Collaborating away from the big egos
With Dr Katharina Jähn-Rickert
Not many people can say that they have had one of their experiments taken into space. Whilst Katharina did not get onto the astronomer career track, it did not stop her from having some of her experiments on bone biology make it into space.
I ask Katharina to reflect on her approaches to initiating and developing collaborations. She experienced early on the good and the ugly in collaboration, when she lost access to some equipment that was needed for her research. This led her to revisit her approach to her research and it opened new doors of interest. Katharina talks about taking the time to get people, to know where you are coming from research-wise. She reminds us that much of the challenges in research environments are not the experiments, but the big egos of some researchers.
About Katharina
Dr Katharina Jähn-Rickert, is a principal investigator at the Department of Osteology and Biomechanics at the University Medical Center Hamburg. Get in touch with Katharina:
Find out
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Access full transcript here
Some reflections and questions to ponder based on my discussion with Katharina
When circumstances change you research direction
There are many situations where our research direction may need to change. A context where access to a research site or equipment is being withdrawn is not something we really want to think about, when we start a research project. In what Katharina described from her PhD experience, my understanding is that her access to a certain type of equipment was removed, because of issues of collaboration between her PhD supervisor and someone else. Somebody else’s collaboration challenges impacted how she was able to undertake her own research.
We never function in isolation in the world of research. The collaboration fallouts of others may create havoc in our own ability to undertake our work.
The most important part in such situation will be how we react and bounce back. That’s why building a mindset of resilience is so important. I know saying this may sounds a bit cheesy…but I truly believe that our mindset in facing challenges is what create our professional paths.
For Katharina, the need to redefine the direction of her project in the middle of her PhD, challenged her thinking and brought new opportunities to construct pro-actively her research direction.
What is your mindset when drastic changes need to happen in the way you undertake your research? Well, maybe you have not experienced this yet! Although, I am sure that the Covid-19 pandemic has been one of such challenges! We need to practice an openness to change and welcome challenges as triggers to foster our innovative mind.
o What has come out better, as a result of a change being forced on you or your project?
o If a core component of your research project became undo-able, do you already know an alternative approach you would explore?
o What’s the worst that could happen in your project…if it did happen…what would be your next step to find a bridge to new ways of approaching your research question?
Believing in the power of informal interactions
For some researchers, taking steps to build their research network and explore potential collaborations represent challenging processes. Time is limited and trying to be effective as a researcher may mean trying to become strategic in building your research network. Just the idea of being strategic in networking feels very uncomfortable and inauthentic for many- myself included.
For those of you who worry about building a research network and want to develop new collaborations, I would say:
just start by showing interest in others and in their work!
All these informal interactions that we have, are part of building our network and collaboration potential. Each conversation we have, will of course not lead to a new collaboration or help us develop a new idea, but each of these conversations, are part of the process of leading to new collaborations and ideas.
Being open to possibilities, is what you do when you engage in new conversations with other researchers. Building relationships is the core principle of building effective collaborations.
Some of you will have of course being thrown into collaborations that you did not choose. There may have been no time given in building the collaboration through building the relationship. Well, we all know what it feels like when a collaboration is forced upon us, when no time is given to actually understand where everyone is coming from and what everyone wants to get out of the interaction. Often, this leads to great frustrations and misunderstandings.
Taking the time to build the relationship means ensuring we really lean into understanding the other person’s perspectives, interests, values, challenges etc…It does not mean that building such relationship needs to take years. I think it is more about being intentional in how we approach the interaction.
Egos are certainly a massive hurdle to overcome in collaborations. Many failed collaborations will boil down to egos being in the way of openness, reciprocity and authenticity in the relationship. Sometimes, we may just have to let go of a collaboration that just feels too hard work, when our energy is being sucked into the void. Collaboration is a two-way process, so maintaining an openness of conversation is what we should aim to have. If it feels that the interaction is really just unidirectional, or conversations are just too painful, letting go may just be what is needed.
If we are committed to building a supportive research culture, minding how our own ego is at play when we are interacting with others is a valuable thing to remind ourselves. There is not much we can do about the big egos of others…well, run miles away from them if we have to! The only control we have is to become mindful how our own egos can derail collaborations or stale working relationships.
If you reflect on previous collaborations:
o Can you remember a time when your own ego was in the way of creating more openness in a working interaction? What was the impact of your own ego in the way the relationship developed?
o Do you have a trigger that gets your ego to flare up and gets in the way of your working relationships?
o What has been your own experience of bearing the brunt of the ego of someone else? What was the impact it had on you and your ability of work well with this person?
Having the necessary conversations in collaborations
When we initiate collaborations, we may still be tentative in addressing certain topics. One challenge is particularly poignant in interdisciplinary collaborations- when we don’t understand something our collaborator is doing but we are worried of admitting it. This would probably not happen if we took more care in building real relationships with our collaborators. We would not feel embarrassed in admitting our mistakes, our misunderstanding or our disagreements. Maybe the frustrations some people are experiencing in collaborations come from believing that the “speed dating” approach to collaboration is good enough. The approach may work sometimes, but when it does not, considering that the “slow cooking” approach to collaboration is more likely to offer long-term potential for meaningful and joyous interactions.
If you think about your current collaborators:
o Do you actually know what motivates them to be involved in collaborating with you?
o Do you feel sufficiently at ease to raise issues when they arise?
o What is the conversation that you have been avoiding with your collaborators? What is in the way for you to have this discussion?
“when I talk about myself ,maybe mentioned not just what I have been working on and what I would like to do in the future, but also how I would like to work in a way. So what matters to me personally.”
