Resilience is an important trait for successful lab scientists. The American Psychological Association defines resilience as “…the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences…” Lab work can be both difficult and challenging, but lab managers can help staff grow their resilience and ability to bounce back from adversity by building a supportive community in the lab. Here are three tips to help your lab develop greater resilience:

#1 – Prioritize relationships

In his keynote address at the 2025 Lab Manager Leadership Summit, Kim Cameron, professor at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan, emphasized the importance of social connections and relationships. Trusted relationships in the lab lead to increased wellness, higher employee engagement, and better mental health. Lab managers can seek opportunities for everyone in the lab to have a sense of belonging, train supervisors to generate trusting and respectful relationships with their direct reports, and eliminate disrespectful and uncivil behavior from the lab. Prioritizing relationships will enable every individual to reach their potential and for the lab to successfully deliver for its stakeholders.

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#2 – Communicate purpose

When staff understand and believe in the purpose of the lab, they are more likely to bounce back from technical challenges, and drive for creative solutions. Lab managers must clearly communicate the purpose and mission of the lab. The purpose centers around why the lab exists, who benefits from the technical output, and how the work helps drive a better world to live in. Having a clear purpose helps staff understand why it is important to adapt to changing circumstances and to navigate technical difficulties and challenges.

#3 – Ask for help

Lab work can be difficult and challenging. A key tactic that helps staff adapt and bounce back from those challenges is the freedom to ask for help. Many scientists wrongly believe that they need to know what to do next and have the best ideas. However, lab managers can build a more resilient team by modeling vulnerability to ask for help, ask for ideas, and ask for feedback. Asking for help allows everyone to contribute to the lab’s progress and share the responsibility for ideas to attack the technical problems differently. 

Building a lab community where teammates can rely on each other for support, empathy, and ideas will enable them to ask for help to solve the challenges the lab is built to answer. Through this support, each member of the lab team will develop greater resilience and adaptability.