2 Steps For Leading Through Accountability In Your Engineering Career

Engineering Management Institute 2 Steps for Leading Through Accountability in Your Engineering Career January 25, 2016 By EMI What is accountability and why is in necessary in becoming a robust engineering chief? Webster dictionary defines accountability as an obligation or willingness to simply accept accountability or to account for one’s actions. Let’s investigate both sides of this definition: #1 Take Responsibility on Your Engineering Projects If you need to become a robust engineering chief, you have to take duty in your career. What does that mean? If you're working on a project, or a particular side of a project, you must personal that task. You should tell your group, “I will ensure we plan and design a solid stormwater resolution for this website. That is my duty and I will get it accomplished.” How do you suppose a statement like that can project to others? It will show them that you are assured, you are invested in the project, you're a group player, they usually can count on you. Too many engineers, put their head down and work without taking duty. They figure that if they don’t say something, and don’t publicly take accountability. Then, if they don’t ship, there's much less stress on them and the fallout will be less. Engineers that take responsibility of their careers, often win, even if they don’t all the time achieve their targets. This leads us to the following point… #2 Be Accountable in Your E ngineering Career Okay so you’ve decided to step it up and take full duty for the tasks that you are leading. What happens if you fail? What happens if you're in need of your objective? What do you do next? Strong engineering leaders are accountable once they fail to meet the tasks that they're liable for. Building on the instance in #1 above, an engineering leader would say, “I didn’t design one of the best stormwater system. This is my fault and I will work to enhance this design or take what I learned and carry out better on the following project.” An accountable engineering leader might also say, “I take responsibility for this project being over price range. I made some selections in pricing out the job that have been mistaken and I will make better selections next time.” This sounds simple to do, but it is not. In reality, I see many engineering managers pointing the finger at engineering employees when their tasks are over finances. Wrong move in my view. As you strive to go from de sign engineer to engineering manager, and ultimately engineering leader, take duty and be accountable in your profession. You as well as the engineers around you may be glad that you did. To your success, Anthony Fasano, PE, LEED AP Engineering Management Institute