What is the focus of strong laboratory leadership? To be a strong lab leader, one must be introspective, learn soft skills, and practice. It can be very easy to focus on the personal journey and growth, and determine effectiveness using metrics like on-time delivery of results or low report revision rates. With all that said, however, the true focus of leadership is on those being led. As such, it is critical that, with all those skills and growth, a leader knows what the laboratory teams actually need. Without that knowledge, the lab leader’s effectiveness will be limited.
In 2025, Gallup published a study that aimed to do just that. Fifty-two thousand individuals worldwide were asked two critical questions:
1. “What leader has the most positive influence on your daily life?”
2. “List three words that best describe what this person contributes to your life”.
The data collected gave several insights, but four things consistently appeared as core contributions that followers valued in their leaders.
Stability
It is not surprising that lab staff value stability. We do everything we can to build it into our lives. We pursue jobs for steady income and predictable career paths. We make decisions in our personal lives—where we live, who we commit to, how we structure our routines—to create consistency and reduce uncertainty. The challenge, however, is that many of the factors that shape stability at work—funding, organizational priorities, leadership decisions, and external market pressures—sit outside an individual’s control. As a result, people look to their leaders to create a sense of security.
Promoting stability can be challenging, though. Lab leaders often have direct knowledge about a company’s stability that their associates do not have. Sometimes things are very stable, but other times there are very specific challenges a lab business faces that may make the future uncertain. In those times, delivering a sense of stability to the associates can be very challenging.
So, how do we deliver stability in all situations? Remain calm and undaunted by challenges. If a customer identifies an error in a report, show lab staff how to own the issue and resolve it for the customer. If there is a challenging audit where issues are identified that might put accreditation at risk, demonstrate how following the established process will protect the business. Associates want to believe it will be OK. Regardless of the true risk associated with the challenge, a consistent message should be maintained. A solution can be worked through. The company, laboratory, and individual will survive and overcome the challenge. The lab leader does not need to know the solution right away, only that there is one.
With a stable foundation laid, it is critical to create an environment where the lab staff feel safe and cared for. This leads to the next factor highlighted in Gallup’s study.
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Compassion
At the core, associates want to believe they matter. Nothing demonstrates that more than receiving a caring, compassionate response to their struggles. Associates are assets to the lab, but they are not robots. They all have personal lives, emotional struggles, and challenges both in and out of work. The sum of these issues weighs on everyone. It can be easier to compartmentalize work from other things, but doing so is not honest. All factors weighing on an associate impact their ability to function in the laboratory.
Compassion can be challenging for some lab leaders and can be especially difficult with certain associates. Being consistently compassionate cannot be an emotionally-driven decision for a lab leader. It is a choice in every moment, with every interaction. It is intentionally caring for the emotional well-being of every person the leader is responsible for.
Lab leaders can choose to do several things to prioritize compassion within their work relationships:
- Stop and listen. If an associate is showing visible signs of emotional struggle, take the time to stop what you’re doing and listen.
- Make them feel heard. Demonstrate that you care by showing you heard them with active listening skills.
- Find avenues of support. Identify actions you can take to help them, even if those things are a burden on you or the team. Allowing for this will enable long-term gains with the associate.
Once the associate feels safe and cared for, you can establish their next critical need: trust.
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Trust
At its most basic level, trust starts with honesty. But for lab teams, it runs deeper than that. Staff need to trust that their lab leader will make consistent decisions, apply policies fairly, and act in the best interest of themselves, the team, and the results being delivered to the customers. When that trust is missing, hesitation creeps in. People second-guess direction, avoid raising concerns, or disengage from their responsibilities.
In practice, trust is established through predictability and follow-through. Lab associates notice when expectations shift without explanation, when policies are enforced unevenly, or when commitments are not honored. Over time, those inconsistencies erode confidence, even if the leader’s intentions are good.
For lab leaders, building trust looks like:
- Consistency in applying standards. Whether it’s SOP adherence, documentation practices, or safety protocols, expectations should not vary by person or situation. Consistency signals fairness.
- Following through on commitments. If you commit to addressing a workflow issue, securing resources, or providing feedback, close the loop. Even a brief update builds credibility. Only make commitments you are sure you can deliver.
- Be transparent about decisions. When priorities shift or constraints arise, explain the reasoning. Teams are more likely to align when they understand the “why.” While this may not be possible in all cases, being intentional about it when you can builds trust for when you cannot.
- Own mistakes openly. Errors happen. Taking responsibility, rather than deflecting, reinforces integrity and sets the tone for a culture where issues are surfaced early.
Trust also means empowering your team. Delegating ownership of methods, instruments, or processes shows confidence in their expertise. When associates feel trusted, they are more likely to take initiative, raise concerns proactively, and stay engaged in improving the lab’s performance.
With stability, compassion, and trust built, the most important need of followers can be delivered: hope.
Hope
More than half of the Gallup study participants identified hope as an important need, far outpacing the other three. Humans are universal in one basic desire—that the future be as bright or brighter than today. If one is thriving with few issues of conflict or strife in their life, they want that to continue as long as possible. If one is suffering, they want that suffering to end. Hope is believing in those outcomes. Hope is believing that the future is good.
So, how do we inspire hope in our associates? It starts with our own perspective. It is nearly impossible to provide hope to others without the belief that the future can be good. Positivity training is popular at some companies because maintaining a positive outlook has been shown to lead to more positive outcomes. Lab leaders can decide that there is hope before there is any question. One of my favorite responses lately to bad news is “Ok, well, no one died, so we’ll get through this.”
To deliver hope to your associates, there are several things you can do:
- Remain calm. You will receive news that will jar your emotions, whether from a customer or an associate. Keeping calm in the face of such information will help maintain hope
- Provide vision. A clear direction that includes improvement tells a compelling, hopeful story. Associates who can see a brighter future will believe in it.
- Remain positive. Positivity is contagious. See every day positively. Believe you and your team can tackle anything and win the day. This consistent behavior will create an atmosphere of success.
Wrap up
With these four characteristics in mind, lab leaders have a clear picture of what is important. Inspire hope in your associates. Be trustworthy in all decisions and actions. Choose to be compassionate in all situations. Establish calm stability as you navigate challenges. These things target the most fundamental needs of your lab associates and will lead to the best outcomes for your team.
