Introduction to Engineering Leadership-Free-Samples for Students

Question: Give examples of two Engineering Leaders for each of the Leadership traits and explained the strategy adopted by them to achieve these trait. Answer: Engineering leaders The most impactful engineering leadership is very simple. It offers great support for every team member, manages the coordination and execution of takes across teams and gives teams the opportunity to grow with at the same time working to innovate processes and the organization as a whole. Accepting risks and failures Jennifer Braganza and the Rosalind Fox are the two engineering leaders who have developed the leadership trait of accepting risks and failure as well as the need to ensure that their staff are willing to learn and move past the traditional ideas that all projects are supposed to follow the same course and that something might always go wrong no how carefully planned they are. Jennifer Braganza works at Bank of America as a business strategy manager; she has lead various entering projects of the company (Bort 2016). Rosalind Fox is responsible for one of John Deere's factories. Her work involves developing designs that will enhance employee safety and profitably by improving their work environment. These two leaders have been able to accept risks and failures by leaving behind the idea that a leader is supposed to be perfect and have realized that without failures, no one would be successful, and people will not learn from their mistakes, as a result, there would be no improvement (Ku yatt 2011). As today's leaders, these two women have shifted their mindset and learn that for them to be able to predict success, they need to take calculated risks and not every leader can do this, only those who have failed are the only ones who are bold enough to try. These two women have developed a trait many leaders do not have by realizing that there no other to experiment except through failure and you cannot be successful unless you dare to be different, accept failure and build a team with that same mindset. Many leaders prefer consistency but these two women are different as they know that change brings upon growths and they have put all their focus in teaching their staff venturing out of one's comfort zone is one of the biggest secrets to winning and that although sometimes you will make big mistakes, there is a high chance of incredible success (Farson Keyes 2002). These two leaders are always looking to show their staff that they should be grateful when at some point something in a project goes wrong because that is an opportunity to improve and create something even better that is out of the ordinary. Braganza and Fox encourage their staff always to remind themselves that winning or failing should not be that important. It is the feedback you get that matters the most; by taking risks and accepting failure, you will discover a lot about yourself which will increase the probability of you designing something great. Building and steering winning teams Two engineering leaders who have been successful in building and steering successful teams and have a talent for drawing in and retaining innovators are Sumita Basu and Eva Saravia. Sumita Basu is a strategist and technical assistant to the Intel general manager. She runs the technical group for client computing. Eva Saravia is the vice president of global programs at Bohemia Interactive Simulations an organization that develops simulations programs aimed to train military forces globally. Due to their hard work, they have been named some of the most powerful female engineers of the year 2016 (Bort 2016). These two women lead the most successful teams in the world, and they have been able to achieve this by laying the foundation before they begin the construction. They take the time to lay the foundation as a way to create a common framework for every team member (Deschamps 2008). They pay attention to team infrastructure and dynamics and make sure to address areas such the purpose o f the team, the function of each team member, the actual goal as well as the four stages of team development. They do not just assume that every team member is on the same page until the day of the official first meeting. They attract and retain innovators by transforming recruitment processes and making irresistible offers that will appeal to innovators in the markets especially fresh talent directly from the university and have developed a culture of innovation that considers no idea to be extreme (Wright Sachs 2013). High degree of passion for mission and innovation Jessica Rannow and Cynthia Breazeal are two engineering leaders who have a great passion for their mission and innovation and have gone to great lengths to share that passion with their staff and inspire them. Jessica Rannow works at AmerisourceBergen as a senior industrial engineer and engineering project manager; her daily tasks involve working with various teams to develop vision equipment as well as ensuring that supply-chain compliance needs are met. Cynthia Breazeal is the creator and CEO of Jibo, a company that is developing what is said to be the first domestic social robot in the world (Bort 2016). Rannow and Cynthia Breazeal have been able to develop this trait by putting all their energy and commitment in building a vision and deeply believing that opportunities to improve are endless and that there are endless alternative outcomes to everything (Baird Group n.d.). They have widened sights when it comes to the future and see things that might be considered to be impossible by others and are not scared to communicate them to their staff in a clear and precise in order to inspire them to think bigger, to think outside the box they are put in by organizational structures, rules, and procedures (Davies Brighouse 2010). These two leaders have their head connected to their heart, and this can be seen in the way they speak about their mission, powerful emotions are involved; they convey what is important to them and make their staff feel what they are feeling by the sense of urgency in their voices to build a better. These leaders have gone to extreme lengths to build a strong relationship with their staff based on trust and faith because of they can see that they believe in their mission with all their heart and soul. Communications plan for project Hytrans The circumstances surrounding AusElec are not the unusual ones, and as a result, things need to be done differently especially regarding communication. Given that not all team members in the same time zone, the best communication mediums to use are instant messaging, a discussion forum and a blog to exchange ideas on a daily basis. Then twice a week the team should hold a meeting through video conferencing to touch base and every member can express their opinions, and the team leader can compile the information they have so far. This communication plan is different from a traditional project communications plan in the sense where there will be no actual physical meeting between the team members which hinders their ability to build a strong rapport and produce better results. Benefits of face-to face communication for the success of project Hytrans Face-to-face meetings increase the probability of a project succeeding (Ashton College 2013). When individuals are interacting face-to-face, the frequent flow of nonverbal cues that we utilize are processed by their brains and used as the foundation for creating trust and professional intimacy; as a result, they are rich in information and AusElec will thrive under these circumstances. Although other means of communication such as email, offer the flexibility and convenience that face-to-face meetings do not, they diminish the value and accuracy of information because people interpret what they are told mostly based nonverbal cues such as body language, the tone of voice and facial expressions and not on the words (Husain 2013). So this particular project of AusElec will not be accomplished as effectively using other communications it will be difficult to know truly what the team members in the other locations are truly feeling or their real opinions regarding different issues. The s uccess of most projects is dependent on how strong the relationship between team members is; having a team meeting over lunch or a cup of coffee is the best way to build a strong rapport. Everybody will be at ease around each, and camaraderie will be built which will make it easier to share ideas and enhance credibility. It would be very easy for the team members assigned to this project by AusElec to misunderstand, misread or perceive an email as offensive when it was not meant as such, and this will slow down the process. Face-to-face will lessen the risk of miscommunication and speed up the flow of information. Lack of actual and physical human interaction will leave team member feeling disconnected which greatly affect productivity. Leaders need to be able to connect with the team for motivation purposes, and the quick and most effective to do is through face to face communication (Hunter n.d). It will be easier for the team leader to motivate the other members by directly speaking to them; a long and heartfelt email telling them how important and indispensable they are to the accomplishment of the project would not have the same impact as standing in front of them, smiling and looking at them in the eyes while you say the words would, it would make them feel much more special (Richman 2013). Face-to-face meetings provide immediate feedback which is very important as it will facilitate moving according to the schedule and accomplishing the project on time. However, it is important to acknowledge that sometimes it is impossible for all team members to be available for a face-to face meeting as is the case for project Hytrans, so the next best option is video conferencing which is almost as effective as face-to-face communication. References Ashton College 2013, The Importance of Face-to-Face Communication, viewed 5 August 2017, https://www.ashtoncollege.ca/the-importance-of-face-to-face-communication/ Baird Group n.d., Leading with Passion: 3 keys to sharing your enthusiasm, viewed August 2017, https://baird-group.com/articles/leading-with-passion-three-keys-to-sharing-your-enthusiasm Bort, J 2016, 26 of the most powerful female engineers in 2016, viewed 5 August 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/26-most-powerful-women-engineers-in-2016-2016-2?IR=T/#no-26-intels-sumita-basu-1 Davies, B Brighouse, T 2010, Passionate leadership, Management in Education, vol. 24, no.1. Husain, Z 2013, Effective communication brings successful organizational change, The Business Management, vol. 3, no. 2, viewed 5 August 2017 https://www.abrmr.com/myfile/conference_proceedings/Con_Pro_12315/7-dubai13.pdf Deschamps, J 2008, Innovation Leaders: How Senior Executives Stimulate, Steer and Sustain Innovation, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco. Hunter, B n.d., The Subtle Benefits of Face-To-Face Communication, viewed 5 August 2017, https://web.stanford.edu/class/symbsys205/facetoface.html Kuyatt, A 2011, Managing for Innovation: Reducing the Fear of Failure, Journal of Strategic Leadership, vol. 3, no. 2, pp.31-40, viewed 5 August 2017 https://brentdavies.co.uk/Web%20Articles/Passionate%20Leadership.pdf. 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