4 Occupational Safety and Health Administration Tips for Engineers
Engineers are typically accustomed to hazardous conditions, but that doesn’t mean that OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) best practices should simply be swept under the rug as common knowledge. Electrical mishaps, fires, and deadly equipment accidents are just a few of the potential hazards that engineers of all fields are susceptible to, so […]
Delegating Effectively When Working with Engineers
There is a myriad of guides available online that will offer to teach you how to manage your team’s workloads and delegate tasks to your subordinates. Engineers are a slightly different group, though, and as such, there are a few differences in how you should handle delegation in the engineering world. While there are always […]
3 Actions That Help You Lead Your Engineering Team Despite Fear
Here’s a topic not often discussed in the offices of the majority of leaders: FEAR. We’ll talk about risk, or problem’s, or setbacks. But never fear. Why is that? Probably because the word “fear” comes with a lot of baggage. Fear isn’t something that’s talked about openly, ever. It’s a sign of weakness or lack […]
Why Delegating Will Make You A Better Engineer
This is Part III of a six-part series about leadership for engineers preparing for their first professional leadership role. You’re in your first professional leadership role and all eyes are on you to deliver the goods. After two months of 60+ hour weeks you’re running on fumes and the project’s only a fifth of the […]
Relying on Courage to Bridge the Experience Gap
This is Part II of a six-part series about leadership for engineers preparing for their first professional leadership role. It was the first day as project manager and Ed was sweating the moment he got into his car for the fifteen-minute drive to the office. This wasn’t just any sweat. It was the sweat that […]
How to Go from Managing to Leading a Team of Engineers
Effectively managing any group of employees can be a difficult proposition, but providing leadership for an engineering team or department typically entails a number of unique challenges. Simply managing the efforts of an engineering staff may not always be sufficient. Managers who are able to provide clear direction, ensure that their group is able to […]
Don’t Let Lack of Experience Keep You From Speaking With Authority as an Engineer
This is Part I of a six-part series on debunking misconceptions about leadership and speaking with authority for engineers preparing for their first professional leadership role. Starting out in any endeavor you lack experience. In business, in relationships, in your technical pursuits – doesn’t matter. You enter into everything you do for the first time without […]
Four Service Roots to Engineering Leadership
My introduction to leading by serving began with my dad who was a chemical engineer and continued with my first two employers who both were professional civil engineers. Through their direct instruction, mentoring, and coaching I learned and mastered four service roots that I still use to this day. These include the golden rule(+), […]
2 Steps for Leading Through Accountability in Your Engineering Career
Today we show you 2 Steps for Leading in your Engineering Career What is accountability and why is in important in becoming a strong engineering leader? Webster dictionary defines accountability as an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions. Let’s investigate both sides of this definition: #1 Take Responsibility […]
8 Traits of Exceptional Engineer Leaders
We all know bad leadership when we see it. Most likely when you read that last sentence, the image of that bad leader popped into your mind. What might be a bit harder to delineate, is the distinction between good leadership and effective leadership. I think this is an important one for engineer’s interested […]