The Leadership Edge-How to do More with Less
The Challenge:
I am on a tight deadline and I don't have enough resources. Help! What do I do?
Answer: This is an incredibly common challenge in high growth, entrepreneurial companies; too much work, not enough resources and unrealistic timelines. Here are some steps you can take to tackle the challenge:
Step One - Make sure you have a plan. It also serves as a great communication tool so that everyone is clear on the goal, understands their role in the "big picture," and has clearly defined and communicated target dates.
Step Two - Revisit the vision. People need motivation under pressure. Demonstrate how this goal supports the team vision.
Step Three - Check for efficiency. Revisit high-payoff-activities. Make certain everyone is focused on doing the right things. Eliminate low-payoff-activities.
Step Four - Renegotiate conflicting priorities. Gain a sense of what is taking priority and if anything can give.
Step Five -Seek additional resources. Remember the Lego-man exercise. Make sure you have taken an inventory of the required resources as soon as possible. Check with others and compare the timing and number of resources required. In a Matrix System, with great planning you might be able to utilize resources from other groups.
Step Six - Increase communication and use the team. Get the team involved in problem solving. Have productive meetings focused on decision-making and problem solving. Check with the team for hidden talents that we might not be aware of.
Step Seven - Position people to do their best work. Remember their Myers-Briggs type and let them do the kind of work they were designed to do. It will be less stressful and they will be more productive.
Step Eight - Track, monitor and revisit the plan.
This Issue’s Tip:
Remember the people as well as the process when you are working to be more efficient.
Don't forget to sign up for the next From the Lab to Leadership Program.
Please click here for more information: http://www.biocom.org/event/labtoleadership/
LSSI Celebrates Fifth Consecutive Year
The BIOCOM Institute and the San Diego Workforce Partnership are excited to announce the start of the fifth consecutive year of the Life Sciences Summer Institute (LSSI) student internship program and teacher externship program. Thanks to the support of our local industry partners; the Amgen Foundation, Biogen Idec Foundation, Genentech, Gen-Probe, Life Technologies, Pfizer Foundation, and the Southern California Biotech Center at Miramar College (SCBC), the LSSI program is continuing its success this summer in the absence of federal grant funding.
Over thirty students countywide participated in the Introduction to the Biotech Lab "Boot Camp," held at the SCBC and concurrently at Grossmont College.
The program helps high school students prepare for summer internships at local biotech companies and research institutions. Throughout the one-week boot camp, the students refine their lab skills using the AMGEN-Bruce Wallace Biotechnology Laboratory Curriculum. The curriculum is designed to parallel some of the important steps the biotechnology industry uses to create novel therapeutic proteins and develop products. In addition, industry volunteers join the students to discuss the importance of soft skills such as effective communication, workplace expectations, and teamwork in their future careers.
These students from area high schools will be going on to work at research institutes including: Burnham Institute for Medical Research, La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology, The Scripps Research Institute and Salk Institute for Biological Studies. To date, the LSSI program has trained and placed over 200 students. If you would like more information regarding the LSSI or having your company host students or teachers or for other ways to get involved, please contact biotech@workforce.org.