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In this episode, I talk to Matthew G. Dick, P.E., an engineering leader working at a transportation technology company and moonlighting as a sci-fi author. Matthew talks about his career journey growing as an engineering leader and the experience while writing about it in a sci-fi novel.
It can be challenging to transition from being a great engineer into a position of leadership. While your technical knowledge and skills are essential to the execution of your role, being in a position of leadership also necessitates a range of non-technical skills. Here are four key principles to help you become an effective engineering leader, one who can not only achieve results, but also lead and inspire teams.
Management positions require that you understand your team’s day-to-day job and develop empathy. The more you can understand your team’s individual journeys and experiences, the better placed you can be to support them to meet their goals and needs. Importantly, this will help you to ensure that they are not only engaged with the work, but that they are also being productive.
[Read more…] about How to Become an Effective Engineering Leader
Clients often ask me how to build their confidence.
I find that the best way to approach this is to first explain what NOT to do, because if you build your confidence in the wrong way, you’ll decimate it. You’ll completely obliterate your chances of reaching your career goals.
First, I’m going to step back and be brutally honest for a second.
Right now, there are thousands of tech and engineering managers trying to upgrade their positions and their pay:
They’re reading boatloads of books…
They’re watching tons of training videos on leadership…
They’re even spending thousands of dollars on certification courses…
And despite all of that, most of them aren’t even close to getting a 10% raise — much less building their dream career.
If you want to upgrade your career in three months or less, you’ll never get there in a million years if you do those things. There’s a much shorter path.
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In this episode, I talk to Christian Knutson, CEng, P.E., PgMP, F. SAME, who has co-hosted this podcast in the past and now serves as the Europe Program Manager for Stanley Consultants. He is responsible for managing and coordinating Stanley Consultants’ activities in the U.K. and Europe as well as providing program/project management delivery and master planning solutions for clients in the U.K. and Europe. In this episode, which is part of a series we are publishing focused around the four key drivers of engineering managers, we talk about the third key driver: the ability to manage projects. Chris talks about the fundamentals of project management and how project management skills can help you to become a great engineering manager.
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In episode 109 of The Civil Engineering Podcast, I talk with Nils Gransberg, MS on topics related to Construction Engineering. Nils also tells us about the research he is conducting into negotiated bid contracts, and about his military background and experience.
[Read more…] about TCEP 109: Construction Engineering – Communication in Negotiated Bid Contracts
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In this episode, I talk with Chris Goede from the John Maxwell Company about leadership. Chris explains the 5 Levels of Leadership model and gives some great strategies for becoming a very powerful engineering leader.
Whether you want to become a project manager or not, you’ll be running a project at some point in your life and in one of your capacities. It might be in the role you hold at your firm, or in the role you occupy in a technical or professional organization, or even a role you fill in a community group. The point is, many of activities we undertake are projects. That is, they are what Project Management International (PMI) defines as a, temporary in that it has a defined beginning and end in time, and therefore defined scope and resources. A project is unique in that it is not a routine operation, but a specific set of operations designed to accomplish a singular goal.
So the question is, do you want to approach your management of these projects in life half-assed, or with a framework that will make your management of the project more efficient?
Before I dive into one possible answer to this question (the option I’ll suggest is one worth following!), I’m not advocating earning a credential, certificate or degree in project management. I don’t believe a practicing engineering professional must earn one of these to be proficient in applying project management concepts to efficiently bring about intended benefits to the customers and clients they serve. What I do believe, is that one cannot leave development of a methodology of project management to on-the-job training or simple observation.
Learning about project management by osmosis might make you proficient, however, I doubt it. Relying on casual observation to learn, internalize, and then apply knowledge in a fashion that enhances ones proficiency in any topic is a path that’s fraught with long lead-time. Simply put, you’re going to get a better return on investment of time if you actively study project management methodology and know the basic concepts.
So how is knowing project management concepts going to make you a better engineer?
[Read more…] about Learn about Project Management to Enhance 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:
If you want to become a strong engineering leader, you must take responsibility in your career. [Read more…] about 2 Steps for Leading Through Accountability in Your Engineering Career
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In this session of The Engineering Career Coach Podcast, I am going talk about leadership and how you can improve your leadership skills as an engineer regardless of your current position or experience level.
This episode is the seventh part in the seven part series where I covered the 7 key elements to creating an extraordinary engineering career, based on my recently released updated and expanded edition of my book Engineer Your Own Success.
“Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it.” – Dwight D. Eisenhower
In the Take Action Today segment of the show, I will give you a tip on how to get people want to work with you, not just for you.
Listen to this session and learn about the following points related to how you can develop and improve your leadership skills: [Read more…] about TECC 70: Developing the Engineering Leader Inside of You – EYOS 7 of 7 – The Engineering Career Coach Podcast
A few days ago, we put on our annual Institute for Engineering Career Development (IECD) meetup in Austin, Texas.
The event consisted of three days of intensive learning sessions from over 15 accomplished speakers, several social outings, and interesting tours. Of course, I can’t forget to mention the more than 50 motivated engineers who attended the event from all over the US—all of whom walked away with career- and life-changing information and friendships.
This post will provide some lessons from this event in hopes that you can utilize the information to better your performance and results, both personally and professionally.
Lessons from Engineering Leaders
During the event, attendees had the opportunity to ask questions of some of the most successful engineering presidents and CEOs, and here are some key takeaways.
In order to become a partner in an engineering firm or an engineering leader, consider doing the following: [Read more…] about Lessons Learned from Two Days with Engineering Leaders, and Laws on Life’s Outcomes
