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The critical role of R&D teams in orthopedic device companies is well-known among industry leaders. Whether it’s applying advanced technologies like AI to develop new surgical tools or innovating to enhance existing products, R&D is the driving force that keeps companies competitive and on the cutting edge of creating solutions that advance patient care.
However, many orthopedic executive teams struggle to develop effective R&D leaders within their organizations. Here are a few ways to identify members of your team who could excel in a leadership position and ensure they have the tools to succeed and evolve in the role.
Mentorship and Coaching. Greg Stalcup, Founder and CEO of Sites Medical, believes R&D leaders cannot be identified and measured through job titles and organizational charts. Stalcup, who spent more than a decade as director of OEM R&D teams, said that cultivating strong leaders requires time, effort and experience.
Although Stalcup understands the value of formal training, he thinks the most effective way to address leadership weakness is through mentorship and coaching. “Professional development is far more effective when prospective leaders work alongside seasoned R&D professionals during their development,” Stalcup said. “This approach allows them to learn the necessary technical and interpersonal skills.”
If your organization lacks strong R&D leadership, Stalcup recommends bringing in outside expertise or partnering strategically with companies that have established leaders. He also advises you to prioritize providing R&D staff with meaningful experiences to enhance their understanding of how various teams function within the company.
“The best R&D leaders possess a deep knowledge of customer needs and the ways that manufacturing, quality, marketing and sales work together to meet them,” Stalcup said. “Don’t rush the process. Building strong, elite-level leaders takes time.”
Randy Horton, Chief Solutions Officer at Orthogonal, believes that effective R&D leadership development should be a shared responsibility between the developing leader and the organization in which they work. “Mentorship is key to bringing people up, understanding their goals and working with them to achieve those goals,” he said.
Horton specializes in the digital transformation of medical devices, often helping hardware companies implement software capabilities into their products. He said a crucial aspect of R&D mentorship is encouraging professionals to seek experience and education beyond their current roles.
“They likely handle their current job responsibilities well, but they need to invest time and energy into growing to become a leader,” Horton added. “It’s very much a situation in which you get out what you put in.”
Horton acknowledged that not every organization has the time or interest to mentor R&D professionals, and he urges those who are eager to develop their leadership skills to seek out companies that actively invest in internal professional development.
Horton feels that aspiring R&D leaders need to constantly ask themselves: How do I grow? How do I learn what I want to do next? How do I chart a course to get there?
Second-level Thinking. Standardized policies and procedures are crucial for meeting regulatory requirements during the product development process, but they can unintentionally hinder the autonomy that strong R&D leaders must possess, Stalcup noted.
“Because of this, R&D leaders must not only understand existing procedures and policies but, more importantly, grasp the ‘why’ behind them to ensure that only high-quality products reach the marketplace.”
Stalcup said addressing downward cost pressures and rising device performance expectations rests largely on the shoulders of R&D leaders.
“The future success of most companies is tied to their ability to efficiently and effectively deliver new products that achieve outstanding results at a reasonable price point,” he added. “R&D leaders play a crucial role in making this happen.”
Balanced Skillsets. According to Stalcup, R&D professionals typically encounter two major weaknesses when transitioning to leadership roles: a lack of technical skills and general business experience and an inability to effectively lead and develop others.
It’s important to recognize these potential gaps in professional development and work to fill them.
“Use training courses, online educational videos and similar resources to support a team member’s development,” Stalcup advised. “While part of this responsibility lies with the company, R&D team members who are destined to become elite leaders take the initiative to seek out and leverage these resources rather than waiting for direction.”
Horton points out that not all great R&D leaders in orthopedic device companies share the same key strengths. “Some excel in leadership, while R&D is the core expertise of others,” he explained.
He emphasizes that orthopedic organizations need a balanced mix of professionals — those who are technically minded and those who are geared toward strong, collaborative leadership.
“When hiring, I ask myself, ‘Am I looking for someone who is primarily an organization builder and leader, or someone who is a technical expert?’” Horton said. “It’s OK if an R&D leader isn’t a technical expert, but they’d better have a strong second-in-command or a team they can rely on to flesh out that area of expertise.”
Outside the Box Thinking. R&D leaders must understand the challenges faced by each department involved in product development to collaborate efficiently and effectively within a multidisciplinary team, Stalcup noted. He added that corporate silos hamper these efforts.
“Silos are designed to support ongoing activities when maintaining the status quo is valued,” Stalcup said. “However, the very nature of developing and implementing new products or technologies runs counter to the needs of a siloed organization.”
Stalcup also identified “groupthink” as a major obstacle to R&D leadership development, noting that it all too often reinforces organizational needs at the expense of innovation. Strong R&D leaders must be able to foster group collaboration while avoiding the pitfalls of groupthink, he said.
“While employees have their areas of strength, the focus should shift from silos to teams made up of individuals with diverse expertise working together in the trenches,” Horton said. “This is where orthopedic product development needs to be heading.”
Clear Communication. Horton believes that today’s emerging orthopedic R&D leaders face a unique set of technical challenges, particularly the complexity of digital capabilities, that previous generations of professionals didn’t encounter.
“The only way to tackle these challenges is to get everyone together in a room, gather around the whiteboard, roll up your sleeves and work through them,” he said. “I would also suggest sending fewer emails, making more phone calls and holding more spontaneous Zoom meetings. Real conversations lead to real progress.”
For Horton, frequent communication among teams is essential to prepare the next generation of R&D leaders because they need to develop a solid understanding of the various roles within the organization. “Otherwise, you’ll encounter the classic problem of not getting the right answers because the right questions weren’t asked,” he said.
Big Picture Perspective. Horton highlighted a common mistake made by R&D experts striving to become industry leaders: failing to seek out perspectives different from their own.
“You often see people who are deeply entrenched in their technical expertise, and that becomes their entire mindset,” Horton explained. “In reality, they’re technologists who aren’t necessarily thinking about the team or the overall success of the device they’re developing.”
According to Horton, collaboration and the ability to see the bigger picture behind a medical device — or even the entire company — are not skills inherently taught to R&D professionals.
“But ultimately, when you step into a leadership role, the focus shifts to bringing safe, effective and successful devices to market, and the steps necessary to achieve that,” he said.
