Unfettered Thoughts

These last few months have been a whirlwind. I don’t even know where to start.

It’s interesting. There are days where all I can think is “I got this” and then there are others where I question my decision to move into management.  It’s not that managing part that I struggle with, it’s the never catching a break or getting time off part.  It seems that I’m constantly on-call.  As anticipated, expectations are high. That’s not a surprise. I actually think that I’m handling the actual supervisory portion of my job quite well. My team, although new, are quick learners and seem to respect me and my decisions. Of course, I’m probably a pretty easy-going boss, in part because it was that long ago that I was one of them. But this first year I have definitely had my share of trials and tribulations. Sometimes I wonder if I think and/or process information differently–maybe slower–than others. Maybe I’m more thorough, maybe less, but I find that one area of constant struggle is reading the hundreds of emails that I get on a weekly basis. It could be that the subjects cover such a broad range of topics, I have to constantly switch gears.

Let me back up a bit.

What exactly do I do?

That’s the million dollar question, isn’t it? My job is … interesting. I manage a multidisciplinary team consisting of administrative staff and laboratory assistants.  Other than the fact that both are “entry-level” fields, they have absolutely nothing to do with each other.  In fact, they are about as far removed from each other as you can get.  Despite their differences and my utter lack of a scientific background, I feel that I have done a rather good job in 1) learning most of the basic scientific skills required to manage the laboratory assistants, 2) know more than enough about the administrative side of our section to offer sound advice and guidance over the administrative assistants, and 3) possess sufficient skills to mold and lead them all.  I consider myself lucky to have assembled a seemingly well-oiled team and find it both odd and fulfilling to realize that, save one, I was the one responsible for hiring the current staff.  That’s not to say that the journey has been error-free.  I have to take responsibility for hiring, and summarily dismissing, one employee that interviewed amazingly well, but simply could not deliver.  Don’t get me wrong, if I had been fully staffed with experienced employees, I probably would have kept him.  Given enough time, I think he could have been developed.  Unfortunately, I simply did not have the luxury of time to dedicate to that task.  I feel bad that I had to let him go, but at the same time, I would have felt worse had I kept him and things simply didn’t pan out.  Of course, this is why we require a 6-month probationary period in which to fully assess how well—or how poorly—an employee fits in or learns the job.

Speaking of hiring (and firing), it’s with no small amount of frustration that I reflect on the fact that the entire first year of my new adventure in management has been spent recruiting.  When I started, I had an admin staff of one and four laboratory assistants.  Over the past year, I gained two additional admins, then lost one to an inter-District transfer.  I’m currently reviewing resumes to replace her.  On the other side of the lab, I’ve had a 100% turnover as each of my four laboratory assistants has bid up or out to higher classifications.  This is where my real struggle lies.  I’m also currently recruiting to fill the last of those four positions.  At the moment, I’ve filled three of the four with truly entry-level staff.  Internally, laboratory staff are coming to realize the significance of my team and all the little things that they do and have done for them in the past.  They are also realizing something that I said quite some time ago: this should not be an entry-level job.  We should not be hiring laboratory assistants, but should be hiring laboratory technologists.  The difference is the skill set and level of expertise and knowledge.  Laboratory assistants are required to have nothing more than a high school diploma; laboratory experience is not required.  I beg to differ.  Laboratory technologists, however, are required to have laboratory (preferably bench) experience and/or a degree in relevant sciences (chemistry or microbiology fields of study).  Having knowledge or experience would be a significant help with the type of work required of this subteam.  It would also significantly decrease the amount of training required to bring staff up to speed.  That’s not to say that there isn’t a great deal to be said about hiring inexperienced staff to fulfill these positions.  When hiring staff that have never done this type of work before, there’s an opportunity to train exactly the way you want; there are fewer bad habits to break.  One of the trade-offs is that training takes longer and must be more hands-on.

Take away: Part of my job entails hiring, firing, and training.

So, what else do I do?

Someone once told me that a manager doesn’t do, they delegate.  That’s well and good if you have a fully trained and experienced staff in which to delegate to, but when your most senior staff member has less than two years of experience, this is nearly impossible to do without a great deal of oversight.  It’s also irresponsible.

My main focus is on the administrative side of things.  There are tasks that I do myself (^#) and those that I share with my staff (*).  I, along with my team of two admins, am responsible for (and this is by no means a complete list):

• editing and distributing reports, letters, and memos*^#

Reports usually consist of a repeatedly used form letter with newly generated monthly, quarterly, or annual data; letters and memos require reformatting, editing, and distribution.  Both are distributed electronically and via hard copy/mailing.  Although, I’m consider the subject-matter expert here, I try not to handle most of these, but often do as my staff is 1) still learning how to do this, 2) isn’t always available due to their own work constraints, 3) and some of these involve very complex and complicated formatting or intensive proofreading.

• purchasing* by creating requisitions or by corporate purchase card

This includes placing, tracking, and returning orders as necessary; reconciling credit card statements; tracking requisitions through the purchasing process despite the fact that we don’t actually place these orders; ensuring that invoices are properly handled and paid in a timely manner.

• ensuring staff morale* is high

Since our building does not have vending machines, my team provides and supplies a snack cart [purchases offset the cost of our annual holiday party].  Additionally, we hold potlucks or other events (fundraising) and arrange charitable events such as blood drives and food drives to promote community awareness.

• create, enter, and manage the biennial budget^#

There are a lot of moving parts here.  There’s the actual budget entry data [arrange the numbers so that they are best distributed while still remaining “flat”, which is damn near impossible to maintain for six years running.  I’m sorry, but costs have increased and it’s nearly impossible to remain within the confines of a flat budget.  Our biennial budget process also involves requests for equipment^#* costing over $5000.  Each equipment request must be entered into a database with sufficient information to justify its purchase, the cost, and detail its use.  I gave staff three months to provide this information.  The day the budget system closed, I was still entering information because everyone waited until the week it was due.  Ultimately, I ended up working nearly 300 hours over five weeks preparing our $22M budget.  Sadly, many other tasks were left unstarted, unfinished, or sidelined to accomplish this goal.

• tracking overtime and variance reporting^#

Overtime reports are for budgeting purposes to track expenditures and variance reports are critical to understanding exactly where budgeted expenses are applied and why maintaining a flat budget is nearly impossible.

• processing and maintaining personnel records^#

Although originals are kept in our HR department, I keep copies on-site to expedite requests for viewing.  It takes far too long to request copies from HR.  Files contain copies of annual and probationary evaluations as well as copies of certificates as necessary.

• managing our intern files and processing in and out new students*^#

This would be easier if another department weren’t trying to implement changes without informing those of us that perform this task and then getting upset when we question the changes or request a formal memo or procedures guidelines.

• synthesizing learned knowledge into usable information^#*

We often receive new equipment—right now it’s new VOIP telephones and updated copiers—requiring training to use effectively.  My team is responsible for attending training classes and then training other staff to use the equipment.

• scheduling^#* and coordinating the laboratory calendar, tours, meeting rooms, and recurring meetings

This is a major part of our job as we manage some of the more desirable rooms because of our facility location and room sizes.  Rearranging meeting requests to ensure that everyone is happy is both time-consuming and difficult; this task alone takes conflict resolution to new heights.

• email, email, email … did I mention email?

Holy smoke do I get a lot of email.  At the moment, I have over 1700 messages in my “To” inbox and another 1300 in my “cc” inbox.  At least 300 in each are unread; and this doesn’t count folders that items are automatically sorted to.  If you want my attention or I need to take action on something, DO NOT cc me.  That’s the quickest way for something to get ignored.  If you cc me on something, I assume that it’s just for my reference and I don’t need to do anything other than file the information.  After all, the message isn’t to me.

This is just the tip of the iceberg and many of these tasks take an unbelievable amount of time to complete.  It should be expected that some items fall through the cracks due to lack of time, other more important commitments, or for one of many other reasons.  I try not to commit to completing tasks by a certain time unless I know without a doubt that it will get finished.  Believe me, I feel bad when I tell someone I’ll finish something by a particular day and it doesn’t get done.  It feels worse if that gets back to my supervisor.  It’s those times where I feel like I’ve failed.