Peter Atherton

The Four Major ‘Shifts’ Changing Everything About Leadership and Firm Success

February 15, 2023 By EMI

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

Like most large-scale systemic events, March 2020 gave “official birth” to a new era of work and life — one with new rules, new ways of thinking, and lots of big change.

Among the change we’ve all seen and experienced for several years now, there have been a number of major “shifts.”

These shifts have already altered the workplace, marketplace, and recruiting space.

These shifts have also fundamentally changed the way we must lead and develop our teams and organizations if we want to sustainably grow and prosper in this new era — and do so making a real difference and not burning out. All of which is possible, should we choose to design for it.

“These shifts have fundamentally changed the way we must lead and develop our teams and organizations if we want to sustainably grow and prosper in this new era.”— Peter C. Atherton, P.E.

The four major shifts are listed here, and each is described further below:

The redefinition of winning
The shift of work from “place” to “space”
The shift to what I call the “third way”
The shift of performance from manager to teams and team success

The first two are more societal shifts and the second two are strategic and tactical shifts that we must make in response as leaders and organizations.

Shift #1: The Redefinition of Winning

Learning to Lead and Succeed with ‘SFA’: Success From Anywhere

May 23, 2022 By EMI

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

COVID forced “work from home.” Then evolved the idea of “work from anywhere” – whether that be home, a local café, or other workspace.

As we work through the sometimes half-hearted attempts to bring our employees back to the office, the organizational development and talent attraction and retention idea that I believe will stick is “SFA” – success from anywhere.

What is SFA, and how can we make this work, especially among “back to the past” forces within us that have very likely already cost us in terms of missed opportunity and preparedness for our inevitable future state?

Let’s leave the resistance to SFA aside for a moment (or at least until the link at the bottom of this article) because even the skeptics and the naysayers recognize the competitive disadvantages of not offering some type of work flexibility in this employee-driven market — hence the half-hearted and tempered calls for a full return to the office.

What the Redefinition of Winning Means for Your Success

September 20, 2021 By EMI

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

To be successful as leaders and leadership teams, we need to see both the “big picture” and what’s happening “on the ground” within our firms and the marketplace.

Being a leader at any level is about constantly looking for problems to solve and opportunities to realize — but which ones are the right ones, which ones have the greatest return on investment, and in what order should we pursue them?

The Big Picture

As part of my work these days as a management consultant, I purposely look for meaningful patterns of issues and opportunities that express themselves in leadership teams throughout the industry, across the country, and in both smaller and larger firms.

And to this end, I see eight great challenges changing our industry in real time:

TCEP 175: Future of Work in Engineering & Architecture 2021 Report

June 16, 2021 By EMI

Podcast: Play in new window | Download | Embed

In the episode that is part of our Civil Engineering Entrepreneurs series, I talk to Peter Atherton, P.E., President and Founder of ActionsProve, LLC, and author of Reversing Burnout, about the recently released Future of Work in Engineering & Architecture 2021 Report.

The 2021 report was conducted by Actions Prove, in partnership with the Engineering Management Institute, and created based on a survey with 587 engineers and architects in the U.S. The goal was to examine whether individuals and AEC companies see a viable career path in “mixed hybrid” work — which includes both flexible formats for traditional jobs and independent careers — for engineers and architects. The study also examines whether employers are prepared to engage independent professionals under these new conditions.

There are four different frameworks throughout the Future of Work in Engineering & Architecture 2021 report, and in this episode, we talk about one of them that highlights the key considerations for transitioning to a hybrid workforce model.

Engineering Quotes:

4 Key Considerations Related to Remote Work that AEC Employers Should Be Aware of:

Winning With Impact: How to Stand Out in the Workplace, Marketplace, and Recruiting Space

August 24, 2020 By EMI

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

Whether newer to the workforce or with 20 or more years’ experience, so many of us are:

Feeling the weight of burnout and disengagement,
Yearning for more meaning and purpose, and
Wanting to make a difference in solving issues facing our world and those we care about.

Organizationally, many of us are also struggling to attract and retain inspired talent, clients, vendors, and partners to help us grow and be sustained.

There are many factors that lead to these circumstances, but when the prolonged work overload is finally addressed and the workflow improved, how do we better engage?

After we have “mastered our craft” and “made a name” for ourselves, how do we find greater meaning and purpose — and make a difference beyond the office and our immediate families?

Even as we build our careers, how can we leverage what we know to have a bigger impact and to improve our communities and the lives of others?

Getting Ahead of the Next Curve as a Leader and Team

June 23, 2020 By EMI

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

What We Need to Know About Human Disaster Response and Trauma

There is no doubt that we as leaders and team have been going through a season of much higher fear, anxiety, and trauma with the COVID-19 crisis and the very visual revealing of racial injustice and inequities previously ignored. 

Our stressors are also multifaceted and connected with different concerns.

On one hand, our concerns are related to health, economics, isolation, and an uncertain and non-uniform re-opening. On the other hand, our concerns are related to seeing large gaps in long-standing social constructs associated with equality, justice, and inclusion.

Concurrently we begin to work through the “peaks,” medically and in terms of concerns over our organization’s near-term financial health, and as we begin to better listen, understand, and take new actions as citizens and society, the fact is that we will not — and must not — just return to “normal.” 

Between then and now, however, there are things we need to know and steps we need to take to help ease concerns and come out of these periods of crisis stronger, better, and more resilient. 

What We Need to Know 

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 learning 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

Designing Your Engineering “To Be” List

January 27, 2020 By EMI

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

Imagine being your best self.

Imagine how much more content and less stressful life would be if you could “do you” really well and effectively—and do so all the time?

The First Step Is to Imagine It

For most, being our best self includes:

Doing excellent work,
Doing what we do best every day,
Growing and advancing, and
Having a life and impact beyond our career alone.

The good news is that these are all possible and all in our control. Once we imagine them, we can begin to take other steps to realize them.

The Four Major ‘Shifts’ Changing Everything About Leadership and Firm Success

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

Shift #1: The Redefinition of Winning

Learning to Lead and Succeed with ‘SFA’: Success From Anywhere

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

What the Redefinition of Winning Means for Your Success

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

The Big Picture

TCEP 175: Future of Work in Engineering & Architecture 2021 Report