Amit Bhattacharyya, Committee on Applied Statisticians
Applied statisticians and data scientists must be—almost by definition—collaborative because they rarely author the studies they design or generate the data they analyze. However, essential collaboration skills are seldom taught as part of statistics graduate programs. With strong skills in effectively engaging with others, statisticians can proactively seek collaborators, work to develop research questions, design analyses, and contribute fully to all parts of a project. As with nearly all research and scientific areas, it is important to bridge interactions with effective and influential teamwork, clear communication, negotiation, inclusion of diversity, and shared terminology. Clearly, to meaningfully collaborate requires multi-facetted skills and a lot of practice.
The ASA Committee on Applied Statisticians (CAS) is developing a collaboration training program to help ASA members recognize and acquire the skills needed to actively collaborate and become a successful partner on any multi-disciplinary team.
CAS recently kicked off program activities with a collaboration workshop of nearly 50 participants from ASA section leadership during JSM 2017 in Baltimore. The workshop was the first gathering of all section chairs and chairs-elect at JSM. Many ASA committees working on programs that enhance members’ benefits and increase collaboration among sections also joined. Section leaders shared ongoing partnership experiences, and new opportunities were explored during the informal session. These include starting an online ASA leadership community among the section and committee leadership, sharing insights into career paths for statisticians, providing mentoring activities, and producing joint webinars.
As part of the collaboration journey within the ASA, leaders from various committees—Statistical Partnerships Among Academe, Industry, and Government Committee; Committee for Career Development; Adhoc Leadership Development; Council of Sections Governing Board; ASA Membership Council—came together with CAS to form the Collaboration Network. The network generated many ideas, including the content for the workshop at JSM. Additionally, this group shared various resources and embarked on other collaboration initiatives both inside and outside of the ASA.
CAS members also developed a year-long series of webinars for all statisticians. These free, one-hour monthly webinars will enhance the important collaboration skills all statisticians need to succeed. Registration information is available on the CAS website. Webinars include the following:
- “Structuring Effective Meetings”
- “Cultivating Productive Relationships”
- “Communicating Across Cultures”
- “Leading with Questions”
- “Embracing Change”
- “Conflict Resolution”
- “Negotiating”
- “Influence Without Authority”
- “Teamwork”
- “Statistical Collaboration: Putting the Pieces Together”
To further the reach of the collaboration program, CAS members are planning a train-the-trainer program for 2018–2019 so ASA chapters and other organizations can also disseminate these skills to statisticians across the country through traveling collaboration workshops.
To receive occasional announcements from CAS, add your email under the Friends of CAS tab of the website. You can also offer feedback and suggestions through the Contact Us tab.
Leave a Reply