Why Engineers need to learn about leadership

By Mohiuddin Ahmed Sarker

B.Sc Engg (E.E.E.),

Senior Engineer, Rahimafrooz Energy Services Limited

IEB Membership no: M/35526

When I first started my career as a project engineer after graduating from university I never
realized it was about leadership and management challenges. I was asked to assist the project
manager with implementing of the electrical services of the project. It seems my job was not
very challenging as I was just getting my work done of an entry level engineer

Lets see what actually my assignment was:

Negotiating with manufacturing units for delivery of equipments.

Planning the supply of equipments to site.

Arranging external resources to serve the needs quickly.

Arrangement of require manpower.

Directing technicians regarding installations.

Estimating time for completing tasks.

Resolving conflicts and issues that were delaying progress.

Preparing report of progress of the project for management.

It can be found from here that technical skill is one of the important requirement of the
assignment as for negotiating, supervising and resolving issue I must have to have these skills to
get my job done smoothly. But if we look closer technical skill actually is a really small part of
the competencies that is needed to complete the assignment.

Planning, Organizing, Estimating, staffing, directing, coordinating, communicating all are related
to leadership and management competencies which are very much needed to complete the
assignment.

So if we look for the definition of management we will find one fundamental definitions:
"the activity of getting things done with the aid of people and other resources."

"Management" includes the tasks we all do on the job to keep our work organized, on track, and
efficient. Many competencies are required for successful management of work, and people
serving in management roles need to be especially competent.

"Management" includes the tasks we all do on the job to keep our work organized, on track, and
efficient. A good manager of tasks must be good at:

Organizing

Planning

Estimating

Communicating/Documenting

Prioritizing

Self-management/Discipline

Assessing and mitigating risks

When managing people to any degree is involved, these competencies come into play:

Interpersonal skills

Conflict resolution

Mentoring

Coaching

These are just some of the skills that fall into the category of management competencies that
apply to virtually all engineers. These skills are all important. Just staying sharp from a technical
perspective is challenging for most engineers because technology is complex and advances
rapidly.

So if we look for the definition of Leadership we will find one definitions:

A process of social influence in which one person can enlist the aid and support of others in the
accomplishment of a common task.

Another answer to what is leadership, by Akhil Shahani, puts it more simply as:
The process by which a person influences others to accomplish an objective.

We can see from the definition that Leadership is entirely interpersonal, but at a different level
than the interpersonal competencies that are described above as "management."

Leadership is about influencing and directing others for a positive outcome.

Just as all engineers need management competencies to get work done, an entirely different set
of skills are also important-leadership skills.
The future of the engineering industry is closely tied to the future prosperity of Bangladesh.
Revamping the way the nation looks at engineers and the way engineers look at leadership
positions is undoubtedly a large endeavor. With everyone working together, we will start to see a
change with long term effects.