How do you balance research, teaching, mentoring, and outreach?

One of the unique aspects of a career in education is the higher we climb up the ladder, the further we stray away from the part education we are most fond of and fueled by—the classroom experience. I recommend that administrators remain connected to the classroom experience, whether by teaching one class a year or by continuing mentor relationships with students. In our model at CVCU, mentoring is a part of the academic experience, interwoven with each degree program in a format we call academic discipleship. This format lends itself to rich intergenerational mentorship that fosters growth in both the mentee and the mentor.

When I was in my administrative role in higher education, I kept my dual track with the business school, and taught at least 2X per year. It helps to keep a pulse on what’s happening at the ground level with students.

I think it's important to give yourself three views of your work - a close-up view (short-term), a mid-scope view (what priorities can be set one to two years out), and a long-term view (five years out, what do you envision). Because thoughts are things and what we water in our minds grows, it's important to maintain clarity of vision. I find a structural tension chart is helpful - work from the bottom up. Start by putting where you currently are (current reality) at the bottom, and where you want to end up, at the top. Then begin to build the scaffolding in between with strategic steps to get you there. This chart is fluid and should be updated as often as necessary!

Agree with blocking out chunks of time on your work calendar--this is essential for effective writing time, also. I give talks nationally on how to write better and more effectively in terms of limited time...and blocking out a 1-hr period and doing 40 mins of focused work is what I recommend. (Other 20 mins is prep work, including putting your phone/distractions out of reach, setting a time, gathering any materials you need to get the writing done!). Take a break after 40 mins of focused time and physically change your surroundings (e.g., get a cup of tea in another room, step outside for 10 mins of walking and natural light).

By setting goals, timelines to follow, if possibly doing a bit of them each day. Secondly you can built a common theme around each, hence the connection will help further

This is a perfect opportunity to really put your foot down and be assertive of the schedules for your teaching, research, mentoring, and outreach. It is also important to communicate your schedules as well. For one, negotiating with your department chair on your teaching loads and schedules per term is extremely important. This should be done early since you will then have to schedule your consultation hours with your students around your teaching loads. Another, picking and choosing which research projects to do in an academic year is equally important as well. This is the second thing you should get down pat after your teaching loads. Everything else you can fill in will be allocated to your mentoring and outreach stuff.

Time management is key to achieve many goals in my professional path; some tasks are priority at certain time of year, while others overcome later. Also, sharing teaching and research projects with my teammates is a very motivating way to achieve my goals more effeciently.

I find that time blocking is incredibly helpful with managing multiple roles. Make sure you set time each week for different tasks and stick to that schedule. As a self-employed health and transformational coach, I manage my own schedule and work from home, so there's plenty of opportunity to wiggle, but I try not to. This discipline keeps me on task no matter what comes up.

Gantt chart is an incredibly useful tool to manage times and tasks. I find it difficult to have a set timetable hourly; however, it is easier and more efficient to go day by day and week by week for short-term goals and monthly for long-term goals. Many free online options do not require special training to create a Gantt chart. It is a must-have tool for all planning.

I find that time blocking was the best approach for me. Planning a schedule and sticking to that, whether it be setting time aside for advising meetings, research colabs, or personal calendar maintenance, sticking to the schedule once you have created it is key!

This is so important. Communication (clear) is key to any successful endeavor, and we need people involved in our projects if we are going to go far - 'if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go with a team'. It's about WHO, not HOW.

We need to identify and build what is referred to as "impact networks." Communication and collaboration are key to helping us improve and grow. Therefore, clear, continuous, and careful communication is the way.

Collaboration is the name of this game. By maintaining relationships, building a team of visionaries, and understanding what their zones of genius are, you empower everyone's buy-in and, at the same time, you are building a brain trust of people you can go to when you need input or support. Offering and seeking support eliminates the toxic notion that, if we don't know something, we are somehow less qualified. Creating a culture of curiosity and growth allows for knowledge gaps to become empowerment gaps. It's also super fun to not know something, go to a trusted team member, and learn!

Managing teaching along with PhD, research, and outreach is super hectic. It requires a lot of planning and prioritizing important deadlines and lab procedural wait time and completion requirements. I have started using calendar tasks, and reminders. There are days when it is simply impossible to manage cooking and eating. While there is some cool breeze when you can enjoy decent sleep to recharge yourself for next week's activities. In past I never realized the real worth of socializing but meeting friends once a week and going out for a few hours is good for mind. Prefer communicating with students, labmates and professors because discussion helps to win. Setting realistic expectations is the key to achieving goals. Burdening isn't.

As an academic, assessment is so important. Creating a culture of assessment gives everyone the opportunity to identify what works and what needs tweaking - feedback is the breakfast of champions!!

Rapid prototyping! Constant evolving evaluation and communication to stakeholders is also key. When demonstrating the idea, I try to create a “product” to center the conversation and encourage feedback. It’s better to know sooner, than later.

Taking a step back and looking at all you have accomplished is crucial to staying motivated for future endeavors. This also aids in continuing the passion for your roles.

For me, the ability to develop my research and teaching agendas has centered on making them overlap to the greatest possible extent. I integrate my research into the courses I teach. I invite students into the research process to teach them research methods, but also to participate in a real project. I love the integration and it helps to keep my classes fresh, as sections evolve every single semester, based on whatever scholarship I've been working on.

Here's a trick: Seek out opportunities to maximize one area to benefit another - sort of like "hit two birds with one stone" thing. Experiences in outreach can be used as immersion data / participative observation data for a research paper of interest. Classroom outputs can be turned into source material and contents for research papers or book chapters co-authored with the students who submitted the work in class. Administrative work can help you find potential collaborators after say a meeting with fellow academics or fellow administrators. Keep your ear on the ground. Sometimes even the smallest nuggets that are mundane in a classroom or in an office can be a start of something great.

As you progress in career be ready to modify the proportion of time spent on each. This understanding is crucial to maintain balance in roles.

Two very pragmatic strategies: 1. Pursue research macro topics with rich subtopics that can be spun off into valuable research at a micro-level; in theory, you should have time to contribute to your field of study, even when time-challenged. 2. Network with trustworthy colleagues who will invite you into larger projects; as the saying goes, many hands make light the work. In this manner, you can be collaboratively increasing your discipline’s knowledge base while honoring commitments such as service and teaching.

Research,teaching and Mentoring involves students.As already suggested, this overlapping could be planned and thus made effective . While mentoring students one can have some ideas about the student skill set and accordingly you can involve them in your research project/paper. Outreaching can be undertaken when one is comparatively free and as per the potential client's time table.