Enhancing Engineering With Leadership Training Abilities

Continuously developing leadership and management skills should be a high priority for all engineers.

- Vibha Singh

“The leaders of 21st century must work with integrity and succeed with integrity. Deliberating on the changing paradigms of leadership, natural resources defined power but in today’s world knowledge is the power. Leaders of yesterday commanded control, but today’s leaders empower their teams. Yesterday seniority signified status, but today creativity drives the status.”

Extract from Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam talk on Leadership as part of EIL Golden Jubilee Lecture

Sumedh Shengaonkar, first week on the job as an engineer after graduating from college was full of leadership and management challenges-but he didn’t realize this at the time. He was just getting the work done that he was told to do. Just ordinary work for an entrylevel engineer.

On the surface, Sumedh assignment didn’t seem very challenging. He was asked to assist the lead engineer with the testing of a new product. A breakdown of Sumedh’s tasks that first week, however, reveals the aspects of engineering work that are very much leadership and management oriented. His assignment included challenges such as negotiating with manufacturing for delivery of test units, planning the flow of test units through the engineering lab, influencing external resources to serve his needs quickly, directing technicians regarding test procedures, estimating time for completing tasks and resolving conflicts and issues that were impeding progress.

He was well-supported by the lead engineer, other senior staff members, and his manager. The senior engineers would take care of difficult issues related to his work but he was accountable for the fundamental tasks described here.