• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Engineering Management Institute

  • About
    • Meet Anthony Fasano, P.E.
    • EMI’s Mission, Vision & Values
    • Meet Team EMI
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
      • The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
      • The Civil Engineering Podcast
        • Women in Civil Engineering
        • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
        • The Civil Engineering CEO Podcast
      • The Structural Engineering Channel
      • The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
      • The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
      • The Engineering Project Management Podcast
      • AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
      • This Week in Civil Engineering
    • TV
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Recommended Reading
    • Sponsors
  • Services
    • Training
    • Hiring Solutions
  • FE-PE Exams
  • Clients
  • Contact
  • Training

  • About
    • Meet Anthony Fasano, P.E.
    • EMI’s Mission, Vision & Values
    • Meet Team EMI
  • Content
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
      • The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
      • The Civil Engineering Podcast
        • Women in Civil Engineering
        • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
        • The Civil Engineering CEO Podcast
      • The Structural Engineering Channel
      • The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
      • The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
      • The Engineering Project Management Podcast
      • AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
      • This Week in Civil Engineering
    • TV
    • Videos
    • Books
    • Recommended Reading
    • Sponsors
  • Services
    • Training
    • Hiring Solutions
  • FE-PE Exams
  • Clients
  • Contact
  • Training

Delegating Effectively When Working with Engineers

August 29, 2017 By EMI

This is a guest blog post by Carol Evenson

Delegating EffectivelyThere 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 exceptions, as a rule, engineers tend to be more analytical and even a bit introverted. If you want to ensure that your work gets done to the best of their abilities, you will need to interact with them differently than you might for other members of your team. Here are a few tips to keep in mind as you direct the engineers on your team:

Respect their Space

When you give one of your engineers a task, be very clear about your expectations at the very beginning. Tell them exactly what you are hoping for the end result to be. Invite them to ask questions to help clarify what they are supposed to do, and be very explicit in your answers. Once you have given them the task, though, step back.

It’s very tempting to hover over an engineer’s shoulder to see how they are accomplishing their goal, but this can be one of the worst sorts of counterproductive. Once you have given an engineer a goal, allow them the freedom to decide how they want to accomplish it.

Delegating Effectively

Give Gentle Nudges Occasionally—but Only Occasionally

As they plot out all the steps to complete their tasks, it’s possible for certain tasks—or even entire projects—to fall through the cracks. Check in from time to time to make sure the project is on track, but avoid being accusatory. Assure them that you’re just checking in and don’t intend to rush them. Don’t be too intense, and don’t poke them too often. Asking how things are going too frequently can quickly turn into micromanaging and gives the engineer a sense that you don’t trust them to complete the task. In addition, you might unnecessarily make a simple task seem urgent, which can disrupt your engineer’s workflow and organization design.

Encourage Input During Meetings

During meetings use a deck or video in order to captivate engineers attention. Use video captioning in your videos so that you can appeal to a diversified workforce, as there are two types of engineer. First, there are those who make their opinions known on every subject the team discusses, whether it be the suggested timeline for a project or the color of the stationery used for interoffice memos. Then, there are those who will sit back and listen to the discussion and say little to nothing unless asked.

In order to help this second group of engineers take an assigned project and own it for themselves, make sure to actively ask for their input during planning meetings and other team engagements. This will also encourage them to express concerns early, rather than keep their opinions to themselves until it’s too late to change anything.

Allow for Time to Prepare When Checking In

Because engineers are juggling a dozen different thoughts in their head at a time, they may need a moment to sort through them before giving an assessment. If you suddenly ask for a progress report, it’s very possible that you will get an incoherent response and leave even more unsure of the project’s status than you were before you asked. Give them plenty of advance warning before meetings so that they can prepare their progress reports. If you’re checking in between meetings, allow them to get back to you via email, giving them a chance to regroup.

Play to Each Engineer’s Skillset

If you are working with a team of engineers, get to know each team member. Learn their strengths and weaknesses. Find out what interests them and what might bore them and cause their engagement with the work to suffer. Try to delegate tasks in accordance with these observations. Allow your workers to enjoy what they are doing and to succeed.

At the same time, you can also delegate tasks to junior engineers to help improve their skills. By delegating tasks to team members with less experience, you can provide valuable learning opportunities to your lower-level engineers who are hoping for more hands-on work.

Whether you’re working with junior-level employees or veteran engineers, it sometimes takes a little finesse to figure out the best way for delegating effectively. One of the most important things to keep in mind is to be aware of your team. Know them well enough to understand which tasks they can handle and which ones would be better assigned to someone else.

About the Author Carol Evenson:Delegating Effectively

Carol Evenson is a process automation consultant who specializes in systems management. She has worked alongside Fortune 1000 companies and currently assists organizations within the the US and UK.

We would love to hear any questions you might have or stories you might share on delegating effectively when working with engineers.

Please leave your comments, feedback or questions in the section below.

  • If you enjoyed this post, please consider downloading our free list of 33 Productivity Routines of Top Engineering Executives. Click the button below to download.

    Download the Productivity Routines

To your success,

Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP
Engineering Management Institute
Author of Engineer Your Own Success

Related Posts

  • Young Engineers Moving into Management Positions
  • TECC 110: How Engineers Can Effectively Sell and Market to Their Clients
  • Note to Engineers: Consider the Project Management Professional Certification
  • TCEP 142: Cybersecurity Tips for Civil Engineers Working Remotely During COVID-19
  • TCEP 098: Management Skills that Civil Engineers Should Build

Filed Under: Blog, Leadership/Management Tagged With: Allow for Time to Prepare, be aware of your team, delegate tasks, Delegating Effectively, Encourage Input During Meetings, engineers, Give Gentle Nudges Occasionally, Play to Each Engineer’s Skillset, Respect their Space

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

And Get Custom Content Delivered To You Weekly

PM Training

engineering management lessons

career readiness

Categories

  • AECT – AEC Engineering and Technology Podcast
  • Blog
    • Business Development
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Communication/Public Speaking
    • COVID19
    • Credentials
    • Enlightenment
    • Ethics & Integrity
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Networking/Client Relations
    • News and Events
    • Organization/Productivity/Time Management
    • Personal Development and Professionalism
    • Program Management
    • Project Management
    • Travel
    • Work Life Balance
  • Civil Engineering
  • Engineering Career TV
  • Engineering Technology
  • TCEP-The Civil Engineering Podcast
    • Business Development
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs
    • Communication & Public Speaking
    • Credentials
    • Ethics/Integrity
    • Infrastructure
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Project Management
    • Women in Engineering
  • TECC Podcast-The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
    • Business/Entrepreneurship
    • Career Game Changers
    • Career Goals and Challenges
    • Communication/Public Speaking
    • Credentials
    • Enlightenment
    • Job Search/Salary/Relocation
    • Leadership/Management
    • Mentoring
    • Networking/Client Relations
    • News and Events
    • Organization/Productivity/Time Management
    • Personal Development and Professionalism
    • Project Management
    • Work Life Balance
  • TEPM – The Engineering Project Management Podcast
  • TEQC – The Engineering Quality Control Podcast
  • TGEP – The Geotechnical Engineering Podcast
    • Tunneling Series
  • TSEC-The Structural Engineering Channel
  • TWiCE
  • Uncategorized
  • Women in Engineering

TECC Sidebar Featured Final

ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT INSTITUTE

We Can Help You:

  • Build solutions to attract talented professionals.
  • Develop your staff’s people skills.
  • Create career roadmaps for your staff.
  • Provide PM training for your professionals.
  • Build custom development programs.
  • Scale sustainably.

Location:

50 E. Ridgewood Avenue #129

Ridgewood NJ, 07450

800-920-4007

Copyright © 2023 • All Rights Reserved • Property of Engineering Management Institute • Terms of Service • Privacy Policy

SPECIAL DOWNLOAD

33 Productivity Routines of
Top Engineering Executives

x