to explain
what you
know about
bacterial
transformati
on and the
structure of
a plasmid
Here are some
resources that will
help you learn more
about the topic of
bacterial
transformation. Let’s
meet in 2 weeks and
you can explain to
me what is bacterial
transformation, how
it works and why it is
a helpful method in
our project.
2 weeks later:
Ok – so, explain
to me what is
bacterial
transformation,
how it works
and why it is a
helpful method
in our project.

Assessing and Teaching – Concepts & Techniques
What concept
does the intern
need to learn?
How will you
know
the intern
learned it?
How will you
know
what the intern
knows before
he/she starts?
How will you
help the intern
learn it?
What technique
does the intern
need to master?
How will you
know
the intern
masters it?
How will you
assess
the intern’s level
of
mastery before
he/she starts?
How will you
help the intern
master it?
Concepts
Techniques

Assessing and Teaching – Concepts & Techniques
What technique
does the intern
need to master?
How will you
know
the intern
masters it?
How will you
assess
the intern’s level
of
mastery before
he/she starts?
How will you
help the intern
master it?
The intern should be
able to independently
run a Western Blot
from a given protein
sample and antibody,
with a given protocol.
When given a protocol,
protein sample, and antibody,
the intern can perform the
experiment independently.
If given a new
protocol/protein/antibody,
the intern will take the
initiative to review the
protocol with the
mentor/supervisor first and
ask questions as needed.
Ask intern to explain the
principle of the western
blot, the main steps of
the experiment.
If they have performed it
before in class or in a real
lab setting, ask them to
describe what samples
they used and how they
did it.
Tailor training to the student:
review or teach the principles of
western blotting, read through
protocol with intern, demo the
experiment slowly while intern
takes notes, asks questions, allow
the intern to review the protocol
on own and schedule a meeting
to discuss new questions.
Perform a new demo in front of
the intern, faster. Let intern ask
questions again. Let intern
practice it in front of mentor
twice with thorough, constructive
feedback. Then, let intern do it
without mentor while mentor is
accessible for support.

By the end of this course, you should be able to answer the following questions:
Workshop 3:
How can you strategically select
candidates to reach your goals?
Workshop 2:
What strategies can you use to
create a productive work
environment for everyone?
Workshop 4:
How to define and evaluate
success as a new supervisor
and mentor
Workshop 5:
How to demonstrate your
mentoring potential when
applying to faculty positions at
PUIs
Workshop 1 - Module 1
What are the characteristics of
effective research mentors?
Workshop 1 - Module 2
What are the characteristics of
effective supervisors?

TRAIN-UP: Training
Researchers and INterns for
Upcoming Professors
Workshop 4: How will define
and evaluate success as a new
supervisor and mentor?
Sample of slides from
our TRAIN-UP series.
In TRAIN-UP, we’re
teaching future faculty
how to set your
trainees/staff up for
success as a part of
creating a high
functioning
(productive and
healthy) lab
We cover everything
from hiring the right
people for your lab
goals to how to set
expectations,
delegate, and give
feedback effectively
Laurence Clement, PhD
Program Director, Academic Career Development
Director, Research in Career Education
Karen Leung, PhD
Biotechnology Faculty
City College of San Francisco
Naledi Saul, MPM
Director

TRAIN-UP #4: Setting Expectations, Delegating & Evaluating Trainees/Staff In Your Lab

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