I recall when I was younger. I worked with a faculty member who let me make mistakes.
I recall asking, ‘what’s up with that? The mistakes waste our time?’
I was pretty grumpy. I had wasted several days chasing a blind alley on data analysis; I knew that they knew the answers; they taught methods, after all.
They responded, ‘you don’t learn if you don’t make mistakes.’
I remember being pretty steamed. I didn’t get it.
These days, a dozen+ students later, I totally get it.
I spend a lot of time working with my my PhD students on research design. It’s an iterative process.
With students being asked to take the first crack at the design, solicit feedback from the team, then iterate until we get it right.
I know it is frustrating bc sometimes my early career student has never built out a study - and can make many mistakes.
Often, I find the senior students on my team & in my dept help the early career students figure things out - faster than I can.
Sometimes, the early career and senior students know more about a method than I do - I have to play catch up.
Once in a while, an early career student shows up with deep knowledge of an area - we learn from them.
What is great about our process - is that students first learn the value of mistake making, then learn the value of helping, and along the way, learn patience.
While I am only in my third year at my new place, and I’ve connected the senior members of my academic family to the early career students and watched them all flourish - with the senior students maturing & my first wave of students at the new place adopting the helping attitude that I prize.
So how did this all come about?
First, my mentor with mistake making. He taught me it was ok to make & learn from mistakes. That lesson stuck with me.
Second, my mentor with PhD students. He emphasized the importance of culture.
I will never forget him telling me that student culture made all the difference.
He was right.
Third, my friends in Germany. They taught me whom you hire matters & to carefully bring them onto the team.
Fourth, my friends in Hong Kong, who I see stick by students, that most would cut loose, demonstrating amazing loyalty & reaping the rewards.
Finally, learning through trial & error & discovering patience along the way.
I look back on my first ten years; I was a bit of a terrorist; if a student didn’t perform, I let them know.
I made many mistakes.
I look back on my second ten years; I learned the power of patience; if a student doesn’t perform, I take the time to learn why.
I learned from my mistakes.
Training PhD students requires letting them make their own mistakes & providing a safety net - which takes patience.
I would be remiss if I didn’t express my thanks to my academic family, mentors, friends, & students, who helped me learn this lesson & taught me that we can build a better academe.
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