by Peter A. DeLisle
Introduction All engineers are, or have the potential to be, leaders. The most common expectation is that they will be technical leaders. Yet, a world driven by increasing complexity and frequent uncertainty demands the skills and abilities of people trained to solve problems and develop effective solutions -- engineers. The problem is that engineers are not routinely prepared to lead groups of people and organizations through academic training or work assignments early in their career, so many are ill-prepared to lead projects or organizations. Too often, they get kicked off the dock and are expected to know how to swim. A less harsh image, but one equally as dysfunctional, is the that good engineers will apply some native talent to leadership problems, and through hard work and effort, will prevail. Many engineers have been ruined by this error in judgment rather than by their own missteps, and the unfortunate result is a double loss: they become unhappy and marginally effective managers, sub-optimizing the work of their group, and they often lose their personal confidence as individual contributors. The worse case is that they will fail as managers and feel a need to leave the company, since they can’t regress by returning to the engineer’s bench without an apparent loss of status and dignity. The intent of this paper is to interdict this thinking and counteract the damage done by the "natural leader" theory, while advancing a perspective and thoughtful approach to effectiveness. Engineering leadership is meant to be an active phrase, as in: to engineer. Leadership and Interpersonal Effectiveness Leadership is the ability to influence other people, with or without authority. This simple statement includes technical as well as group and organizational leadership, since all successful endeavors are the result of human effort. Thus, the ability to influence others is a derivation of interpersonal communication, problem-solving, and conflict management. Interpersonal effectiveness is the capability of an individual to do this competently. The relationship of interpersonal skill to other professional skill is illustrated by the Manager’s Matrix (Figure 1).
As you can see, technical skills are the foundation of all management work, with first-line supervisors spending better than half their time solving technical problems, and with some time invested in planning, organizing, and controlling activities normally thought of as management work. The proportion of time spent solving technical problems should diminish as a person assumes more responsibility, with the management tasks consuming more time. However, interpersonal skills and the time spent communicating and influencing others is consistently present, and has considerable importance at all levels of organizational responsibility. Leadership is a subset of interpersonal skill -- a highly derived capability resulting from recognizing interest, skill, and suitability to influence others. It also extends to a person’s willingness to take the risk to influence others, in circumstances where the outcome might be appropriate but difficult to accept. Leadership is not for everyone, but it’s also not exclusive of anyone. It is an individual’s act of self-direction and motivation and can neither be forced or designated if a person is unwilling. Neither is a person a leader by virtue of a position or rank. A closer examination of the conditions contributing to effective leadership will help bear this out. Awareness, Ability, and Commitment Leadership is a direct function of three elements of interpersonal effectiveness: (1) people’s awareness of themselves, other people, and the act of leadership; (2) their ability to make decisions, problem-solve, motivate others, and balance the tasks and relationships in an organization; and (3) the commitment to make hard decisions and face the risks of "doing the right thing". As Figure 2, Leadership Effectiveness, shows, the relationship among them is interdependent.
The geometry of the model suggests that all the rays of the triangle must be present to determine effectiveness. The point of each characteristic lengthens with new skill development, and the area of the triangle grows with new capabilities and awareness. Absence of one element prevents leadership effectiveness from having a perceptible influence. Awareness Awareness is a state of consciousness. It’s the ability to recognize others’ events, situations, and characteristics in real time. Awareness is also the ability to assess the impact of actions on situations or people, and the ability to be critically self-reflective. Awareness is a growth and development process and is a function of direct experience, communication, self-discovery and feedback. It is dependent on trust, from and of others, to sustain its growth. Ability Ability to lead is a function of influence. Engineers rely on their ability to influence others to get work done, since nearly every engineering project requires collaborative work and accepting new or better ideas to solve problems. Engineers are particularly well-suited to teams influencing the work of others. Engineers already possess some fundamental problem-solving skills. They not only recognize and describe problems, but also must offer acceptable solutions to the problematic environment. Engineers also subject their ideas to a variety of tests before adopting them. Peer review and benchmarking are normal activities for project teams. Engineers must also assume responsibility for the quality of their work, and more importantly, recognize that their work has a direct impact on the lives of other people in a tangible and material way. When coupled with conscience, this professional competence advances the capability of engineering leaders to influence very complex situations and wade into uncertain territory -- with an expectation for a positive outcome.
Recognizing complexity is at the core of engineering leadership, since it speaks to the ethos of engineering and articulates one of the most important values of the profession. Only a few other professions share this commitment to self-examination and regard for impact on others, like medicine, law enforcement, and the military. These endeavors depict how the influence of leadership is very clear and material. It’s unfortunate that often management practice doesn’t have a similar core ethical value. Commitment The movie City Slickers is memorable as a coming-of-age movie for adult males. The epithet: "Just one thing" is generally recognized as the moment of the acquisition of conscious-competence on the part of the cowboy who becomes a cowman. For leaders, the "one thing" is the fully aware recognition that one’s decisions make a difference, both positively and negatively, in the lives of others, and that any attempt to solve a problem might have a decided negative impact on some, while helping others. In its essence, it’s the understanding that in no-win scenarios, one must still make a hard decision. A hard decision is different from a tough decision -- one made based on competing priorities or scarcities. A hard decision is made by a consciously-competent leader who judges that: "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or one" (as we know from Star Trek: Wrath of Khan). This judgement skill separates leaders from managers. It also lays the foundation for engineers to assume more responsibility as the leaders of organizations. How is Leadership Engineered? Leadership is a function of the three elements of effectiveness: awareness, ability, and commitment. Engineers must actively seek feedback and information about their interpersonal effectiveness. They must develop a sophisticated understanding of how people are motivated and how they grow and develop in the organization. Engineers must develop and sustain conceptual flexibility, and be comfortable with change and ambiguity. They must hone their technical problem-solving skills, but develop an equally competent set of interpersonal skills, principally those related to communications skills. Engineered leaders must be self-reflective and self-auditing, listening carefully and aquainting themselves with the best practices of others. Leaders must examine their personal values and recognize that leadership is an act of personal and professional integrity. The consequences for compromising integrity is a zero or negative multiplier -- like the value of trust: you can be trustworthy 1,000 times in a row and untrustworthy once, and the product of the equation is zero or less. The same algorithm holds true for leadership and integrity. Once lost by carelessness, circumstance, or unwillingness to make hard decisions, the leader is compromised, and the mantle of leadership is lost. What are You Prepared to Do? The movie The Untouchables presented an interesting moment of truth for the hero, Eliot Ness. After by his enemies, as well as his fellow police officers, compromise him, he seeks out the only honest cop in Chicago, Jimmy O’Neil (played by Sean Connery). Ness asks for help, and O’Neil will render it once he answers the question: "What are you prepared to do?" The naive hero wavers at the threshold of conscious-competence long enough to finally say: "Anything I have to do to make this thing right!" At this point, O’Neil tells Ness that they can get to work. Dumbfounded, Ness hears O’Neil say: "Everyone knows where the problems are, but no one is willing to do anything. You said you would do anything you had to, to make it right. Now I’m willing to help you. You made the commitment." As you read the following statement, ask yourself what you are prepared to do as an engineering leader.
About the Author Peter A. DeLisle is an educator and a businessman. For the last five years he has held the Severns Chair in Human Behavior in the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The mission of the Chair was to bring insight and perspective to engineering students to the importance of interpersonal effectiveness, teams and leadership to the practice of engineering in industry. Pete also taught in the College of Commerce and the College of Education. He founded the Project for Excellence in Engineering Education, the Student Engineer Leadership Program, and the Higgerson Forum on Entrepreneurship in Engineering while at Illinois, and designed the College of Commerce’s new Executive Development Program. Prior to his work at Illinois, DeLisle was a program manager for the Center for Creative Leadership in Colorado Springs, a consultant, and a doctoral student in Human Resource Development Leadership at the University of Texas at Austin. His industrial career includes Vice President for Human Resources for Convex Computer Corporation in Dallas, Texas and Personnel Manager for Hewlett-Packard’s Colorado Springs Division. He served as a field artillery battery commander and a legislative and foreign liaison officer in the United States Army. | Top of Page | ProDevCon | Features | IEEE-USA | Last Updated: 8 May 2000 Copyright © 2000 The Institute of
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