Encouraging Communication and Team Spirit
By Helen Kelly
For some time now Dr Lisa Martin, Animal Laboratory Facility Director, State University of New York at Buffalo, has been building and nurturing close working relationships among facility personnel and their clients.
Ethics Training
By Ann Marie Dinkel, RLATG
In the past few years there have been a number of high profile instances of unethical behavior exposed in the media. In 2005, a South Korean researcher faked the cloning of a human embryo.
Zen and the Art of Managing
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
The goal in the classical Japanese Zen arts is to achieve mastery through spiritual practice. In recent years, many attempts have been made to bring this kind of Zen thinking to the West.
Communicating with Animal Facility Staff
By Szczepan Baran, VMD, Luis Zorrilla, BS, LATG
Communication issues can impact research. An atmosphere of cooperation can make the impact positive.
A Procrastinator’s Guide to Planning
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
A manager’s procrastination tendency raises its ugly head, commonly, when planning for a new project. “Paralysis by analysis” becomes the mode of operation—or non operation.
Welcoming Innovation: A Route to Employee Engagement
By Helen Kelly
Management pundits offer quick fixes, but we know better: reducing employee turnover requires a long-term investment in engagement.
Activities for Trainers
By Ann Marie Dinkel, RLATG
Last month in this column, the use and misuse of icebreakers was discussed.
Are You a Manager or Leader?
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
All leaders are managers but not all managers are leaders.
Creating a Great Place to Work: Developing Great People
By Helen Kelly
Multicultural experience, candid conversation, collaboration and an eye for beauty are among the forces for greatness at two of Europe’s winning companies.
A Bestiary of Difficult Employees
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
Bestiaries, books that listed and described certain animals and their characteristics, were popular in the Middle Ages. Stories about each “beast” were designed to teach important moral lessons.
Strategy Summit: Animal Research-Risks & Reality
By Jayne Mackta
The NJABR Strategy Summit brought key groups together to discuss the present and future of biomedical research advocacy.
Creating a Great Place to Work: Hiring Great People
By Helen Kelly
The Great Place to Work Institute holds as its core belief that trust-based relationships are at the heart of every great workplace. Trust strengthens as employees feel increasingly respected, proud, and confident that management will be fair and just in their relationships and decisions.
Lean in the Lab: A Primer
By Helen Kelly
Learn what being Lean means and how it was successfully implemented at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Comparative Medicine.
Congratulate Me, I’m a Supervisor! Now What?
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
The big day has arrived; I’ve been promoted. I’m no longer just one of the guys; I’m a supervisor!
Creating a Great Place to Work: The Basics
By Helen Kelly
People are happier at work when they can be themselves. That means the enterprise takes account of both emotion and intellect when setting policy, and employees can be transparent rather than political.
Making the Most of Your Support Staff
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
Your administrative assistant or support staff can be the people who can seriously impact your career. Without their enthusiastic support, you may have to struggle with mounds of paper work that takes little creativity, and gets you little notice, but takes lots of your time.
TurnKey Award Winners Announced
By
Keith St. Pierre named Facility Leader of the Year. The Jackson Laboratory Reproductive Sciences Importation and Isolation Facility wins Facility of the Year
Delegation, A Manager’s Best Friend
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
There you are: too much to do, deadline looming, shorthanded, struggling to just keep your head above water…and now the boss wants you to take on a whole new project.
A Neurobiological Case for On-the-Job Training
By Helen Kelly
In light of common coding, it becomes clear that you could become the most powerful influence on how employees learn, understand, feel about, and do their jobs.
Depression in the Workplace
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
What’s a manager to do when you recognize that an employee is suffering from significant depression? It’s a touchy situation.
Using Social Media for Job Hunting and Network Building in the Field of Laboratory Animal Medicine
By Szczepan Baran, VMD, Elizabeth Johnson, VMD, Marcel Perret-Gentil, DVM
Social media may not completely replace other job seeking venues, but is a useful tool when used responsibly.
Developing Your Natural Talent to Lead
By Helen Kelly
It seems that leadership comes naturally to very few and executive programs rarely instill it, which isn’t surprising because leadership is innate—more a talent than a skill and certainly not a tick list.
Animal Welfare in Asia: The AAALAC International Experience
By Dr. Kathryn Bayne
Interest in laboratory animal care and use standards in Asia, and laboratory animal welfare in particular, is intensifying.
Growing from Star to Team Player
By Martin Seidenfeld, Ph.D.
To develop a strong team, you must help your employees subordinate this need and shift their focus from rising above their co-workers, to rising with their co-workers.
Speaking of Research
By Helen Kelly
In conversations about biomedical research at your facility, you can influence a positive view by reporting results as good science.