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How to Increase the Efficiency of Your Construction Project

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How to Increase the Efficiency of Your Construction Project is a guest post by Holly Welles

Construction ProjectConstruction project efficiency has become a problem over the last 50 years. In spite of advances in construction technology, project efficiency has dropped by nearly half, which leaves jobs undone for years after their projected completion date. Construction holds the title of the industry that has the lowest productivity gains of any comparable sector, leaving many people to wonder what could have slowed down the workflow so much. Despite all of this, there are some things that project managers can do to increase the efficiency of their construction projects.

Be Proactive, Not Reactive

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TECC 184: Career Questions Answered Through a Peek Inside the Engineering Management Accelerator

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Engineering ManagementIn this episode, I am going to answer some questions from some of the engineers who participated in our Engineering Management Accelerator Online Workshop. We had so many great questions during this course related to professional development, job promotions, communication, leadership and more, that I decided to share the answers here so that engineers all over the world can benefit from them.

Engineering Quotes:

Engineering Management

Engineering Management

Here is the summary of questions and answers from a recent group coaching call during the Engineering Management Accelerator Online Workshop:

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TCEP 095: Office Layout and How It Impacts Productivity and Culture

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Office LayoutIn episode 095 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I am bringing you with me to the offices of Mueser Rutledge Consulting Engineers (MRCE) to sit down with Senior Partner Peter Deming and myself. We will be talking about the importance of your physical office layout and how it impacts productivity and culture.  This is a topic you might not consider as important until you hear Peter discuss it.

Here are some of the questions I ask Peter Deming:

  • How did you decide how to setup the people throughout your office?
  • Can you talk about the importance of the library and the locker room that you have at your offices?
  • What comes to mind when I say the word “culture”?
  • How did you get to the point where you wanted to drive change in your career?

Engineering Quotes:

Office Layout

Here are some key points discussed in this episode on the impact of office layout and culture:

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How Engineers Can Develop Necessary Soft Skills to Excel in Their Careers

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How Engineers Can Develop Necessary Soft Skills to Excel in Their Careers is a guest post by Tiffany Rowe

Soft SkillsThe five years of an engineer’s bachelor’s degree program are filled with complex math and science. Indeed, almost all of an engineer’s training pertains to the hard skills they will directly apply to problems in their field during the course of their career. Yet, what most new engineering grads discover as they enter the workforce is that they are woefully under prepared to function in the workplace because they have failed to develop their soft skills.

Hiring managers are always looking for well-developed soft skills, even in engineers. The ability to communicate, to work in teams, to think creatively and adapt swiftly to new situations are mandatory in the modern workplace, and it is unlikely that an engineer will find success without cultivating such skills. Fortunately, it isn’t difficult to enhance one’s soft skills, both inside and outside an educational environment. Here are a few ways engineers can build the skills they need to excel in their careers.

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TCEP 094: Harnessing Innovation in Engineering Leadership

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Harnessing InnovationIn episode 094 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, which is 4th episode in our 5-part series on infrastructure, Chris Knutson interviews Kate Harris, President, and CEO of Stanley Consultants about harnessing innovation in engineering leadership. Kate gets into future trends of the industry and how we can prepare for them. She also discusses public- and private partnerships, an important aspect of infrastructure projects.

Here are some of the questions asked of Kate Harris on Harnessing Innovation in Engineering Leadership:

  • You left university with a degree in quantity surveying. Did it prepare you for where you are today, CEO and President of an A/E firm?
  • What were some of the notable milestones in your career which indicated that senior leadership positions might be a real possibility?
  • What do exceptional A/E firms get right?
  • Can you give advice to young professionals looking to work better with clients and improve their communication skills?
  • What changes have you witnessed during your 25 years in the civil engineering industry?
  • What are your thoughts on private/public partnerships?
  • How do you decide what the most important task to work on is for any given day?
  • Share with us your thoughts on how an engineer can approach looking at the future?

Engineering Quotes:

Harnessing Innovation

Harnessing Innovation

Here are some key points discussed in this episode on harnessing innovation in engineering leadership:

  • Having a degree in Quantity Surveying gave me an appetite for creative problem solving and build-ability.
  • Throughout my career, I have tried many new things to get a broad view of our industry. I feel that this is important in trying to understand what matters to people. When you can understand what is important to other people, you will understand what questions to ask them.
  • Exceptionally good A/E firms understand that business success is in servicing clients and client experience. We need to be partners in terms of harnessing innovation in business thinking, management skills, giving advice, and we certainly need to be technically capable and creative.
  • It’s very important that companies understand what they are bringing to their clients, and not just what they are bringing to their constituents and their shareholders.
  • The key to working with clients is to listen actively to what they need, and to not just concentrate on what you want to say next.
  • We are all going to have to look to the future and figure out what the word “value” will mean tomorrow, rather than what it means today.
  • It’s not so much about what we know in our industry, it’s about what we know in our world, and what is going on outside of our industry, that is important for young engineers to know. Young engineers should get curious, be fearless and get educated on what is happening outside of the field.
  • Being technically competent without the ability to inspire others limits you in your career as a leader. A leader needs to be able to identify and support great talent. If you are planning on becoming the chief engineer of your company, you need to learn how to communicate with others in a way that inspires them to follow their dreams.
  • The key to communication is not what you want to tell people, it’s about figuring out how people assimilate information and what matters to them. You then have to allow them to understand what you are telling them. To do this, you need to change your style to match the way they think and listen.
  • It’s absolutely fundamental for project managers to know what success looks like for a business, and not just for a project.
  • Your job as a CEO is to find great talents, set direction and provide support. You need to carve out time to do all three of these things to be successful in your career.
  • Connect, communicate, listen and be very curious as an engineer.

More details in this episode…

About Kate Harris

Kate Harris, President and CEO of Stanley Consultants, has 25 years of international experience in the construction, engineering and consulting industry. Stanley Consultants provides engineering, enviroHarnessing Innovationnmental, and construction services at over 30 offices worldwide. Founded in 1913, the firm has completed engagements in all 50 states and 110 countries, and is ranked among the largest engineering companies in the United States – very impressive.

Kate Harris graduated with a First-Class Honors degree in Quantity Surveying from the University of the West of England in 1993. She has also completed the Advanced Management and Intellectual Property programs from Harvard. Harris has a broad range of contractor, client and consultant experience encompassing strategy development, risk management, building high performing teams, developing client relationships and profitably growing businesses. Most recently Harris provided board and executive advisory services following her global Commercial Officer role with MWH Global (now part of Stantec). During her 17-year tenure with the firm, she is credited with integrating service lines and setting global policy, performance measures and business practices. An active advocate of talent development, she continues to mentor upcoming generations of leaders.

Sources/References:

Engineering Management Accelerator Workshop (Online) | 5 PDHs
Engineering Membership Drive
Kate Harris LinkedIn
Stanley Consultants

This episode is brought to you by RedVector. The team at RedVector believes knowledge is the most powerful tool available for helping people enrich their lives and meet their professional goals. To find out more about RedVector continuing education, visit www.RedVector.com.

This episode is also brought to you by Danfoss.  Smart energy systems, efficient buildings, and raising construction sites are just a couple of areas where you can experience how Danfoss is part of the sustainable development of strong infrastructure, visit www.city.danfoss.com 

Please leave your comments or questions in the section below on harnessing innovation in engineering leadership.

  • If you enjoyed this post, please consider downloading our free 3-part video series that provides tons of engineering career skills including how to use LinkedIn, how to communicate and how to develop your leadership abilities. Click the button below to download.

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To your success,

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

Why Communication for Engineers Is so Important

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Why Communication for Engineers Is so Important is a
guest blog by Thomas A. Anderson, P.E:

Communication for Engineers

Do you remember the telephone game?

In school, you and your classmates tried to pick a phrase and “pass it on” by whispering it to the person next to you. Then the phrase was passed from person to person until the last person announced the phrase. How much did the phrase change during the game? As people relay message from one person to the other, the message will often be distorted.

While the game is a lot of fun. It also teaches us important lessons.

  • If you do not receive information from a reliable source, you may not get the correct information. It turns into gossip.
  • If you do not produce information properly, it will not be received as planned

Communication skills are vital to success in your personal life and your engineering career. Poorly delivered messages can turn into misunderstanding, frustration, or even a disaster.

By practicing communication, you will understand more of what people say. Your family, friends, and co-workers will have the confidence to come to you when they find themselves in need.

What are the keys to clear communication?

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Avoid Torturing Your Audience When Giving Presentations

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Avoid Torturing Your Audience When Giving Presentations is a guest post by Shoots Veis, P.E.
Torturing Your Audience

We all know it. We all hate it. Yet, all of us do it at least once in a lifetime. How often have we suffered through a presentation where the slides, usually crammed full of information, were simply read to the audience? It’s not really a presentation so much as a live reading of a document meant to torture audience — or at least it seems that way. The presenter has stuffed as much information as they can onto a slide – a bad practice to begin with – then they read those overcrowded slides to an audience. Those presentations don’t work for three reasons.

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Actions Speak Louder than Words in Your Presentation

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Actions Speak Louder than Words in Your Presentation is a guest post by Shoots Veis, P.E.

Presentation
Most engineers, and most people, will tell you that giving a presentation is not something they look forward to.  However, given our love of efficiency, engineers should have a different outlook.  One reason we give a speech to an audience is because it should be the most efficient way to share information.  The presenter has information they need to disseminate to a lot of people, so why not get them all in a room and tell everyone at the same time?  Doing so might even generate questions that you can answer for the group that wouldn’t come up if there wasn’t a group of people in that room.

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Personal Accountability is the Foundation of all Success

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Personal Accountability“John, you cannot speak and train on ‘ personal accountability.’ It’s not a topic.” I was told that in April 1995. After a decade of selling and implementing leadership and sales training systems in the corporate world, though, I knew this:

Personal accountability is the foundation of all success.

Period.

So I began marketing myself as a speaker on “Personal Accountability and the QBQ!” What is QBQ!? Well, it’s a book that’s sold 1.5 million copies, but more critically, it’s a methodology for eliminating some very human traps:

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TECC 171: How to Improve Communication Skills and Deal with Being Labeled as Overqualified

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Communication

In this episode, I answer some questions from our listeners and subscribers about building communication skills, improving public speaking, and strategies for overcoming being overqualified for a position you want.

Engineering Quotes:

Communication

Communication

Here is the summary of the questions and answers discussed on how to improve communication skills and deal with being labeled as overqualified:

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