The science conducted in today’s lab is complex, interconnected, and challenging. For labs to succeed in delivering high-quality technical outcomes, lab managers must help foster a culture that promotes perseverance. This is the quality that enables staff to persist in addressing the technical problems and challenges that science presents. Staff with greater perseverance will be better equipped to learn from failed approaches, seek alternative methods, and persist in working on challenging problems. Here are three things that lab managers can model and teach to help staff increase their levels of perseverance in the lab:
#1 – Growth mindset
A growth mindset is a belief that our skills and intelligence can grow through dedication and effort. A key component of a growth mindset involves embracing challenges, viewing issues as learning opportunities, and recognizing that potential is not fixed but can be developed through experience. Here are some actions that scientists with a growth mindset employ:
- View challenges as an opportunity to learn, grow, and improve
- See failure as a stepping stone towards success
- Seek feedback to learn and improve
- Focus more on the process than on the outcome
#2 – Strengthen purpose
Connecting staff with the mission and purpose of their work helps build an emotional connection, which provides motivation and engagement, enabling staff to continue dedicating effort and working through difficult challenges. The more they care about achieving successful outcomes, the more they will invest their time, ideas, attention, and effort in solving the problems and moving the project forward and past the obstacles.
#3 – Develop problem-solving skills
Collaborate with lab staff to enhance their problem-solving abilities. This can be done in a wide variety of ways, but here are a few to consider:
- Expect critical thinking: Teach staff to critically evaluate the data, experiments, approaches, and outcomes; look for the missing piece of the puzzle
- Use data-driven decision-making: Ensure that decisions around the work are based on data, can easily be explained, and evaluated
- Break big problems into smaller pieces: Reduce the degree of difficulty and enable the team to see forward progress
- Iterate: Learn something new from each attempt; don’t expect to solve complex problems all at once
Building perseverance in the lab team will show significant benefits. When the team understands why the project is important and what benefits success will provide, they are much more likely to apply their many skills to solving the problems. Modeling these behaviors will demonstrate that persistence is needed and expected, and that each small setback can be mined for important lessons that will be the keys to ultimately overcoming the challenges and delivering a successful outcome.
