R&D leadership training is a program for managers of engineering research and product development teams. It covers setting research direction, portfolio choices, phase reviews with clear go and stop criteria, balancing exploration with delivery dates, learning from failed experiments, leading expert engineers and explaining research to business leaders. Bodhih customises it to each R&D centre.
- Recommended: 2 days in person, or 5 × 3-hour live virtual sessions, plus a 90-day portfolio review
- Level: Intermediate to Advanced · In person · Live virtual · Blended
- Designed with the ADDIE model and customised to your context
- Offered by Bodhih since 2008 to 2,000+ organisations across 7 regions
Also known as: R&D management training, R&D manager training, engineering research leadership program, product development leadership training
Where and how: r&d leadership training as an in-person workshop in Bengaluru, Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Gurugram, Hyderabad, Chennai, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Jaipur; as a live online course; or delivered overseas in Dubai, Singapore and across the Middle East, Asia and Africa.
Last reviewed by Siddharthan VGJ, Founder · Bodhih Training, Bengaluru
Why R&D centres need leaders, not just senior experts
India's engineering research centres now own whole platforms for global parent companies, from EV powertrains and power electronics to specialty materials and packaging. The engineers promoted to run them are usually the strongest technologists in the building, but few have been taught to shape a portfolio or say no to a favourite project.
R&D leadership training builds those skills while respecting the technical culture. Managers learn to set direction, protect focus time, run honest phase reviews and tell the story of their work in the language of cost, risk and launch dates.
Engineering research GCCs in India are growing 1.3 times faster than overall GCC setups.
India has over 1,700 global capability centres employing more than 19 lakh people.
What participants will be able to do
Set a clear research direction
Write a one-page direction statement that links the team's work to product roadmaps, cost targets and the problems customers will pay to solve.
Make portfolio calls
Compare projects on value, technical risk, readiness and fit, and make defensible choices about what to fund, pause or stop.
Run honest phase reviews
Chair reviews with agreed go, hold and stop criteria so decisions rest on evidence rather than sunk cost or seniority.
Learn from failed experiments
Lead short, blame-free reviews that turn a failed test into a documented insight the next team can use.
Lead expert engineers
Give direction and feedback to specialists who know more than you, while protecting their focus and growth.
Translate research for the business
Present progress, risk and options to business leaders in ten minutes, leading with the decision you need.
Who should attend
- R&D and engineering research managers in automotive, EV component and industrial engineering firms
- Product development heads in electronics, consumer durables and FMCG
- Leads in specialty chemicals and materials development centres
- Managers in engineering research GCCs serving global parents
- Chief engineers and principal engineers taking on team or portfolio leadership
- Platform-level technical leads preparing for an R&D head role
Program outline
Recommended design, customised to your context after a short needs analysis.
01From expert to R&D leaderModule 1 · 90 min+
- What changes when your job is the team's output, not your own designs
- The three tensions: exploration and delivery, depth and breadth, autonomy and alignment
- Mapping your current time against where an R&D leader adds value
- Personal leadership commitments for the next 90 days
02Setting direction and choosing the portfolioModule 2 · 2 hours+
- Writing a direction statement engineers find useful
- A simple scoring grid for value, technical risk, readiness and strategic fit
- Balancing core improvements, adjacent bets and longer-range exploration
- Case: twelve projects, budget for seven
03Phase reviews and stopping projects earlyModule 3 · 2 hours+
- Agreeing go, hold and stop criteria before work starts
- Spotting sunk-cost thinking and pet-project bias in the room
- Stopping a project with respect for the team that built it
- Practice: chairing a review where the data says stop and the sponsor says go
04Leading experts and protecting focusModule 4 · 2 hours+
- Delegating problems, not tasks, to senior engineers
- Feedback to specialists on collaboration, documentation and timelines
- Guarding deep-work time from meetings and urgent requests
- Designing technical career ladders that reward expertise and mentoring
05Learning from failure and working with manufacturingModule 5 · 90 min+
- A 30-minute experiment review: what we expected, what happened, what we learned
- Building a shared record of tested ideas so teams stop repeating dead ends
- Early joint reviews with manufacturing and sourcing on manufacturability and cost
- Handing a design over to the plant without losing ownership
06Telling the research story to business leadersModule 6 · 90 min+
- Leading with the decision, then the evidence, then the risk
- Turning technical progress into cost, time-to-market and customer terms
- Handling the 'why is this late?' question honestly
- Ten-minute pitch to a mock leadership panel with feedback
Sample training plan: 2-day hands-on design
This two-day design helps R&D managers lead the portfolio, not just the hardest technical problem. Participants score their own projects, chair a phase review where the data says stop and the sponsor says go, and practise delegating whole problems to senior engineers. Day two covers blame-free experiment reviews, early joint reviews with manufacturing and a ten-minute pitch to a mock leadership panel. Each manager leaves with one portfolio decision to carry through over 90 days.
Participants can set direction, rank a portfolio and run an honest phase review.
- 09:30–10:15Where the R&D leader adds valueDiagnostic
- 10:15–11:15Writing the direction pageBuild sprint
- 11:30–13:00Twelve projects, budget for sevenBusiness game
- 13:45–15:15Score your own portfolioHands-on lab
- 15:30–16:45The review where data says stopSimulation
- 16:45–17:30Criteria before the work startsAction planning
Participants can lead expert engineers, learn from failed tests and present research to business leaders.
- 09:30–10:15Problems, not tasksSkill drill
- 10:15–11:15Feedback to a brilliant specialistRole-play
- 11:30–13:00What the failed test taught usCase clinic
- 13:45–15:15Handing over to the plantFishbowl
- 15:30–16:45Ten minutes with the leadership panelPresentation
- 16:45–17:30One decision in 90 daysAction planning
Every session’s activity, timings, outputs and materials, plus pre-work, a 90-day reinforcement plan and how impact is measured. Free, emailed to you instantly.
Recommended: 2 days in person (09:30–17:30), or 5 × 3-hour live virtual sessions, plus a 90-day portfolio review. A sample design: every Bodhih program is customised after a short needs analysis.
How long is R&D leadership training?
The recommended design is two full days in person, followed by a 90-day review of one portfolio decision. It also runs as five live virtual sessions of three hours each, which suits R&D teams spread across India and overseas.
What activities are included in R&D leadership training?
Managers play a portfolio business game with twelve projects and budget for seven, chair a phase review where data says stop, brief and give feedback to expert engineers, run a failed-experiment review and pitch to a mock leadership panel.
How we deliver it
Real portfolio, real decisions
Managers bring an anonymised view of their current projects and apply each tool to their own portfolio during the program.
Review simulations
Facilitators play sponsors, sceptical finance heads and attached project owners, so managers rehearse hard calls before making them for real.
Respect for technical depth
Cases come from automotive, electronics, chemicals and FMCG development work, and discussions assume engineering literacy rather than explaining it.
Follow-through on one decision
Each manager commits to one portfolio or review change and reports on it at a 90-day review with their R&D head.
Tailored versions
For engineering research GCCs
Adds working with global platform owners, earning decision rights for the India centre and leading teams across time zones.
For automotive and EV component makers
Cases cover customer-driven development schedules, cost-down pressure, platform reuse and joint reviews with OEM engineering teams.
For FMCG and chemicals product development
Focuses on fast formulation cycles, consumer test results, scale-up with plants and shared priorities with marketing.
How we measure impact
R&D leadership training follows the Evaluate stage of the ADDIE model. Managers complete an AssessAll pre-assessment and post-assessment on Decision-Making Under Uncertainty and Innovation & Creative Problem Solving. Their R&D heads hold structured check-ins, and a 30-60-90 day follow-up tracks agreed signals such as phase-review decisions taken on time, projects stopped early and the clarity of updates sent to business leaders.
Pair this program with AssessAll, Bodhih’s AI assessment platform, for pre- and post-program skill measurement.
Frequently asked questions
What is R&D leadership training?
R&D leadership training is a program for managers who lead engineering research or product development teams. It builds the skills that technical expertise alone does not supply: setting direction, choosing a portfolio, running phase reviews, stopping weak projects, leading expert engineers and explaining research to business leaders in terms of value, cost and risk.
What makes a good R&D leader?
A good R&D leader combines enough technical depth to earn respect with the judgement to choose what not to do. They set a clear direction, protect focus time, make evidence-based go and stop calls and help engineers learn from failure. They also translate research into business language so funding and support continue.
How do you decide when to stop an R&D project?
Agree stop criteria before the work begins, such as a technical milestone, a cost target or a customer signal, and review against them at each phase. When the evidence says stop, separate the decision from the effort already spent. Our program includes a review simulation where managers practise stopping a project respectfully.
How do R&D managers balance exploration and deadlines?
Many teams ring-fence a share of capacity for exploration and run it with lighter reviews, while delivery projects keep firm dates and tighter checkpoints. Being explicit about which project is which avoids constant tension. In the program, managers sort their own portfolio and set the review style for each type.
How do you lead expert engineers who know more than you?
Lead on direction, priorities and conditions for great work rather than on technical answers. Delegate whole problems, ask good questions, give feedback on collaboration and timelines, and make room for experts to mentor others. Respecting their depth while being clear about outcomes builds trust quickly.
How long is the R&D leadership training program?
Our recommended design is two days in person or five three-hour live virtual sessions, followed by a 90-day review of one portfolio decision. A one-day version suits newly promoted R&D leads. The final design is customised after a needs analysis with your R&D head and HR team.
Is this the same as innovation leadership training?
No. Innovation leadership training focuses on building an innovation culture across a business. R&D leadership training is for people who manage research and development teams day to day: portfolios, reviews, experts and handovers to manufacturing. The two work well together in organisations growing their engineering research capability.
Do you run R&D leadership training in Bangalore, Pune and Chennai?
Yes. Bodhih is based in Bengaluru, and master trainers travel to R&D centres in Pune, Chennai, Hyderabad and across India, the Gulf and Southeast Asia. Live virtual cohorts suit global R&D teams that span India, Europe and the US, with sessions timed to overlap working hours.