> home
> About
> Contact Us
> Editorial Info
> IEEE-USA

11.07

Five Strategies for Successful Engineering Management

By Gary C. Hinkle

If you read surveys about the highest paying jobs in the United States, you'll notice that the median salary for engineering managers ranks not too far behind doctors, attorneys and CEOs (typical CEO base salary, not the extreme high end of the scale that often makes the news). Good engineering managers are well paid because they have a very difficult job that not many people with engineering backgrounds want — and even fewer are highly qualified to do.

Michael Aucoin, author of From Engineer to Manager: Mastering the Transition, found that most engineers are unhappy with the "promotion" to manager, saying, "Much of this frustration is the result of lack of preparation and training."

Outside of the technical challenges engineering managers face, three major issues make engineering management a difficult profession:

• Engineering managers need soft skills to be effective. Too often emphasis is placed on technical ability as a primary job requirement. Without the ability to influence others, make good decisions and manage many priorities, top-notch technical skills aren't going to contribute much to the management of the team. Engineering managers who find themselves lacking in soft skills (you know who you are) must pursue training whenever possible to shore up business skills, communications skills, presentation skills, leadership skills, and so on. And executive management must support such training.

• Expectations of an engineering manager are unrealistic. It's rare to find an engineering manager who's the total package: technical, business and leadership skills all rolled into one — with a side order of interpersonal abilities to boot. Regardless, engineering managers must delegate responsibilities, and, again, their supervising managers must  be supportive. Expecting engineering managers to be superhuman is sure to lead to disappointment.

• The engineering manager role lacks profit/loss responsibility. Without direct responsibility for profits and losses, engineering managers won't be fully recognized as strategic leaders. Often, engineering managers don't receive the same level of support, recognition, raises and promotions that their peers in sales or marketing enjoy.
  

Avoiding the Pitfalls

Executives can support the engineering managers they supervise in a number of constructive ways. Likewise, engineering managers can employ some simple strategies to improve their effectiveness — and that of their engineering team. Following are five simple strategies for helping engineering managers succeed.

Align Resources Well

Executive management should encourage engineering managers to delegate and make the most of their existing strengths. If their strength is leadership, they should delegate management functions such as scheduling, project planning details, and so on. The more experienced engineers should be serving as project leaders, maybe even taking on some of the management responsibilities.

If an engineering group is responsible for more than a couple of major projects, fully dedicated project managers can manage projects, rather than expecting an engineering manager to be responsible for managing all the projects. To make this work, many organizational structures and project management models are available to choose from. Trying out different models as needed — and being open-minded when you may need to try a new approach — will enhance the performance of your engineering team.

When people with the right skills aren't available and budget doesn't allow hiring full-time help for the engineering manager, consider retaining a qualified consultant with skills that complement the engineering manager's strengths. The right consultant can also serve as a trainer and coach. An effective coach will not only help managers and staff develop skills, but can also provide counsel for relieving stress and improving overall job satisfaction.

Also, unless the engineering team is very small — fewer than eight people — expecting a manager to also function as a technical contributor to any significant degree is unrealistic and unwise. Very few people can be effective as managers while performing complex technical day-to-day work.

Foster Professionalism and Trust

Since engineering managers and the engineers they manage are highly educated and well paid, they bring a high level of professionalism to their work, and expect to be treated accordingly. However, too often highly paid professionals feel like their professionalism is questioned — that they aren't trusted. Executive management seldom realizes this perception even exits.

Teamwork expert Patrick Lencioni emphasizes the importance of trust, because the lack of it, he says, creates a fundamental "dysfunction" that hinders most teams. According to Lencioni, the key to building trust is building rapport among associates. Executives and engineering managers alike should practice MBWA (managing by wandering around) and "open door" policies to build rapport with staff, if they want to build trust among team members.

Invest in Soft Skills

Technical professionals need a combination of technical skills, business skills and interpersonal skills. For engineering managers, technical skills are usually least important, and their professional development focus should be on skills that will help a manager grow as a key leader of the business. Some engineering managers prefer not to go too far down the leadership path and will continue to place a higher value on their technical skills — after all, those skills are probably what got them noticed in the first place, and they're comfortable with their technical abilities. Technically proficient engineering managers who aren't willing to expand their expertise into leadership, may not be the best fit for engineering management roles.

Engineering managers who are contemplating attending a technical conference, consider sending one of your staff engineers instead and investing in leadership training for yourself. To be competitive with other employers today, executive management should budget a minimum of $3,000 annually for the professional development of each engineering manager on staff. It's not uncommon for companies that invest significantly in employee development to spend more than $5,000 annually for training and development of one key individual. If you're an engineering manager and you're not getting the training you need, you need to broach the subject with your manager and explain why you need the training .

Set Realistic Expectations

There's an epidemic in industry where estimates from the experts doing the work don't align with dictated schedules. Essentially, it's a trust issue — experts' realistic estimates are questioned by eager executives who want things done faster. Engineering managers often find themselves between a rock (usually a boulder) and a hard place. Executives should trust that estimates are valid unless there are concrete reasons not to, and when estimates don't align with business needs, put the effort into making project plans realistic.

The scheduling vs. estimates problem is especially prevalent in the software industry. Software development guru Michael Cusumano's 2004 study of software projects found that 75 to 80 percent of software projects are late or over budget. Many projects are classified as being late according to the "schedule" — not the original "estimates," which often are much closer to reality.

Lack of trust works both ways. When business leaders don't have faith in their experts' estimates, and they set unrealistic objectives, employees may lack faith in their leadership.

Provide Benefits Other Than Pay

In today's global market, engineering skills are often viewed as a commodity, and outsourcing to reduce costs is having a dramatic effect on technology workers in the United States. Whether outsourcing is ultimately good or bad, executives should be aware that many U.S. engineering professionals today feel that their profession is not held in high regard.

In addition to paying engineering managers well, rewards are necessary so that managers are enthusiastic enough to perform up to their full potential. For technical managers, the additional rewards that will usually be the most satisfying are recognition and providing adequate resources for the projects and people they're managing. Recognition is especially valuable when results are expressed in terms of bottom-line contributions.

It's easy to figure out what benefits engineering managers appreciate — just ask them. Some of the most important perks that will boost their enthusiasm are easy to fulfill and inexpensive. Examples of powerful morale boosters include informal recognition events, flex or comp time, food items and gift cards. A good sign is when engineering managers express more concern for the well-being of their staff than additional benefits for themselves.

The aforementioned suggested actions should make a big impact in companies that aren't already supporting engineering managers sufficiently.

This article has been reprinted with the author's permission.

Gary C. Hinkle is chair of the IEEE Oregon Section and president of Auxilium, Inc. Comments may be submitted to todaysengineer@ieee.org. Opinions expressed are the author's.