In many laboratories, leadership is associated with hierarchy. Titles signal authority, reporting lines define responsibility, and decisions move along established chains. Yet leadership potential in laboratories often emerges long before a promotion. It shows up when a scientist stays late to untangle a stalled method and then shares the fix with colleagues the next morning. It appears when a technician reorganizes sample flow to prevent recurring errors. It surfaces when someone asks a difficult question in a meeting that others hesitate to raise.
These actions rarely carry formal authority. Yet they often reveal who is already influencing outcomes.
For lab managers, the challenge is not finding leadership potential. It is recognizing it early and creating the conditions for developing leadership within staff before a formal role is assigned.
Initiative as the foundation of lab leadership development
Initiative is often the earliest visible sign of leadership potential in laboratories. It appears when individuals take ownership without being asked, step into unresolved problems, or move work forward when others hesitate.
Wendy Winslow, senior research laboratory manager at the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University, sees those patterns in high-performing teams. She notes, “In laboratory environments, leadership potential is most reliably shown by individuals who take responsibility for their work, show initiative, and solve problems proactively.”
That initiative extends beyond technical execution. Winslow adds that the individuals who emerge as informal leaders also “remain composed under pressure, respond constructively to feedback, and demonstrate emotional maturity, earning trust and positively influencing the team even without a formal leadership role.”
Karl Theisen, deputy director and COO at the same institute, sees it similarly: “Taking initiative is big!” In practice, that initiative may be small—such as assembling data to track lab supply usage—or larger, such as volunteering to lead a review of standard operating procedures. What matters most, Theisen explains, is “stepping forward to take on any task, especially ones that most people try to avoid.”
The throughline is willingness. Leadership potential in laboratories becomes visible the moment someone chooses engagement over hesitation.
Psychological safety and leadership development
Even when those behaviors appear, they do not always persist. Laboratories are filled with highly trained professionals working under regulatory and safety pressures. In that environment, speaking up can feel risky. Research by Amy Edmondson, who defined psychological safety as a shared belief that it is safe to take interpersonal risks at work, helps explain why leadership behaviors can stall when people fear embarrassment or judgment.
Winslow connects that concept directly to lab leadership development: “Without psychological safety, staff are more likely to stay silent, avoid risks, and miss opportunities to develop the confidence, problem-solving skills, and collaboration needed for effective leadership.”
Theisen points to the dynamics of expertise itself. Laboratories, he notes, are “full of very technical and very smart people,” and it can be “easy to feel self-conscious about one’s technical knowledge and experience to speak up in such a group.”
Advanced Lab Management Certificate
The Advanced Lab Management certificate is more than training—it’s a professional advantage.
Gain critical skills and IACET-approved CEUs that make a measurable difference.
A strong leader, he adds, creates space intentionally: “Allow everyone to speak up without judgment and, importantly, lead through example when it comes to this.”
Without psychological safety, leadership potential in laboratories does not disappear—it simply retreats.
Management habits that shape leadership potential
Leadership potential in laboratories can also be stunted because of everyday management habits.
Theisen points to something deceptively simple: attention. In busy lab environments, he notes, it is easy not to give someone your full attention. When that happens repeatedly, individuals with leadership potential may lose the opportunity to demonstrate it.
He also cautions against relying too heavily on the same trusted staff members for key assignments. “Spread the tasks around and give people the opportunity to ‘engage,’” he advises. If they do not step forward, managers can explore why—but they must first give them the chance.
Winslow identifies another constraint: autonomy. “When staff are not given autonomy to make decisions, take ownership of projects, or solve problems independently, they miss opportunities to build confidence, initiative, and problem-solving skills—all essential for leadership,” she explains. “Overly controlling management can also discourage creative thinking and reduce motivation to step up, even among highly capable team members.”
Both observations point to the same conclusion: leadership potential in laboratories grows when opportunity is intentionally distributed.
Developing leadership within staff without adding titles
For many lab managers, lab leadership development feels like an added task. In reality, developing leadership within staff often requires a shift in delegation rather than additional workload.
Winslow emphasizes ownership within existing roles, noting that managers can “encourage leadership behaviors by giving staff ownership of projects, involving them in decision-making, and fostering collaboration within their existing roles.” Pairing responsibility with mentorship and cross-training reinforces growth without creating new titles.
Theisen approaches lab leadership development through project leadership. Many initiatives require influence rather than formal authority. As he explains, “We often don’t have any hierarchical authority over others on a project team, so we need to learn how to lead the team—even a small group of two or three people—via an influential form of leadership.”
Project work becomes a proving ground—not for positional authority, but for persuasion, coordination, and accountability. In this way, developing leadership within staff becomes embedded in daily operations rather than layered on top of them.
One practical step to strengthen leadership development
Leadership capacity grows incrementally. Winslow encourages managers to assign ownership and pair less experienced staff with mentors, reinforcing leadership potential in laboratories through guided responsibility. Theisen reinforces that point, encouraging managers to act rather than wait. “If one step can be made, take it,” he says, urging leaders to step up and pursue initiatives that have been sitting in the background. Innovation, he adds, “happens through repetition. It’s not a single act, but a series of steps that lead to something bigger.”
Lab leadership development follows a similar pattern. Over time, leadership strengthens through repeated exposure to responsibility and the confidence that comes from navigating it.
Leadership as shared capacity
Strong laboratories do not rely exclusively on formal leaders. They cultivate leadership potential across laboratories, roles, and levels.
By recognizing initiative early, distributing opportunities intentionally, listening attentively, and creating environments where speaking up feels safe, lab managers can advance staff leadership development in practical, sustainable ways.
The result is not only stronger individual contributors but a more resilient organization—one where leadership is practiced daily rather than reserved for a title, and where succession is built deliberately rather than reactively.
Winslow and Theisen will expand on this topic at the 2026 Lab Manager Leadership Summit—the premier industry event for laboratory leaders—taking place April 20–22 in Phoenix, AZ. Learn more and register on the 2026 Lab Manager Leadership Summit website.
