Lead with Confidence,
Manage with Purpose
Essential skills, strategies, and tools to help lab leaders
drive operational excellence and team success
LEAD
Teams Through Change
with Confidence
BOOST
Lab Performance
& Productivity
MAKE
Smarter, Data-Driven
Decisions
LAB MANAGEMENT
ESSENTIALS RESOURCE GUIDE
2 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Table of Content
A Guide to Leading Labs Effectively .................................... 3
Five Tips to Help Teams Adapt to Change ............................ 4
Five Tips to Enable More Successful Negotiations................... 6
Five Tips to Drive Greater Productivity in the Lab..................... 8
Five Tips to Improve Foundational Leadership Skills.................11
Five Tips to Improve Skills Analysis and Planning....................13
3 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide Introduction
A Guide to Leading
Labs Effectively
In the dynamic field of laboratory management, mastering the skills to adapt to change, negotiate effectively, and drive productivity is crucial for success. This comprehensive guide has
been crafted to provide practical insights and actionable tips, tailored to empower professionals in lab leadership roles.
This eBook is a curated collection of strategies and techniques designed to address key
aspects of lab leadership. From overcoming resistance to change to honing negotiation skills,
each section is created to elevate your leadership proficiency. Whether you’re a seasoned lab
manager or someone aspiring to enhance your skills, this guide is your roadmap to success.
What you’ll discover inside:
) Five tips to help teams adapt to change: Explore the underlying reasons for resistance to change and learn practical approaches to guide your team through transitions
seamlessly
) Five tips to enable more successful negotiations: Uncover the secrets to achieving
win-win outcomes in negotiations, strengthening professional relationships, and fostering collaboration
) Five tips to drive greater productivity in the lab: Delve into the world of metrics and
discover how choosing and monitoring the right ones can align your lab for growth
and heightened efficiency
) Five tips to improve foundational leadership skills: Enhance your leadership prowess
to create an environment where your lab not only performs but thrives
) Five tips to improve skills analysis and planning: Harness the power of skill analysis
and strategic planning to navigate the future with confidence, aligning your lab’s needs
with a forward-thinking approach
Each tip is backed by real-world experience and industry insights, ensuring that the guidance
provided is both practical and impactful. Your journey toward mastering lab leadership starts here.
Get ready to elevate your skills, inspire your team, and lead your lab to new heights.
4 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Five Tips to Help Teams
Adapt to Change
Addressing the key reasons why people resist necessary changes
By Scott D. Hanton, PhD
All labs face the need to change. Nothing stays the same
forever. Managing change can be a difficult challenge for lab
managers who must both envision the improvements and
overcome the resistance to change among staff. Understanding the human element of change will help lab managers better understand the sources of resistance and provide positive
ways to lead and execute change.
Most people visualize the risk associated with change more
clearly than they appreciate the potential benefits. They
worry much more about what might be lost during the
change than about what might be gained. For these reasons,
most staff resist change, and few people thrive in constant change.
People like stability. It is predictable, comfortable, and
understood. Even when the current situation doesn’t work
well, the issues are known, and often, the workarounds have
been learned. To better position your lab for change, the lab
manager needs to overcome the organizational inertia to
change. Here are five tips to help your staff overcome their
resistance to change.
5 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
1. Start with why
Most people will resist doing anything until they understand why it is important. As Simon Sinek explained in Start
with Why, it is very important to explain why the change
is required. Most people won’t simply accept the change at
face value. Clearly explaining why the change is needed is a
vital step in an effective change management process. If you
can’t simply, clearly, and concisely explain why the change is
important and needed, you don’t understand it well enough,
or it isn’t sufficiently beneficial for the lab.
2. Growth starts with discomfort
At the Centers for Creative Leadership, they teach that
there is no growth in the comfort zone and no comfort in the
growth zone. Enabling change in the lab requires that staff
understand that discomfort is part of both their development
and the lab’s improvement. Staying comfortable means falling behind, which leads to financial insecurity for the lab and
a lack of personal development for the staff. The lab manager
needs to select the right changes so that the discomfort is
viewed as a necessary step toward improvement.
3. Build engagement
Disengaged staff aren’t interested in improvement for the
lab. They are simply collecting a paycheck and following
instructions. Improving engagement levels brings many
benefits, like higher productivity, improved quality, fewer
safety incidents, and greater retention. Another benefit of an
engaged staff is that they are emotionally supportive of the
lab, its mission, purpose, and stakeholders. An engaged staff
can appreciate the benefits promised by the change and are
more willing to address the challenges required to achieve
those benefits.
4. Practice generative leadership
Generative leadership is about looking for new possibilities
for action and growth. One of the key habits of a generative
leader is to ask why something in the lab is done that way.
This way of questioning how the work is accomplished leads
to opportunities for change and improvement. It also delves
deeper into responses like “we’ve always done it that way”
or “it’s worked just fine in the past.” Generative leaders look
for improvements and changes that benefit the whole lab.
They are not bogged down by not invented here syndrome.
It doesn’t matter who makes the suggestion. All good ideas
can be addressed.
5. Put a bandit on the train
One effective approach to addressing staff resistance to a
change is to include a bandit on the train. As explained by
Charles Prather, author of A Manager’s Guide to Fostering
Innovation and Creativity in Teams, the bandit is a member
of staff who opposes the change. Adding that individual to
the team that is discussing and planning the change enables
the team to receive direct feedback about perceived issues.
Participating in the team allows the bandit to listen to all of
the discussion. In many cases, the bandit learns enough about
the change to support it. The bandit is then very effective at
converting other resisters to support the change.
Change can be difficult. Many of the issues around change
management derive from staff resistance to change. Developing a better understanding of how to influence staff to be
more receptive to change can make the change management
process easier and more productive. As your lab experiences
successful change and the associated benefits, you can develop a culture where change and continuous improvement are
respected and easier to accomplish.
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Change Management
6 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Five Tips to Enable More
Successful Negotiations
Seeking win-win outcomes strengthens relationships
By Scott D. Hanton, PhD
Labs benefit from strong business relationships with staff,
stakeholders, and vendors. These relationships improve from
effective negotiations that enable each participant to get what
they need. Building enduring relationships requires the right
amount of give and take during these negotiations. While
short-term wins can look good for the lab, taking advantage
of another party will erode the relationships required for
long-term success. Learning to develop and execute win/win
outcomes is a skill that will benefit every lab manager.
A negotiation is any conversation that tries to resolve at
least two sides of an issue. Many negotiations involve some
sort of exchange and can be about almost anything ranging from staff salary to purchase price for a new piece of
equipment. Any negotiation can have four outcomes: we
win, I win, I lose, or we lose. While many people focus on
winning a negotiation, finding outcomes that enable everyone to win a little, and no one to lose everything, are the
most powerful.
7 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Here are five tips to improve your negotiating skills and help
you find those highly beneficial win-win outcomes.
1. Listen
Most people think that a great negotiator is a highly skilled
orator who can convince others of their preferred outcome
to a negotiation. However, the most important skill for a lab
manager in a negotiation is active listening. Being willing
and able to understand the nature of the negotiation and the
perspectives of the other participants will set the stage for a
mutually beneficial outcome. The orator can only press his
advantage, while the listener can intertwine the benefits of
her position with what she hears from others.
2. Seek needs
At the heart of negotiating for win-win outcomes is seeking
needs. Needs solve problems, enable the lab to deliver its
mission, and benefit the overall organization. Wants solve
inconveniences. They involve small benefits that primarily serve individuals. First, understand your key needs and
differentiate them from the long list of wants. Second, listen
carefully for the key needs of the other participants. Ask
clarifying questions to help differentiate needs and prioritize
them. Be sufficiently vulnerable so that you can share your
key needs and why they are important to you and your lab.
3. Use alternate currencies
Many negotiations center around money, from a promotional salary increase to the purchase of a new piece of capital
equipment. However, there are many different currencies
that can be important during negotiations, like time, recognition, help, visibility, and extra services that can all deliver
higher value to the participants. It is important to seek out
alternate currencies to help deliver value to each side. Negotiations that are bogged down around price and cost can
often be rescued by introducing alternate currencies. An example might be extending the service warranty or including
extra training on a new instrument.
4. Focus on the best decisions
Negotiating win-win helps identify the decisions that best
benefit the organizations and relationships involved. Being
able to differentiate needs and wants helps to form compromises where each party gets the key things they need, but
not everything they want. This approach helps to meet the
legitimate needs of the parties and resolve conflicts with
fairness and equity. Focusing on needs, win-win outcomes,
and the interests of the larger community reduces the tendency for individuals to press personal agendas and tends to
produce more enduring agreements.
5. Seek agreement
When negotiating parties seek an agreement where everyone gets something they need, it often enables them to find
mutually beneficial outcomes. This approach encourages
parties to think out loud, pressure test alternatives, and identify appropriate concessions without feeling that they are
cooperating with an enemy. This process of getting a little
and giving a little keeps the participants actively engaged in
the negotiation and enables them to co-create a solution to
the problem.
Negotiating can be a difficult skill to master, especially if
the expectation is that you need to win, and others will
therefore lose. Reframe the negotiation into a conversation,
seeking options that benefit each side and an opportunity to
strengthen important business relationships. This approach
will lead to less stress and tends to generate better, fairer,
and more enduring outcomes.
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Featured Course:
Negotiating Win-Win
8 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Five Tips to Drive Greater
Productivity in the Lab
Choosing and monitoring the right metrics aligns the lab for growth
By Scott D. Hanton, PhD
Most labs work hard to find the right balance of output delivery, cost, and time management. There is constant pressure on
budgets and satisfying key stakeholders and line management.
To help find this balance, lab managers benefit from finding
ways to increase productivity. “Productivity is about doing
more with the same,” according to Michael Mankins of Bain
& Company, an expert on organization design, corporate
strategy, and transformation practices. To increase productivity means to generate more lab output from the same people
and operational costs. Improving productivity is a key success
marker for most labs. Learning more effective approaches to
improving productivity will benefit all lab managers.
Here are five tips to improve your approach to driving greater productivity in your lab.
1. Effective metrics
Metrics provide an objective basis for measuring many lab
activities. They provide quantitative data, enabling improved
decision-making around changes in the lab. The things that
lab managers choose to measure will drive behaviors in the
lab. When those metrics are well aligned to increased productivity, positive results often follow.
9 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Most labs have a very wide range of potential metrics. Labs
are good at measuring things. It is very important to measure
what matters. An effective approach is to build a series of
balanced metrics that focus on the important outcomes for
the lab. To get greater engagement with the metrics, clearly
explain what is being measured, why it is being measured,
and how the metrics data will be used.
2. Organizational improvements
Increasing productivity is broader than simply improving
the technical approaches to bench science. Organizational
changes can enable lab staff to be more effective in their
roles. Lab managers can reduce organizational burdens
on lab staff by reducing bureaucracy, removing obstacles,
barriers, and irritants. Help people spend more time doing
science and less time on ineffective administrative overhead.
In addition, lab managers can improve the morale of lab staff
by ensuring that people are in the right roles, communicating an effective purpose for the lab, and investing the time
and energy required to raise employee engagement.
3. Leadership actions
Adopting a growth mindset that enables learning and development of both individuals and the larger organization
is another key action lab managers can take to improve lab
productivity. Exhibiting a growth mindset helps the lab face
challenges constructively and run effective experiments to
improve the working environment. Lab managers can also
think strategically. Improving productivity is usually a long
game that benefits from a series of connected and aligned
changes. Too much focus on the day-to-day tactics will result more in a yoyo effect and will be hard for staff to remain
connected to the improvement goals.
4. Eliminate productivity crashers
Unfortunately, some lab manager actions tend to have a negative effect on lab productivity. These productivity crashers
can defeat otherwise healthy approaches to improving the
lab’s outputs. Some of the key issues revolve around building
the wrong metrics. For example, metrics that are disconnected from the business of the lab can result in effort expended
in poor directions, or metrics that can be gamed by lab staff
result in perceived progress without actual benefits. Another
issue is around communication. Staff can be wary of lab management making measurements if they don’t understand how
those measures will be used, which can result in reduced
trust and engagement.
5. Implement productivity enhancers
There are relatively straightforward lab manager actions
that can enhance lab productivity. These are often ways that
the lab manager interacts with individual lab staff, such as
demonstrating that you value them and their effort, recognizing success, providing opportunities for autonomy,
enabling lab staff to make more decisions, and investing in
training and growth.
Improving productivity starts with choosing the right metrics that will help lab staff align their actions and meet the
lab’s goals. Choose and monitor metrics that drive desired
behaviors and clearly indicate if the lab is progressing in the
desired direction. Beyond metrics, lab managers can work
with staff to enable them to do their jobs better and feel more
connected with the work and the purpose of the lab.
Featured Course:
Metrics and Productivity
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Fast-track your career with our IACET-accredited certificate programs. Whether you're already a lab
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11 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Five Tips to Improve Foundational
Leadership Skills
Displaying improved leadership enables the lab to perform and thrive
By Scott D. Hanton, PhD
Leadership is a critical component of successful lab management. It is the glue that enables the team to cooperate, persist
through challenges, and execute the lab’s mission. Most lab
managers are promoted from within due to their technical
successes and haven’t necessarily been trained for the leadership requirements of the new role. The Lab Leadership
Basics course in the Lab Manager Academy is intended to be
a cursory review of key leadership skills to help lab managers
be more confident in their role.
Here are five tips to improve your approach to embracing
the full spectrum of leadership opportunities to help your
lab thrive.
1. Care
US President Theodore Roosevelt said, “Nobody cares
how much you know until they know how much you care.”
Despite your technical expertise, your team needs to feel
12 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
how much you care before that knowledge can be deployed
for the lab. It is important that your words and actions reflect
how much you care about the people, the science, the lab’s
output, and the lab’s purpose. Your care will enable lab staff
to care about you and the lab’s ability to deliver.
2. Listen
The most important communication skill is active listening.
Good listeners avoid interrupting, listen to learn, listen for
underlying meaning, and ensure understanding. Good listeners focus on gaining a better understanding of what’s being
said, not on preparing their reply. Effective listening enables
lab managers to get good information and better understand
the issues and challenges the lab faces.
3. Show gratitude
Please and thank you are the most powerful words in the lab.
They show your team that you see them as humans, not as
really smart autosamplers. They show how you respect your
teammates and appreciate the effort, expertise, and time that
they dedicate to getting things done properly in the lab. A
little gratitude improves relationships and helps everyone
feel better about the work and the workplace.
4. Give constructive feedback
Providing effective coaching and feedback shows people that
you care about and respect them. Anyone can criticize, but
it takes a caring leader to show people how to do something
better and more effectively. Make time to interact with staff
informally and help them develop and improve. Be conscientious to provide effective formal feedback that is focused on
helping them to become better. Helping staff develop improves
the skill level in the lab and enables stronger performance.
5. Make decisions
The lab depends on you to make decisions. Effective leaders
make prompt data-driven decisions so that staff can continue
with the work. The absence of a decision paralyzes the whole
lab and reduces the confidence of staff in your leadership. Unlike technical decisions, you can’t simply do another experiment to get more information. The decision needs to be made
with the available data. Data-driven decisions reduce bias, are
often better decisions, and are easier to communicate.
Improving leadership is about doing the right things for the
lab. Leadership actions typically improve the way the people
in the lab interact and work together. More confidently
applying leadership basics provides a more stable foundation
for effective decision-making.
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Lab Leadership Basics
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13 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
Five Tips to Improve Skills Analysis
and Planning
Use your knowledge of the skills, workloads, and needs of the lab to plan for
the future
By Scott D. Hanton, PhD
The skills and expertise of scientists drive what the lab can
accomplish. Ensuring the right balance of skills, knowledge,
and capacity is a key responsibility for lab managers. Finding
that right balance can be challenging. It is important to map
the existing levels of skill across the lab and then predict how
that distribution might need to change to serve the needs of
the lab moving forward. In addition, lab managers need to
prepare for changes in staff to ensure continuity of expertise
and leadership. Developing succession plan roadmaps enables
the lab to address both predicted and emergency changes
in staff. The quicker the lab can address these changes, the
quicker the lab can get back to delivering the science.
Here are five tips to improve your approach to completing
effective skills analyses and incorporating them into succession plans.
14 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide
1. Analyze skill levels across the lab
It is very helpful to generate skill level assessments that can
be applied equally across the lab. One set that works well is a
three-level system:
) Operator: Responsible for generating high-quality data
) Practitioner: Responsible for generating technical
outcomes and writing reports
) Subject matter experts: Key problem-solvers and
innovators
Analyze all of the key lab activities based on these three
levels. Assign fractional skill levels based on how much each
person works in each activity and at what level. This will
provide a clear picture of the skill levels available to the lab
for all of the main deliverables.
2. Understand skills and knowledge
risk
Analyze how critical the skills and knowledge are to deliver
the current work, and how likely it is for the lab to lose the
staff involved. A useful way to approach this process is to
map potential skill and knowledge loss into a graph:
) The x-axis is the criticality of the knowledge ranging
from generally known and easy to replace to critical
tacit knowledge that may be irreplaceable
) The y-axis is the best guess when the individual scientist will leave the lab, ranging from within six years to
less than two years
The risk of key staff leaving the lab involves a combination of
factors revolving around retirement and dissatisfaction. Evaluating these risks is usually imprecise, but the directions are
important. This analysis will provide cross-training targets
to help the lab retain critical knowledge and skills.
3. Analyze workloads across the lab
Using lab operations data, often located in a laboratory information management system, analyze the relative workload for
each of the main lab activities. This analysis can contain elements like samples analyzed, hours required to conduct the
work, and the revenue or funding attached to these activities.
Combining the workload analysis with how the lab is funded
will show how different lab activities contribute to revenue for
the lab. This can indicate lab activities that require additional
investment and areas that can no longer support existing staff.
4. Understand succession plan needs
Analyze the key roles in the lab, both technical and leadership roles. Conduct a what-if analysis for each role—what
if that individual left the lab? Some departures, like retirements, can be predicted and prepared for. Other departures,
like medical leave or exits can be sudden and surprising.
Having a plan in place to address these kinds of changes
improves the continuity of the lab and identifies the internal
candidates for further development.
5. Develop candidates
Mapping the succession plan needs across the existing staff
helps to identify candidates for further development. Typically, these candidates demonstrate a combination of talents
and potential that supports further investment in their
development. It is important to plan experiences for these
folk to develop. Those experiences can include things like
specific technical, stakeholder relationship, and leadership
skills. Each potential succession plan candidate should have
a development plan that enables them to be ready to take on
these additional responsibilities when the need arises.
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Making Data-Driven Decisions
15 Lab Manager Lab Management Essentials Resource Guide In partnership with
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events that comply with the ANSI/IACET Continuing Education and Training Standard.
The Lab Manager Academy provides a wide array of courses for lab managers, safety
managers, and quality professionals, offering essential knowledge and training. Whether you’re
already a lab manager, safety officer, quality professional, or technician—or you’re aspiring to
be one—our certificate programs will empower you to manage safer, more secure, and highly
productive laboratory environments.
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