by Uyen B. Chu, Ph.D.  

PharmTalk - A Blog for Young Scientists is a new ASPET blog primarily written by postdocs Joanna Sandilos Rega (Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia, PA) and Uyen Chu (University of Wisconsin-Madison). The primary objective of this blog is to engage postdocs and graduate students in topics helpful to your experience as a young scientist, focusing on but not limited to communication skills and core competencies of leadership and management as defined by the National Postdoctoral Association's set of "core competencies." Our hope is that this blog will be a valuable source for pointers on how to enrich your experience as a young scientist. 

As graduate students and postdocs we have a lot of opportunities for feedback on our research through presentations and publications, but are we getting enough feedback on our job performance? The biggest assumption in academia is that scientific achievement is synonymous with professionalism. But we all know that brilliance of the mind does not always correlate positively with the levels of highest professional conduct. And, at some point in our professional career, we all have worked with people that at times drive us insane. But I would ask the graduate students and postdocs who read this blog, have we really taken a good look at ourselves to see if we are doing enough to be more professional? What can we do to achieve the highest standards of professional conduct in the workplace?

Whatever career path you want to pursue after you have completed your graduate and postdoc training, it is important to keep in mind that professional development is an ongoing process that requires stepping out of your comfort zone and actively seeking opportunities to strengthen your talents and improving on your weaknesses. Hence, obtaining feedback is the most powerful tool for understanding your performance, strengths, and weaknesses. Although no one understands you better than yourself, the observations from those you work closely with can provide insight into how well you interact with others, how you lead or manage, and how you communicate with your colleagues and supervisors.

So how do you seek feedback on your performance? One method that I learned in a leadership training course at my institution is called 360-degree feedback or survey. In human resources, the 360-degree survey is used mainly for performance appraisals by managers, and it seeks feedback from a variety of people in our professional circle. In this context, however, I am promoting the 360-degree feedback as a mechanism for professional development rather than performance appraisal.

How to seek feedback and from whom
As graduate students and postdocs, we act as scientists and educators. For example, as depicted in the diagram below, we interact with our research advisor(s), immediate supervisor in the lab (a senior scientist), co-workers (lab technicians and managers), the students we mentor (both graduate and undergraduate), collaborators on our research project, and students in the classroom, if we teach. Therefore, it is important to seek feedback from individuals who see us in these roles. This mechanism of feedback is effective because it gives us a complete view of our competences and is useful for overcoming the biases of just one reviewer.

To start a successful 360-degree review, choose three people you interact with on a regular basis. You might choose your advisor, coworker, and a student you are mentoring. Schedule a 30-minute meeting with each one and explain that you will interview them about your performance as part of your professional development training. Feedback will not be as useful if the individuals are afraid you might take things personally, so urge them to be as honest as possible.

Potential interview questions
Before your feedback meeting, be sure to prepare a list of questions you want to ask. Do you already have a sense of your strengths? How do you think these people already perceive you? Below are some of the basic interview questions you can use for your feedback interview, but you should develop questions tailored to the individual from whom you are seeking feedback. For example, if you are seeking feedback from your advisor, you may want to ask his/her opinions about your scientific acumen. If you are seeking feedback from an undergraduate student you are mentoring, you may want to ask this person how well you teach difficult scientific concepts and your skills at teaching laboratory techniques.

In addition, you may consider asking questions that target specific skill sets you want to develop. If you seek a career in industry, a quick scan through job listings on search engines like SimplyHired, Monster, CareerBuilder, and ASPET Career Center will reveal that private companies tend to look for candidates who are efficient, organized, highly motivated, possess strong time management skills, are good at problem solving, and have leadership skills. So perhaps you want to develop these skills as part of your professional training. Why not ask those who work with you to evaluate your competency in these skills as well?

General Questions: 

1. How do you perceive me as a ______ (researcher, teacher, scientist, leader)? 
2. What strengths do you think I have that are necessary for a successful career in _______ (academic science, teaching, etc.)?  
3. What should I improve in order to succeed as a future _______ (professor, teacher, etc.)?  
4. What should I keep doing? 
5. What should I stop doing? 
6. What should I start doing?  

Specific Questions  

1. What communication medium am I good at (speaking, writing)? 
2. What is my level of motivation when I perform ______ task? 
3. How are my time management skills? Am I able to meet deadlines? 
4. How is my ability to motivate others (weak, average, strong)? Explain. 

Once you have completed these feedback interviews from the people in your professional circle, set goals to strengthen what you are already doing well and be diligent in trying to improve your identified weaknesses. You will thank yourself for going through these exercises when you get a question like “what kind of professional development have you done?” at your next job interview!