Leading research teams is a skill. We were never trained to learn it.

The grant came through. The collaboration did not.

It's a pattern. New and complex multi-site projects that drift after alignment. A postdoc who needs clearer structure than anyone has time to design. A renewal cycle where the science is strong, but the coordination is very strained.

These are not individual leadership failures. These gaps suggest that the conditions for team success are not in place. Scientists are rigorously trained to design studies, secure funding, and generate knowledge. We are rarely trained to build the coordination systems that keep teams functional under pressure.

Yet, across NIH & NSF-funded teams, coordination quality consistently predicts milestone adherence, publication velocity, and renewal success, perhaps more than individual productivity alone.

This spring, through CTSI-supported programming, a new structured development online/hybrid program launches for early- and mid-career researchers who are already leading teams and want to strengthen the systems that underpin their teams' performance.

The program is funded and free to UCLA CTSI participants. Details and enrollment information will be shared in the coming weeks.

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