4 Tips on Putting Together Your Research Pantheon!

Research teams can be complex and best ensuring that a research product succeeds is by staffing it with the right people that have the knowledge complete the work. I'm working on conducting a research project and have put together a team of interested scientists and professors. Each brought with them certain skills and a diverse background to ensure that their unique contribution is meaningful.

I put together a few ideas on how to select your research team. They are generic enough to apply to most situations.

1. Define Your Research, Objectives and Plans: Before you start putting your team together you should have a pretty good idea of what you want to do. Make sure that you have everything defined before moving forward.

2. Select Your Team on Skills: Your team will determine your potential success. Ensuring that you bring on board the right skills is essential. You may want to think in terms of experts in the field, familiarity with research design, people who can help create practical outcomes, etc....

3. Create Timeline and Plan: Having milestones and timelines helps to keep people on track. It is helpful for people to know when deliverable are due. Just make sure you build in some spare time in case there is an unexpected delay.

4. Designate Tasks: To complete your timelines and time-frames you need to apply the skills specifically. Therefore, put people on the teams and tasks they can do well.

5. Regular Check-Ins and Follow Ups: It is helpful to have check-ins to ensure that you are meting your deadline. Allowing each person to go around and discuss what they are working on helps to keep everyone else informed.