DLC Step by Step

Introductions

• Offer a warm welcome to everyone present and thank them for their attendance. Invite them to participate and engage freely and openly, and ensure nobody seems concerned or distressed.
• If you are unfamiliar with the lab, briefly introduce yourself, and ask everyone to introduce themselves. Ask each one to share their name, their role, and the length of time they’ve been in that position.

Setting the stage

• Reinforce to the group that you are not present as a subject matter expert. You are someone who is interested in guiding the group toward a meaningful and productive conversation among themselves on an important topic.
• Frame the conversation as an exploration of what the lab finds is going well and where they think there are challenges--this is not an evaluation.
• Invite participants to share their genuine opinions, and assure them you welcome potentially unpopular ideas or disagreements that help advance the conversation.

   

Share some ground rules:

• be honest and respectful;
• listen to understand;
• it’s ok to disagree, and we ask that you do it in a way that is curious, not hostile;
• everyone has an opportunity and responsibility to participate.
• Ask if the participants understand and whether they are willing to acknowledge these points.
• Ask participants if they would like to add any other ground rules.

Be patient and encouraging, and invite each member to use this opportunity to find creative opportunities and ideas to meaningfully address the group’s goals.

Starting out

• Depending on your topic of conversation, you may consider using a brief expository video or tool to frame the facilitation. Whatever tool you use, seek to get at the heart of the topic you’re dealing with. For example:
  • With a topic like authorship, focus on a common issue, such as the ambiguity in determining what a “significant contribution” is.
  • With a topic like data management, consider exploring how a lack of data backups could be potentially catastrophic in a research lab environment.

The conversation and common issues

• Begin with a question or two to guide and stimulate the conversation about your chosen topic and give each participant a few moments to write down some ideas or collect their thoughts. Suggest that you’ll be asking people to comment on these matters after they’ve had time to reflect.
• For example, these might look something like the following:
  • “Before we open the discussion, let’s take a minute so you can reflect on and jot down some preliminary thoughts about [subject] in your lab.”
  • When they’re done reflecting, open the discussion with any of the following suggested prompts:
    • Data management:
      • “Think about the kinds of data generated in your lab, and the issues you find yourself most attentive to in managing those data. Are those issues primarily in one domain, or do they span more than a few?”
      • “Which of the domains do you want to talk about today? Which of the domains would you say you pay most attention to/are best at? Would that answer be true for the lab as a whole? Which of these would like to focus more on as you move forward with the research of the lab?”
    • Authorship: 
      • “There are several important things to keep in mind when thinking about authorship on a paper; what would you consider the top 3-5 considerations to be?”
      • “What processes are you aware of that your lab/research group has in place to answer the question who gets to be an author on a paper? Do YOU have an idea about what kinds of contributions count for authorship?”

Helpful tips:

• Some groups will take the prompt and run with it, and may not need any further help; other groups may require a bit more guidance.
• You may find that people begin by explaining to you (the facilitator) what they are seeing with respect to their topic, rather than engaging in a conversation with each other. In that case, you might remind them that you are there to guide, ask questions, and enable a balanced conversation, and that they ought to be having a conversation with one another. You might need to gently repeat yourself on this topic using the skills mentioned earlier (e.g., social awareness).
• You may find that individuals in positions of power (e.g., PIs, faculty members) dominate the conversation or, alternatively, that they scarcely participate at all. Allow them to share their perspectives and, if they share excessively, kindly guide the conversation to other members and ask for their perspectives.
• Consider seeking the perspectives of specific role-based groups (e.g., “[Person], as a [role; e.g., third-year graduate student], what have you noticed on this topic?”)
• Acknowledge having heard from certain groups and pivot to focus on other groups, demographics, etc. (e.g., “It seems like we have plenty of insights from [faculty and staff]; what if we heard more from some graduate students?”)

Refer to the Foundational Skills section for ideas in how to address the following issues:

• Stimulating an otherwise stale or overly focused conversation
• Ending too early without considering other points of interest
• Remaining overly “positive” and focused on what is working, without considering what might be improved

As the conversation moves along, you’ll likely hear ideas from the group’s members that appear to offer solutions to the group’s stated obstacles and challenges.

• In some labs, people may bring laptops or notebooks and record what they will do to apply what has been discussed.
• In other labs, there may appear to be less overt action in documenting and expressing an interest to follow up on what has been discussed.

Remember that the role of the facilitator is to guide — not to evaluate, or even offer specific insights or suggestions.

• Consider repeating the good ideas that the group has brought forth and which may solve important issues (e.g., “You know, it seems like you’ve shared some good ideas today which might help you with [topic].”).
• When the conversation has come to a meaningful end following repeated efforts to guide the conversation to greater depths, express gratitude for your time together and for their engagement.

• • Consider following up (e.g., with an email) thanking the group for their time, and underscoring the valuable insights they developed together.