Leadership Essentials for Engineers

The majority of challenges that organizations face are technology related. Given the growing importance of technology, the demand for leaders with an engineering background will probably rise. Already a quarter of the CEOs of the world's 100 largest corporations have engineering degrees.

Engineers have the potential to be good leaders. They are analytical and tech-savvy. They are comfortable with figures. They often have a can-do attitude. However, these characteristics alone are not enough to make engineers effective leaders.

• How to apply a set of practical analytical techniques to support business planning and strategic decision making
• How to encourage multiple stakeholders with different interests to cooperate
• How to recognize team dynamics and handle both individual and team issues
• How to gain support from senior management and your teams

• Managers of engineers and scientists looking to hone their business and leadership skills
• Engineers and scientists on a career path to develop into technical managers
• Cross-functional team leaders who interface with scientists and engineers

In this program, you will learn that a good leader needs at least three mindsets, supporting the development of essential leadership skills:

• The analytical mindset- This mindset is about the ability to analyze complex problems and opportunities as a basis for making strategic decisions. It is about developing a strategy in a systematic way and preparing for action. This mindset taps into the strengths of engineers.
• The influencing mindset- Designing solutions and strategies, however, is about more than analysis. In our interconnected and complex world, leaders are faced with stakeholders, both internal and external, who might have completely different views. Problems and challenges are often ambiguous. This mindset looks at all these issues and finds common ground and ways of producing willing consensus in teams and stakeholders.
• The sensemaking mindset- The first two mindsets require a high tolerance of complexity. Leadership is also about communicating, inspiring and convincing people and teams inside and outside the organization. This mindset is about translating complexity into powerful and concise messages so people can understand and make sense of the complexity of their world.

• Presentation & Slides
• Audio Visual Aids
• Interactive Discussion
• Participatory Exercise
• Action Learning
• Class Activities
• Case Studies
• Workshops
• Simulation