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5 Top Soft Skills of Exceptional Laboratory Leaders

Laboratory leaders need to have the soft skills to contribute to a more
efficient, productive, and happier workplace
Sep 29, 2021 TYWAUNA WILSON, MBA, MLS (ASCP)CM

Tywauna Wilson, MBA, MLS (ASCP)CM, is a best-selling author, medical laboratory scientist,
entrepreneur, podcast host, and award-winning leadership maven. She has over 15 years of proven
health care and laboratory leadership experience with her most recent role serving as the system
chemistry director at CompuNet Clinical Laboratories in Dayton, OH. Tywauna is also the
owner/chief leadership consultant of Trendy Elite Coaching and Consulting where they provide
essential leadership skills training to strengthen the development of today’s workforce. Tywauna
holds an MBA from Indiana Wesleyan University and a BS degree in clinical laboratory sciences
from Kentucky State University. She is the host of the podcast “Leadership Tidbits with Coach Tee
Wilson” and author of the best-selling book, Leadership Tidbits (2019).

As a medical laboratory leader, you have been trained and equipped with the technical skills
and knowledge to perform your job duties with a high degree of accuracy and quality. But in
addition to having the hard skills, you also need soft skills to work effectively with team
members at all levels in the
laboratory. Soft skills are the
personal qualities that aren’t
related to your job that help
improve your performance by
allowing you to effectively relate to
other people.

Five top soft skills of

successful laboratory
leaders
Whether you are starting your
career or have been in the
profession for a while, there are
five critical soft skills that you want Tywauna Wilson, MBA, MLS (ASCP)CM
to have in your tool box:
communication, problem-solving, teamwork, time management, and delegation. These five
soft skills have been linked to many exceptional laboratory leaders, and though they aren’t
necessarily difficult to learn, they can take time to master.

Communication is identified as the number one essential soft skill of leaders. It’s important
to be able to clearly communicate your message whether it is in verbal, nonverbal, or written
form. Having the skill to connect with others in the way that they can best receive a message
will have a positive impact on your leadership in the laboratory.

Problem-solving is having the ability to read between the lines and figure out what is going
on so that you can look at a problem and think of possible solutions.

Teamwork teaches you how to work with others to achieve a common goal. If you’re going to
work well with others, you must be able to see things from your colleagues’ perspectives. It’s
about celebrating other people’s strengths and working together to minimize each other’s
weaknesses.

Time management allows you to deal with the challenges that arise in the laboratory. It
includes making proper use of your time so that you can organize priorities, focus on goals,
and saying “no” to things that take away from your ability to do your best work.
Delegation allows you to use your time in the most efficient way possible while focusing on
the bigger picture, rather than the small details. If you’re good at delegation, it shows that you
trust the people you’re delegating to, and it shows that you’re not afraid to let go and let
other people take charge of important projects.

How do laboratory leaders develop soft skills?

Soft skills can be learned by taking online courses, reading books, listening to podcasts, and
even attending seminars. However, the way to truly develop what you’ve learned about soft
skills is to implement and participate in activities that allow you to practice.

For example, if you want to improve your delegation skills, start by assigning some of your
lower-priority projects to a team member. If you want to increase your communication skills,
practice delivering presentations or giving and receiving feedback. If you desire to strengthen
your teamwork skills, participate on committees and collaborative teams where you may be
the laboratory representative with a group of nurses, physicians, or hospital executives. The
more you practice sharpening these skills, the better you’ll get over time.

The key to a rewarding career

The laboratory is one of the most collaborative areas in health care. Regardless of your title,
educational background, or even certification status, laboratory leaders need to have the soft
skills to contribute to a more efficient, productive, and happier workplace. The leaders who
can do this well have long and rewarding careers.

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