Blog

Overcoming Resistance When Developing Your Personal Brand

May 26, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Jamie Buck

In this article, I’d like to discuss how I stumbled onto the path of personal branding by identifying my area of expertise. By sharing this story, I hope you are able to take a few shortcuts to finding your own path to personal branding.

First, why are personal branding and expertise important?

Personal branding is a way to differentiate yourself from the crowd, a time-tested cornerstone of career development. Additionally, it invites conversation with like-minded folks.
Developing expertise is essential to personal branding. It may be subjective but can be seen as a skill that adds additional value. You may ask, don’t we all have expertise? Well, yes and no. To the outside world, a discipline (such as engineering) may be seen to have a level of expertise, but within the bounds of that discipline, at best, it can be a level playing field unless you actively build your expertise.

Would You Want to Work With You?

May 12, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Steve Soldati, P.E.

Picture this: It’s 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, you’re thinking about where to go for lunch, but you are still waiting for a response from your project team member. You had requested this information via email three weeks ago and every few days you get a, “You should have it soon.” You sent an email earlier that morning asking for an update on the project designs and calculations to incorporate into your plan set, which is due in just one week, but still no word. You go off to lunch, steaming and upset about the lack of urgency and communication of your colleagues.

When you arrive back at the office, you open your inbox to see an email from your team member with the requested design and calculations. “Yes, finally!” you shout out loud. But when you open the email, the design is incomplete, and your team member has additional questions that should have been asked much earlier. You storm over to their desk to chew them out and tell them how poorly they performed. You tell them they need to communicate better, learn to design properly, and take responsibility for their work. Then you head back to your desk to rework the design, spending many additional hours to get it ready for the upcoming deadline. And you grow even more frustrated and stressed because there is still so much on your plate that needs to be done, but you are now worried that won’t happen. This causes you to become even more uneasy, cranky, and unpleasant to be around.

COVID-19 and the AEC Industry

May 4, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by BigTime Software, Inc

Navigating how to operate your business through the COVID-19 pandemic is a challenge. While much is still unknown, and we’re a little over a month in the shelter-in-place order, we were curious to see how professional services firms in the architecture, engineering, and consulting industries are adapting.

What we found is that the AEC industry is depending on the resilience of the U.S economy, and the majority do not plan to consider staff reductions. Business owners seem to be taking on the risk themselves, as they likely view their firm as more than just a business, but a personal investment.

Learn more about the choices AEC firms of various sizes are making regarding the CARES Act, business strategy, recovery plans, and more in the infographic below.

The Ideal Learning and Development Strategy for You and Your Firm During and After COVID-19

April 27, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Peter C. Atherton, P.E.

Prior to the COVID-19 crisis, most leaders agreed that employee recruitment and retention was the #1 issue facing engineering and architecture firms. At the same time, employee growth and development were our talent’s top priority. What will change moving forward?

Our first concern at this moment must be safety and survival. Our next concern needs to shift to how we can more effectively attract, develop, and retain the talent that we need to grow and prosper in the “new era” that is accelerating forward.

The answer to doing so is to develop a formal and strategic employee learning and development program. To get there, we can leverage both proven models and innovative practices.

The 70/20/10 Model

Continuous Learning: Providing Coaching and Accountability

April 20, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Mike Burns

Last month’s blog discussed Embracing a Risk-Intelligent Approach. The guidance stated that we shouldn’t be paralyzed by unknown unknowns, allowing a risk-intelligent culture to support sustainable growth. In these uncertain times, as we respond to broad human suffering from the COVID-19 pandemic, I’d like to expand on mitigating unknown unknowns as an introduction to our continuous learning discussion.

A risk-intelligent approach creates a culture where teachers, students – leaders, managers, and staff thrive in a continuous learning environment. As this culture matures; mitigating inherent risks and exploring opportunities becomes a natural output of our sustained discussions. Concurrently, these discussions will surface strategic risks, informed by our trajectory and influenced by systemic threats, e.g.financial crisis, geopolitical events, and pandemics.

How to Support Women in Your Workplace

April 13, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Holly Welles

In the engineering industry, only 13% of professionals are women. Moreover, only 30% of women who earned a bachelor’s in engineering remain in the field for more than 20 years. Often, workplace culture, a lack of appreciation for their skills, and gender discrimination, in general, drive them away from the industry. This is a detriment to the engineering world as the industry’s workplace diversity dwindles. In addition, it negatively impacts female engineers.

Engineering is a swiftly growing industry that promises excellent pay, good benefits, and the chance to make a difference in the world. From green building to virtual reality, the industry continues to shift and transform with technology. Women deserve as much of a chance to establish a fulfilling career in this exciting field. However, if female engineers are to persist in their field, they need the support of their employers and coworkers. Here is how you can support women in your workplace:

Engineers Quit Managers Not Companies – Dear Manager, We Need to Talk!

April 2, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Manny De La Cruz

I am writing you this note because I think we need to talk, but quite frankly, I am a bit intimidated to bring this up. I have been working for you for quite some time and feel like things may have dwindled a bit between us. But to be honest, I think that there is still hope and I am optimistic that we can work through this. First of all, I want to come clean about a few things.

I am actively looking for other opportunities outside of this company. Technology and sites like LinkedIn make it really easy. Ironically, having this company on my resume gives me a lot of street credibility out there, where talent is really strapped.
I have sought the counsel of mentors and friends outside of work, and not one is telling me that I may be the problem. They are all great to me and I value their great opinions of me.
I still remember the good times we have had.

An Engineering Growth Framework for Engineers and Engineering Managers

March 30, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Amanda Jerelyn

Without a proper career path in front of you, chances for further progress seem diluted at best. An engineering growth framework addresses such concerns expediently by providing ground rules and a wide-ranging action plan for those who wish to move ahead in their careers.

The growth framework offers tremendous insights; it focuses on how current jobs and operations can be improved, opens new doors for future opportunities, and accomplishes organizational goals, missions, and objectives.

An all-inclusive engineering growth framework also makes the entire process extremely fair and transparent so that there aren’t any blind corners or discrepancies for those who wish to evaluate their own performance. Both employees and employers can be on the same page, as well as know precisely what the next step should be.

It also acts as a definite tool to keep engineers aware of where they stand and what they need to do in order to move up the ladder. It therefore becomes quite a dominant motivational factor for those who identify themselves as a “go-getter”!

How to Utilize an Engineering Growth Framework

Developing an Entrepreneurial Mindset: Risk Is Opportunity

March 23, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Michael Burns, PE, PgMP, DBIA

In previous EMI blogs, we discussed Thinking Big and Being Mindful as We Set Goals and Building Confidence Through Empathetic Stakeholder Engagement. I fully respect that managing these objectives with a myriad of associated voices can be distracting as we attempt to sustain growth. Sustaining growth, for our businesses and talent, is particularly difficult in the Architectural, Engineering and Construction (AEC) Industry, as we constantly regroup to provide service on projects that marry significant technical challenges with dynamic client expectations. So, the intent of this month’s discussion is to explore a Risk Intelligent approach, creating a consistent basis for our teams to develop an entrepreneurial mindset and explore entrepreneurial solutions.

Creating Recurring Revenue for Increased Stability of a Small Firm

March 16, 2020 By EMI

This is a guest blog by Sam Lytle, PE

In the world of engineering, owning a business or even being self-employed often requires stepping outside of technical design and into new territories of bookkeeping, marketing, web design, payroll, invoicing, and a bevy of other tasks not normally taken on by engineers.

In 2011, I realized I belonged to the former — the drive to leave the engineering design path hit hard and fast. This drive was the motivating force that helped me make the jump in 2014 to start Civil FX, and it is still with me today. With that career change has also come those many other tasks that a business owner inevitably faces, including financial duties, hiring decisions and — my personal favorite — marketing and branding. As I’m not incredibly technically minded and engineering was never a satisfying fit, this transition has been mostly comfortable for me. The constant barrage of challenges has been steadied by the freedom of being on my own and the feeling of knowing I’m where I need to be in my career.