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I submitted this article to NCURA Magazine, it’s going to be out in the August/September issue – but honestly it’s so good I wanted to share it with you sooner. This article was collected by me, but it was written by research administrators across the country, and is full of incredible advice and insight from people who do this job every day. I am so grateful for their input, and would love for you to add your own!
A recurring theme in RA conversations lately is the significant turnover (50-100%) experienced over the past 12-18 months by organizations all over the country. These departures have been attributed to burnout, unmet requests for help, and better opportunities elsewhere. The details of the conversation vary, but it’s evident that we have a systemic issue that will require multifaceted solutions. One tool to combat these challenges that we have control over is setting and maintaining our boundaries.
The Gray Area of Research Administration Boundaries
As an RA, navigating boundaries is complex due to the multiple stakeholders and priorities involved with each our jobs. And if I’m being honest, every time I set a boundary; I tend to be the first to compromise it because I am a people pleaser, I want to get things done, I’ll have to do it eventually anyway, I feel guilty for not doing it, whatever the reason, I disrespect my own boundaries.
I hear this a lot, and Meredith Feuerbach, at Dartmouth had some sage words to help with this. “Faculty are my peers, not my bosses.” In some cases, you may work directly for your investigator, but even so, it’s crucial to view faculty as equals rather than quasi-managers. While RAs support faculty, they rely on our expertise for the business operations of research. Meredith says, “we provide a service without being subservient. This mindset helps me not to prioritize every faculty request as if it’s an emergency.” Many RAs work tirelessly over weekends to deliver immediate responses; but others choose not to follow that path unless the situation is genuinely urgent and time sensitive.
The challenge lies in distinguishing what truly qualifies as urgent and time sensitive. Having experienced the pre-ARRA and COVID eras, I’ve seen the intensity triggered by significant funding influxes, leading to every request becoming a high priority. Over time, expectations have drifted, often blurring the lines of what’s reasonable regarding workload, calendar access, and overall demands on RAs. It’s essential to maintain clear boundaries to prevent the erosion of these standards.
Resistance is a common reaction when introducing new boundaries. For example, creating an internal deadline for grant submissions is unlikely to universally welcomed, but this doesn’t necessarily indicate a mistake in direction. Instead, it signals the need for a thoughtful transition that compassionately balances the needs of Research Administrators, PIs and the organization. When tensions inevitably arise, these are opportunities to reassess and improve our processes, ensuring the new boundaries facilitate smoother operations while firmly remaining in place.
Practical Steps in Boundary Setting
This all sounds good in theory, but what about in practice? According to the enthusiastic responses on the ResAdmin Listserv, the practical application is strong with a lot of RAs. In response to a query about boundaries, my inbox was flooded with messages about the challenges and successes of setting and maintaining boundaries as a Research Administrator.
Julieanne Lock at the University of Michigan sets a clear example: “No work email on my cell phone.” She doesn’t have her work email connected to her mobile, and she advises her staff to do the same. “This policy establishes a firm boundary that we are not accessible around the clock. Plus, how often does a 10:00 PM email truly require an immediate response? In our field, we are not dealing with life-or-death scenarios, so everything can wait until the next business day when we are back at our computers.” Amen.
Managing Manufactured Urgency
Working in grants management can be highly emotional; people often panic, escalating issues by sending emails to everyone imaginable. This becomes particularly problematic when leadership prioritizes appeasing PIs over establishing systems that support a robust research administration. Its critical for RAs to maintain a well-calibrated sense of urgency and not get swept up in others’ panic. Admittedly, this is challenging, but remember: almost everything is figuroutable. We’ve figured everything out so far, and we will continue to figure it out. What’s needed most is thoughtfulness and a reduction in intensity to effectively manage these situations.
Julieanne says that one of her best skills is learning the art of saying “Not right now”. We want to help our researchers, but it’s vital to evaluate our current workload and decide if a new request is truly urgent or can wait and balance the load accordingly. This discernment helps maintain balance and prevent burnout, preserving our well-being and efficacy in our roles.
Bad Habits are Bad for Boundaries
Reflecting on our daily habits can reveal why our schedules feel overwhelmingly full. It’s worth considering the practices that contribute to this feeling, such as the tendency to fill every minute with tasks, often without allowing for any downtime. This relentless scheduling can lead to burnout and reduce our effectiveness.
Michael Spires from Oakland touches on a crucial habit that can help mitigate this issue: “I try to book meetings that last less than a full hour, and to avoid back-to-back meetings (in person or virtual). That gives me at least 10-15 minutes in between for mental refreshment/preparation for the next meeting, time to grab a snack or take a bio-break, etc.”
Adopting such practices, as Spires suggests, can significantly impact how we manage our workload. By consciously choosing to insert breaks and shorten meetings, we allow ourselves moments to breathe and reset, ultimately enhancing our productivity and well-being throughout the day. It’s a small change that can lead to substantial improvements in how we feel and perform professionally.
Mindset & Approach
It’s essential to examine why we establish boundaries and how we define the expectations placed upon us and those we impose on ourselves. There are a great many tasks we can complete but is that task the best use of our skillset. Julieanne posted, ““I’m cautious to not set a precedent of writing sections of proposals or reports, as it’s not a part of my job description and is a difficult habit to break once started. This is a very public reminder to my team that we don’t undertake such tasks, no matter how politely we’re asked”
Many research administrators are self-proclaimed people pleasers. It’s important to monitor how much time we spend on tasks outside our job descriptions. If these tasks are considered part of our roles, then job descriptions should be amended to reflect the actual responsibilities and ensure appropriate compensation.
How Management Helps (and Hurts) Boundaries
I must acknowledge that it’s significantly easier to establish these boundaries when you have the support of your department and leadership. To effectively combat burnout, it’s crucial for managers and leaders to support their staff in establishing and maintaining reasonable boundaries. If a staff member sets a boundary, but then faces a complaint from a researcher, and the manager’s knee-jerk reaction is to insist on immediately addressing the researcher’s demands, this not only undermines the boundary but also signals that the manager doesn’t value the staff’s effort to protect their time, workload, and mental health. When leaders consistently expect their team to be “always on” or “always available,” whether explicitly or implicitly, it perpetuates a cycle of burnout, high turnover, and ultimately drives talented individuals away from the field due to unsustainable stress.
There are some incredible managers out there who not only support their staff but also clearly define and visibly uphold these boundaries—you know who you are – I quoted many of them in this article. Thank you for being such incredible leaders.
Takeaways
Setting boundaries effectively can help prevent the overwhelming feeling of realizing it’s 4:00 PM and you haven’t completed the 15 tasks you promised for the day, potentially leading to a mental breakdown. There was a time when the ResAdmin workload was such that we could do all the things, but as Kris Monahan remarked during the NCURA Region 1 Meeting this year, our field is evolving.
This moment in time offers us an opportunity to identify our “true north,” to assess any drift and to consider how we can reorient and recalibrate. Who hasn’t felt the satisfaction of resetting your workspace or doing a deep house cleaning. It’s never too late to give boundary setting a fresh start, even though it can be hard to maintain when work continues to pour in. The most poignant line came from Sherie Donahue, of University of California, Riverside – who says that “the work will always be there and no matter how good we are, the world will survive when we are gone.”
Top 10 Boundary Setting Tips
These are 10 tips that are universally recognized as crucial by Research Administrators .
- Don’t have your work email on your phone
- Use the “Delay Send” on your mail service provider
- Block out time every day for lunch – AND TAKE IT\
- Block out flow time, dedicated work time, focus time each day
- Turn off all audio and visual popups/pings for all apps
- Avoid back to back meetings
- Keep meetings to under an hour
- No Friday meetings
- Get Comfortable Saying: I’m dealing with a couple of deadline-driven items at the moment, but I can add this to my list and get to it next week
- Manage Urgency: Not Right now