Do engineers make good managers?
I remember an occasion, some years ago, when we had to prepare for some important visitors. Everyone had been busy cleaning, painting and tidying up for weeks. The visit was now imminent and there was a final push to make sure everything would be perfect. The Manufacturing Director decided to visit the shop-floor. This was quite a rare event. He wandered about, wiping his finger over surfaces and looking for something amiss. Oddly, he was carrying an apple. After a while he spotted a labourer sweeping up. He marched over to him and said, “Well done, that looks very good.” He then presented him with the apple, turned on his heels and marched back to his office. The labourer was left dumbfounded with the apple, and the rest of us wondered what planet the Director was on.
On another occasion, more recently, a manager asked me to pick him up after he had left his car for a service. I told him I didn’t know where to go, so he instructed me to follow him. He then drove off at speed. I leapt into a pool car and did my best to keep up with him. Not only did he seem to have no consideration for the fact that I was trying to follow him, but through multiple round-abouts and junctions he never indicated once. This seemed to be a perfect metaphor for his management style. No indication of future direction and a lack of consideration for those he was leading.
Now I had a great deal of respect for both of those individuals as engineers, and at face value engineers should make good managers. Usually analytical, good at managing risk, innovative and excellent with figures, engineers possess many attributes required of a manager. So why do so many engineers, like my two examples, seem to struggle?
In my experience, successful managers are good with people. They are usually approachable and get the best out of individuals and teams by being good at listening, giving clear direction and praising good results. They need to be firm but fair and they need to make clear decisions in a timely manner.
Some of these attributes don’t seem to come naturally to engineers, but I think if an engineer can develop good communication skills and the ability to make timely decisions, rather than waiting for additional information, then they can make excellent managers.
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16 Apr 2012
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Readers' comments (28)
This seems to be backed up by some research that Google did. They gathered 10,000 observations to find out what made better bosses in their organisation.
They found the following eight attributes were the most important for a manager to be an outstanding manager. They were, in order of priority:
1. Be a good coach and have regular one to ones, presenting solutions tailored to your employees’ specific strengths.
2. Empower your team and don't micromanage.
3. Express interest in team members' success and personal well-being.
4. Don't be a sissy: be productive and results-oriented.
5. Be a good communicator and listen to your team.
6. Help your employees with career development.
7. Have a clear vision and strategy for the team.
8. Have key technical skills so you can help advise the team.
The people skills, the emotional intelligence skills, the ability to relate and build really strong, trusting relationships with people were MORE important than the technical skill of the manager.
If you want a resource to help with these 'soft' management skills, have a look at Alchemy for Managers. You can even get a free trial at http://www.peoplealchemy.co.uk
Cheers, Paul
I am so so tempted to post this article on our (software engineering) company's Intranet...we are managed by engineers (the mechanical and software variety), and communication is by far the biggest problem in the company. But I am almost certain that a slapping would ensue. Google says: Don't be a sissy! But our boss has serious (some well-founded) reservations about Google....
Don't think that this is a particular problem for engineers. We have some good, some average and some awful managers who are all engineers (or scientists at the least) but in other organization that I have worked for you get the same spread with other professions.
Managing people is hard and, unlike a calculation, it is not very easy too see where you are doing wrong (and of course some don’t care). A lot is to do with personality some people are born to lead some aren’t, you can probably learn to be competent but I am not sure that you can learn to be a good manager if you don’t have some natural ability first.
Some of these are very true. I intend forwarding this article to some of our top bosses.
Watch the movie "Moneyball". It will show the difference between a good fact and evidence based manager and the usual useless one. The more poor manager that cannot measure performances the fairest possible way anyone can remove of office the better the company will run.
It seems nobody is happy. I find it bad to be managed by non technical people because they are incapable of creating or understanding any strategy which is the primary responsibility. Making me feel warm inside and chatting and being firm but fair are all total side issues which just depend on someone's personality. Good work results from being able to fit people to the problem so you do need both skills and hence we aren't all fitted for managenent except that a lot of management aren't fitted either.
In my experience there are engineers who make good and bad managers, but at least they are conscious of the 'intangible' and 'grey' areas that exist in every organisation, whereas accountants see everything as 'black' or 'white', usually to the long term detriment of the organisation
I recommend that everyone reads David Mackay's book Sustainable energy - without the hot air (free on the internet)
...then come back and comment, it may change some views out there.
Hmmm. Aren't there two unspoken assumption here? 1. That 'managing' isn't a proper job in its own right - therefore with its own training, practical learning processes and qualifications - but rather something that people who do have proper jobs (as it may be 'engineers') will pick up as a matter of course with advancing years (like hair-loss)? No suggestion that an engineer wanting to move into management should look to add an MBA to her C. Eng as part of that process for example? and 2. That in so far as 'Management' is a proper job - its at a higher level than mere 'Engineer'.
Pete
I can understand the disconnect between the role of management and engineer at times. Some aren't destined for both and yet may excel at one or the other.
My problem is when dealing with the former, as the mantra of cost efficiencies and bottom lines tend to supersede the well functioning of an established process or design.
The horror of business people making certain engineering decisions explains much of the disarray of the current state of affairs, both economic and environmental. The power of uninformed decision.
On the other hand I've worked with an industrial engineer as project management for R&D and is well equipped with the skill sets necessary to understand work requirements, expectations, manpower, projections and throughput. That and all of the extra operations management training they receive compared to other engineering disciplines (mine included) gives them an edge in this arena.
And they usually have a sufficiently strong technical grasp to understand the greater agenda as an engineer.
Personally I'm just a research scientist, nothing more... nothing less.
Perhaps with time, wisdom and training I could evolve in to a proficient CSO. Until then I'm a proud lab monkey.
Cheers ^_^