I chaired a meeting w/ the amazing directors & staff that run research infrastructure at our university today. Our long hours have been supporting research, animals, funding, stipends. Managing a crucially needed team right now is tricky. Here are some messages I gave them: 1/6

- if it isn't urgent, don't do it. Lie on the floor/call your mother/lose your sh*t instead. That is logical & healthy now
- if we lose you to burnout, the effect on the portfolio is the same if we lose you to illness. Take precautions to avoid burnout often & constantly
2/6

- at least in our portfolio, a core value of our Directors is our ability to call on them and trust them in an emergency right now. Not in their strategic planning and reports. Chill/take time out so you can do the former, and skip the latter as needed
3/6

- take your leave days!!
- tell your staff to take their leave days!!
- put edges on your inbox. Check email within an 8 hour period, maximum
- our job is to support research at the uni, but not in a way that sacrifices any workers of any kind right now including us
4/6

- Then I emailed them all this: https://www.chronicle.com/article/why-you-should-ignore-all-that/248366
Happily, no one has emailed me back.
5/6

Some of this won't fit your situation. It is a particular type of communication to tell your (skilled, crucial, brilliant) colleagues to work less *as their director* at a time when they are also clearly needed--including by you! This message is strategic to our own case. 6/6