Stiff competition for research funding has created a highly stressful environment for early career researchers trying to persist in academic science. We have to produce more papers, presentations, and grant applications than ever before. I don’t expect that the pressure will diffuse at any point in the near future, so how might research group leaders help their trainees to navigate this critical, but fraught, time in their career? Sports leaders have a number of useful strategies for motivating players to push their personal boundaries in order to achieve more than they might believe to be possible. Many of these strategies can be easily transferred into the research lab in order to create a positive and supportive work environment. I first began thinking about this while I was watching my daughter participate in a Little Laxers lacrosse camp run by Coach Janine Tucker head of the Johns Hopkins University Women’s Lacrosse team and the all-time winningest coach in the University’s history).

The US Lacrosse Foundation reports that there are currently about 110,000 high school lacrosse players competing to secure one of only 700 or so places on a Division I University team¹ and thus access an athletic scholarship. These very low odds are comparable to those faced by early career scientists aiming to get a tenure-track position at a research university. Despite the astonishing pressure to stand out amongst their many competitors, Coach Tucker’s message to her young players is to have fun, make time to be silly and most importantly to revel in the joy of playing the sport. This ‘don’t take yourself too seriously’ attitude is refreshing, if not somewhat unexpected, to hear from one of the most successful coaches in women’s lacrosse. I was completely won over by her positive style of leadership and have since been thinking about how to apply this ethos within a research environment. Here, are four key strategies that Coach Tucker uses to lead her team to success² that can easily be transferred into the laboratory:

Be demanding but keep it positive. Create an environment in which the expectations are high and all of the great things going on in the group are celebrated. Then acknowledge any failures and make a plan to tackle them together.

Be a Truth Teller. This is someone who tells you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. When combined with the first rule about keeping it positive, this will help students to overcome the inevitable stumbling blocks on their career path. Mentors must help students to stay focused on their personal path, not those of their peers. Remind them that “this is their race”, they are in control of their own experience and should make the most of the opportunities that they have.

Emulate an inclusive environment. Create an environment where all students feel welcome within the group. Achieving this requires strong leadership and motivation to develop and maintain positive group interactions. Set the standard for inclusive and supportive behaviour and then establish regular opportunities for group members to look after each other.

Loosen up a bit and laugh a lot. Don’t take yourself too seriously. Science – like sports – is fun. In the battle for publications, funding awards and tenure, the fun aspect is the first to be lost. Yet when the fun is gone, then motivation quickly follows and anxiety settles in. The pressures of starting a career in academic science won’t go away but we can help our students to persist in this highly competitive field over the long-term if we can create an open, positive and occasionally silly training environment.

Notes and References:

¹US Lacrosse. Girls Lacrosse Recruiting Guidebook.

²My interest in writing this article came from my observations of the Tucker Lacrosse Little Laxers Camp in Baltimore this summer but the specific lessons referred to here were retrieved from Coach Tucker’s interview with the Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA). The podcast is available from the PCA website.

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