Foundations for Engineering Leadership develops a breadth of skills needed for leading teams, managing projects, and building influence with stakeholders. The format is a series of three, half-day online workshops limited to groups of five participants, with pre-work, post-work and instructor follow-up to assist with implementation. Participation is limited to ensure a balance of interaction, focus on individual needs, and learning from peers. The sessions are three consecutive days starting on the listed Registration Date. Private group or 1-on-1 sessions can also be scheduled.

A key objective of the workshop is to provide an approach to project planning that enables leading the development of realistic, comprehensive plans quickly. Traditional, agile, and hybrid project management methods are presented, with exercises that show how to plan projects for successful outcomes using best-practices that will fit within most existing product development processes.

Case studies and real-life examples illustrate how the principles apply on the job. The Foundations for Engineering Leadership case studies and examples are drawn from a broad range of engineering team environments at small, medium, and large companies serving many industries. You will also benefit from the instructor’s direct experience contributing to successful engineering projects for over 25 years.

Participation in this workshop enables you to:

• Improve ability to lead projects and teams
• Identify leadership development goals specific to your needs
• Get support for ideas that will benefit your company
• Build rapport and trust with managers, executives, team members and peers
• Become more influential
• Improve team communication and collaboration
• Delegate effectively
• Manage remote team members
• Develop realistic, comprehensive plans quickly
• Improve the accuracy of project estimates
• Develop risk mitigation plans that consider internal and external dependencies

Schedule

Three half-day sessions are scheduled on consecutive days, Tuesday through Thursday. The registration date is the day of the first session. All sessions run from 1:00 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

Agenda

What is Leadership?

• Characteristics of a great leader
• Influence without authority
• How leadership facilitates good management
• Leadership myths and misconceptions

Leadership Challenges in Engineering Environments

• Understanding your audience
• Perception about benefits
• Getting support for new ideas
• Understanding management’s perspective
• Balancing your vision with team member ideas
• Case Study: “Wasting Time on Documentation”

Leadership vs. Management

• Leadership and management call on different abilities
• Warren Bennis’ perspective
• Management skills relevant to all engineers
• Self-assessment part one

Communication Strategies

• Becoming a better listener
• Fulfilling interests and engaging your audience
• Inspiring action
• Addressing diverse communication needs
• Goal-oriented communication

The Art of Influence

• Opportunities for building rapport
• Building rapport with managers and executives
• Helping others to see your view
• Give, take and compromise
• Self-assessment part two
• What to influence?
• Three important objectives

Dealing with Conflict

• Range of conflict
• Constructive, healthy conflict vs. destructive behavior
• Engaging conflict avoiders
• Ideal conflict model for innovation

Building Trust and Respect

• 20 elements of trust and respect
• John Maxwell’s Five Levels of Leadership
• Leading by example
• Case studies
• Self-assessment part three
• Development plan

Project Management Basics

• What is “Project Management” and why is it important?
• Project management terminology
• Project lifecycle
• Triple constraint
• Requirements management
• Project metrics

Project Planning

• Planning benefits
• Engineering project planning challenges
• Planning templates and checklists
• Internal and external dependencies
• Communication plans
• Project planning exercise

Project Lifecycle Models

• Waterfall model and modified waterfalls
• Spiral model
• Agile model
• Staged delivery
• Evolutionary delivery
• Design-to-schedule
• When to use ad-hoc methods
• Hybrid models
• Lifecycle model selection exercise

Project Estimating

• Prerequisites for accurate estimates
• Delphi method
• Analogy method
• Rapid prototyping method
• Top-down method
• Bottom-up method
• Best/worst case methods
• Work breakdown structure
• Estimation exercise

Project Scheduling

• Scheduling basics
• Milestones, targets and forecasts
• Scheduling tools
• Steps for creating a schedule

Risk Management

• Examples of risks
• Risk assessment and mitigation plans
• Risk brainstorming

Stakeholder Management

• Definition of stakeholders
• Levels of stakeholders
• Stakeholder relationships
• Communication and influence
• Stakeholder exercise

Teamwork & Delegation

• Building a strong cross-functional team
• When and how to delegate
• Overcoming teamwork obstacles
• Team member commitment and accountability

Project Execution

• Project success factors
• Overcoming resource challenges
• Using agile methods to drive progress
• Goal and task prioritization
• Getting support when needed
• Effective utilization of tools
• Assessing team member performance and yours

Your Leadership Challenges

• During the sessions and follow-up we’ll discuss solutions to your unique challenges