As a research team leader, you’re constantly faced with obligations—it’s part of the game. But the real question is: which of these should you truly take on as responsibilities, and which ones can you approach with a bit more pragmatism?
I divide them into three categories:
- Formal obligations
- Informal obligations imposed by others
- Informal obligations you impose on yourself
Let’s start with your formal obligations as a PI:
Formal obligations typically stem from two main sources: your contract, which outlines responsibilities like how much of your salary must be financed through third-party funds, along with teaching and service duties; and regulations, which include laws, compliance rules, hiring policies of your institution, and its procurement procedures.
These represent the core duties you are expected to fulfill—what you’re paid for and what everyone relies on you to do.
These obligations are somewhat boring when it comes to deciding whether or not to follow them, because they’re exactly what you must deliver as a PI (remember that when negotiating your next contract!). If you don’t fulfill your contractual obligations or fail to follow institutional policies, then your institution has no reason to fulfill its obligations (like keeping you employed). And if you violate laws, you can be held accountable. So, the decision of whether to meet these obligations is not really a decision at all. However, you should consider how much energy to invest in fulfilling them and whether you might be overdoing it.
Formal obligations that don’t provide any added value to you or your research should still be fulfilled, but you don’t have to be “best in class.” You can define a minimum that meets the requirements but doesn’t go beyond, even if you typically hold yourself to a higher standard. A good example of this is compliance regulations in research. These rules aren’t just tedious formalities—some of them are governed by law, and mismanaging or disregarding them can lead to substantial penalties. These rules exist for a good reason, and you have no choice but to follow them.
As important as these rules are, the related documentation protocols are simply not read by anyone. So, you should spend as little time as possible on them. Who cares in the end, for example, about the formatting or if there are a few typos? Your goal should be to do what’s necessary to meet the documentation requirements and focus more on adhering to the set standards. You don’t have to pour your heart and soul into these formalities if they don’t offer long-term value for you or your work.
So, to deal with these formal obligations, it’s good to have an overview of them and an idea of what the minimum viable fulfillment could look like for the ones which are only an obligation without providing value to you.
Obligations Others Impose on You:
These obligations often carry the highest potential for conflict. A classic example is when your boss tells you to do something that’s not necessarily within your area of responsibility, goes against your own convictions, or is simply something you don’t want to do. These are the tricky situations. If it’s not a formal obligation, in theory, it’s up to you to decide whether to do it or not. However, your decision—or at least the sum of your decisions—will influence your career. We all feel the pressure to be seen as team players and cooperative by leadership, while still wanting to uphold our own principles and priorities. Finding this balance is often a challenge.
In these cases, it might feel like you don’t have full control over the decision. But do you?
I recall a situation where my boss insisted on hiring a candidate I didn’t think was suitable and for whom I could barely muster any enthusiasm. I had two options: I could refuse and risk a conflict, or I could accept the decision and try to make the best of it.
What do you think I did? As the freedom fighter I sometimes picture myself—a person who can’t be influenced and always strives for justice—what decision did I make?
I chose to take on the candidate.
You might now see me as a spineless, conflict-avoiding people-pleaser like Diederich Hessling from Man of Straw, The Patrioteer, and The Loyal Subject (a must-read that explains so many bad leadership practices!).
But I saw an opportunity. This decision didn’t come without reciprocation. On one hand, I frequently expressed that this was not the decision I would have made. On the other hand, I negotiated for things that improved my situation, such as an additional half-position on my team. And after a few months, my boss realized this was a misplacement, and we corrected the decision.
So, I made a strategic decision about whether to take on the hiring obligation or not, and in doing so, I transformed from being my boss’s puppet to being the puppeteer in this situation.
This experience taught me that sometimes compromises are worthwhile—but only if approached strategically. If you can maintain control in these situations and consciously weigh how to leverage the obligation to your advantage, you’ll benefit in the long run. Your decision to take on a task or not should never be made out of obedience or fear, nor out of fundamental resistance. Instead, try to understand the reasoning behind the obligation and consider how you can shape the situation to emerge stronger.
Another crucial point is communication. You don’t always have to silently accept everything demanded of you. It can be helpful to express concerns constructively, not as resistance but as feedback. A “Yes, but…” can open the door to expressing your own position while still meeting expectations. For example, you might say, “I see why we’re making this decision, but I have some concerns. If we’re going to proceed, it would be helpful if we…”
At the end of the day, it’s about balance: how much are you willing to accept, and where do you draw the line? In such situations, I remind myself that it’s still my decision, and I make it consciously. And, of course, the principle of choosing the degree of engagement I laid out in the section above can also be applied here.
Obligations You Impose on Yourself:
I don’t want to start a theoretical debate about free will, but I’ll leave it at this: for some obligations, we primarily have to justify to ourselves what and how we do things. For me, these are the most exciting, but also the most challenging obligations of all. There are no external guidelines, no formal obligations, just your own standards.
This especially applies to how you manage your team. There’s no contractual framework dictating how you should act as a mentor or leader. No compliance with regulations defines how much time you should invest in your team’s development. You are in charge of carving out your responsibilities for these obligations. The art lies in consciously prioritizing and asking yourself: What is truly my responsibility, and what does that look like in practice?
For example, you might want to be a great mentor. But what does that mean in practice? How do you define “great”? How much time are you willing and able to spend on being a good mentor?
Therefore, it’s crucial to consciously decide how you’ll fulfill these obligations. Otherwise, you risk either taking on too little responsibility or feeling accountable for too many things. The more you engage, the more you might expect from yourself and your team, which can create a wonderful dynamic but also lead to overextending yourself. Constantly feeling like you’re not doing enough or need to be better can make you lose sight of what’s truly important.
As you can see, I don’t accept any obligation as a given, and I urge you not to either. You can always make intentional decisions about how you deal with them. Doing so can save you a lot of time and energy and protect your mental health as a PI faced with a zillion obligations.