How to manage your advisor (and one day, how to manage your student

How to manage your advisor

(and one day, how to manage your student

“Mentors are advisers, people with career experience willing to share their knowledge; supporters, people who give emotional and moral encouragement; tutors, people who give specific feedback on one’s performance; masters, in the sense of employers to whom one is apprenticed; sponsors, sources of information about and aid in obtaining opportunities; models, of identity, of the kind of person one should be to be an academic.”

(Morris Zelditch)

Often one mentor is not enough, but make sure you have mentors that cover these areas

- Academic competence - Academic feedback - Emotional and moral encouragement - Financial support/guidance - Careers guidance - Role model

What can you expect?

• A professional relationship

• Regular meetings

• Be able to see your supervisor w/ a week’s notice

• Feedback on written work within a month

• A clear assessment of what you are doing correct/incorrectly

• Professional guidance

What can s/he expect?

• You need to do your work

• You need to be proactive about meeting

• You need to clearly let your supervisor know when you are stuck

• Be prepared with data and a plan when you meet with us

Over the next quarter the things that would most help me make good progress are (in order of importance, where 1 is most important): ___________ Regular face-to-face meetings ___________ Feedback on written work___________ Positive encouragement___________ Feedback on specifics___________ Career guidance___________ Clear goals/expectations___________ Other ________________________________________

My advisor doesn’t seem very happy with me(advisor->advisee conflict)

I’m not getting what I need from my advisor(advisee->advisor conflict)

The Graduate SchoolMichigan State University 2007

Implicit:• Not stated and rarely understood.“What didn’t you understand about what I didn’t tell you?”

Explicit:• Clearly Stated• Checked for understanding• Unilaterally or jointly set

Is your source of conflict implicit or explicit?


Advisor->advisee

- My advisor tells me I need to be in lab more. But I have classes and I need to sleep occasionally!

- Whenever I give my supervisor data she seems unhappy, but I don’t get a sense of what I can do to improve …

Advisee->advisor

- I’ve given my proposal to my advisor and she’s been sitting on it for 4 months – I need to graduate!

- My supervisor is always first author on papers coming out of the lab – but know other labs don’t do that and I feel I should be first author

- My advisor never says thank you or ‘well done’


Advisor->advisee



Advisee->advisor


- My supervisor is always first author on papers coming out of the lab – but I know other labs don’t do that and I feel I should be first author


Window of “Negotiable” ExpectationsExplicitJoint

Unil at er al


OK

GOOD

OK BAD

Implicit

Strategies

• Positional Strategy

• Interest-based Strategy


First Steps:

• Agreement about the context and previously set expectations.

• Identify the “issue” as a question that needs to be answer.

I know you feel I should be in the laboratory more and being more productive. But I feel I’m working very hard keeping up with classes and research and I’m not sure how I can improve the situation. Can I keep track of how I’m spending my time for a week and then maybe you could look at my schedule and tell me how I can better organize it so I have time to do my classes and get research done?

Perhaps this is a case of implicit expectations:

• Your supervisor may not be factoring in your course work

• You may be spending too much time on classes

• Your expectations about a reasonable workload may be different from your supervisor

Positional Approach

A position is a claim that one makes as the best (or only)answer to a pressing question (issue) .

A

A

What I WantG

What I Want

Position

The Positional Approach for Setting Expectations

ISSUE

Position

G Compromise


80 hours/week40 hours/week

Option 1 Option 2

Agreement

Interest-based ApproachInterests are needs that must be satisfied and values that must be preserved when searching for answers to a pressing question (issue).

Openness about goals/needs

Creation of option list

Agreement


I know your policy is that you are first author on papers coming out of your lab, but I’ve noticed that other laboratories do this differently. I guess I was wondering if you could explain the motivation behind the policy in your lab.


So you’ve given me very clear feedback here about what I need to do next and I’m going to get that to you by Thursday. But, since I’m new to this, I was wondering if you were satisfied with the work I gave you today or are you expecting something more or different from me? I want to be as productive as possible.

I guess I’m asking if you’re satisfied with my progress over the last year, and if not I was hoping for some concrete goals for improvement so I can be more productive?

Making the decision to leave your advisor

• You can’t meet with him/her even when you make a serious effort

• You can’t get feedback even when you request it

• You feel expectations are unreasonable and non-discussable

• You feel your advisor isn’t interested in your ideas/development

• You get a sense it’s not you – if so, do your homework.

You feel it isn’t working and have no idea how to fix it.

How to leave your advisor

• You don’t belong to your advisor S/he may feel that way but other members of faculty don’t. You were accepted into the program, not a particular lab.

• ~1-4 graduate students switch advisors in each cohort – without repercussions. Earlier is much better.

• Talk to your secondary supervisor, area head or Nancy on how to do it.

Advisor->advisee



Advisee->advisor




Role playing

Documents

How to manage your advisor (and one day, how to manage your student