In every lab, the lab manager plays a very important role. Many of the key decisions about the people, purpose, mission, and operation of the lab are part of the lab manager’s responsibility. However, most lab managers are promoted internally based on their ability to deliver excellent technical work at the bench. Most lab managers receive little to no training on the non-technical aspects of the role. Perhaps they’ve had a good lab manager to emulate; otherwise, they must largely figure out how to make these decisions on the fly. Here are five tips to help you navigate the responsibilities of lab management and improve your ability to make prompt and effective decisions for the lab:
Leadership and management
Peter Drucker said that “management is doing things right and leadership is doing the right things.” Lab managers need to demonstrate both effective management and appropriate leadership for the lab to succeed. The management side of the role entails ensuring that the science, safety, and quality of the lab are performed in ways that deliver on the needs of stakeholders and staff, and that the lab is compliant to the requirements of a variety of accreditors and regulators. Leadership is needed to ensure that effective decisions are made to support staff and stakeholders.
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Managing lab staff
Helping the people working in the lab to succeed is the best way to lead the lab to overall success. By developing effective people-management skills, lab managers can improve hiring and onboarding to get the right people into the lab. Those individuals can drive greater success with well-grounded SMART objectives and effective feedback on their performance. Conscientious performance management will build a strong staff that enables the lab to weather challenges and to grow.
Effective leadership
The whole lab looks to the lab manager to create a positive work environment, resolve unhealthy conflict, and provide for the basic needs of the people. It takes effective leadership to build a community that learns together, behaves respectfully, supports one another, and helps each individual contribute to the best of their ability. The best lab leaders are effective communicators who listen attentively, learn from everyone around them, and bring a positive attitude to the lab.
Improving lab management
Much of effective lab management is making clear, data-driven decisions, especially under difficult situations. Experienced lab managers know that they need to build and nurture networks to get the help they need to drive change to improve the lab. They also know that being able to find win/win outcomes to tough negotiations builds stronger relationships with staff, stakeholders, and vendors.
Improving lab operations
Lab managers have accountability for the different systems, processes, and functions in the lab. They need to make good decisions to protect the safety of staff, the quality of results for stakeholders, and the productivity of the operation for line management. They also need to effectively advocate to the organization for investment in the right people, space, equipment, and instruments to deliver the right technical results. To be successful, lab managers need a basic understanding of the business of the lab and the key systems that it operates.
Lab management is a very important and often challenging role. One of the key issues is trying to learn a wide range of nontechnical skills while simultaneously being required to make good decisions with them. Making use of external training opportunities can greatly improve the lab manager’s leadership and management skills throughout their tenure in the role.
If you are looking to build your lab leadership and management skills, enroll in Lab Manager Academy's FREE introductory eLearning course: academy.labmanager.com.
