Leadership Skills for Technical Professionals
Society of Women Engineers ‘14 National Conference23 October 2014 - Los Angeles
Jill Almaguer, PE, MBA, PMPCarla Fair-Wright, PMP, MCTS, CSQEMarie Laplante, SWE Fellow
Disclaimer
OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE SOLELY MY OWN AND DO NOT EXPRESS THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF MY EMPLOYER.
What I learned from Business SchoolJ ILL ALMAGUER, PE, MBA, PMP
PROGRAM MANAGER
TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE
Key Management Concepts Matrix: people focus vs task focus
Interviewing: Will do vs can do
Management Theory: X vs Y
Management By Wandering Around (MBWA)
Conflict Resolution Modes
Avoiding (or Withdrawing) Someone who uses Passive communication style may tend to avoid or withdraw from conflict
Avoidance does not resolve conflict
Conflict will recur again and again
Passive aggressive behavior may occur if conflict is not resolved
Avoidance could be used short term to buy time to prepare a long term resolution
Forcing Competing
Being uncooperative
Being assertive
Can be result of escalation of conflict to higher levels
Win-lose outcome
Smoothing (or Accommodating) Reduces emotion involved
Emphasizes areas of agreement
Keeps parties engaged in finding resolution
Creates good will
Confronting (or Collaborating) Face to face meeting between conflicting parties
Also called Problem Solving according to PMBOK, 4th Edition, pg 240
Examine alternatives
Requires give-and-take attitude and open dialog
Collaborate and integrate for a win-win
Compromising Could be win-win or lose-lose outcome
Orange example
May be result of confronting
Solution should have some degree of satisfaction for all parties per PMBOK p 240
What I learned from school of hard knocks
HIRE THE BEST PEOPLE
DEVELOP THEM
GIVE THEM AN ENVIRONMENT TO DO THEIR BEST WORK (ENGAGEMENT)
4 PERSONALITY TYPES
Analytical
Expressive
Amiable
Driver
Leading teams Team building activities
Shared vision
Shared plans
Modify your style to communicate
Each team member has different motivation
Stages of group dynamics
Adult learning techniques (3Ps)
What I learned from SWE Leadership Coaching Committee
3 styles of management◦ Authoritarian◦ Participative◦ Laisez Faire
Orange example of a win-win
Summary Key takeaways
Storms are inevitableConflicts unresolved = loss of productivityLeaders need to connect individually to engage a diverse teamPreparation + Practice = Performance
Contact information
References A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) 4th Edition, published by Project Management Institute (PMI), pg. 240
Projects, Programs, and Project Teams, Advanced Program Management, Edited by Hiegel, James and Cesario, published by Wiley Custom Services for Keller Graduate School of Management, pgs. 354-355
Organizational Behavior and Performance, 4th Edition, Szilagyi (UH) and Wallace (Univ. KY)
Lead with Heart, Transformational Leadership for the 21st Century by Mark Crowley
Jill Almaguer, PE, MBA, PMP
Registered Professional Engineer in Texas for over 20 years (B.S. in Bioengineering from TAMU)
Managed large project teams at HP, Agilent Technologies, Texas Medical Center, Harris Health System, SWE
Experience in healthcare, IT, telecom, semi-conductors, education, energy
Adjunct Faculty, DeVry University
Certified Project Management Professional, member PMI
Program Manager, Texas Heart Institute
Biomedical Engineering Society Houston Industry Chapter Co-Chair
Biomedical Engineering Dept. Industry Advisory Board, Texas A&M Univ.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
LEARN TO BUILD AND NURTURE RELATIONSHIPSIn a cold world you need your friends to keep you warm
MARIE LAPLANTE
CTE UTILITIES, KBR PROCESS ENGINEERING
SWE FELLOW
BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS Meet people – the right people
Do your homework
Set yourself up in the right environment
Be prepared – have your “elevator speech” or short introduction ready
Elevator Speech:- Name- What you do- Value Proposition
NURTURING AND GROWING RELATIONSHIPS
Follow-up
Remember important things about your new colleague
Fill the (emotional) bank account
Make the effort to reconnect occasionally
Ask how you can help
MANAGER, MENTOR, SPONSOR, COACH…WHAT DO I REALLY NEED?
Manager – your boss. Need to keep happy.
Mentor – offers guidance, but has no authority to help you
Sponsor – ally and person of influence
Coach – paid help to identify and improve skills
NEVER EAT ALONE - THE SWE VERSION
Get away from your work and office
Connect in person
Use time to conduct SWE work, get work advice, just be friends
These are your real allies and mentors. They are not your work neighbors.
SUMMARY Identify and meet the right people
Stay connected
Get out of the office
Grow your network
Develop your personal board of directors
ABOUT THE SPEAKERMarie Laplante earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is a certified City of Houston First Grade Stationary Engineer and Six Sigma Green Belt. She is employed in KBR’s Process Engineering group as Chief Technology Engineer, Utilities. Her early career was focused in operations and project management in chemical manufacturing. Moving to the business side, she sold environmental technologies and helped American customers reduce emissions in the refining, petrochemical, and power generation sectors. She also worked in project management leading product development programs for coal gasification. She has been very active in the Society of Women Engineers and has served at the local, regional and national levels for more than 20 years. She is currently SWE’s national ethics committee chair, serves on the audit committee, and is a section representative. She also serves as CFO for Global Institute for Technology and Engineering (GIFTE) and is a member of the Education Foundation of Harris County. Marie has also been a judge with For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (F.I.R.S.T.) robotics for 15 years at regional and championship competitions. She is also a longtime member of MentorNet and enjoys working with young women who aspire to enter the science and engineering professions. She has been recognized for contributions as an engineer, as a leader in the community, and mentor to younger engineers with awards from her university and SWE.
Managing your Directs
CARLA FAIR-WRIGHT, PMP, MCTS, CSQE
PROJECT MANAGER
CHEVRON
Contents• Learning Objectives
• Introductions
• The role of a Manager
• Working with your reports One-On-Ones Feedback & Coaching Delegation
•Summary
• Q & A
• Speaker Evaluations
Learning Objectives To understand core management competencies To gain a greater understanding of the psychology of leadership Help participants become better managers To understand what emotional triggers make men and women
strong or weak as leaders.
The Role of the Manager
To create a supportive work environment where people can function at their highest
potential to advance the mission of the organization
To provide leadership for the team and manage the
performance and responsibilities of everyone
in the group.
To nurture a strong sense of common
commitment to shared goals.
Family vs. Career
Define what “having it all” means to you
Family
Partner Children
Career
Roadmap
Building Your TeamCommunications is key
One-on-Ones
Teams are built on trust - trust is developed through communication
Regularly, weekly, 30 minutes meeting
• 10 minutes for your direct• 10 minutes for you• 10 minutes to talk about future
One-On-One Rules of Engagement
Must be scheduled• Signals to your direct that you are available• Says you are valuable to me
Rules of Engagement• No taking control• No putting agenda above the purpose• Let them talk
º
Feedback & CoachingReal
Safe &
Effective
Emotionally Neutral
Feedback Model
Future Change
Outcome
PermissionBehavior
May I give you some feedback?
When you get the reports done early(Behavior)
We have more time to review (Outcome)
Thank you(I want this to continue!)
Delegating
Match the job to the talent. Assignment should not be based
on availability
Level of expected performance should
be communicated
Difficulty in delegating work is a common pitfall for a manager, especially a new manager
Delegating - ContinuedDelegate Don’t Abdicate
Train and instruct.
Validate and give feedback.
Be very clear on what you expect.
Keep the lines of communication open.
Report should understand how to handle problems that arise, safe work practices, and proper use of any Personal Protective Equipment needed.
Set up deadlines and reporting dates. Don't accept incomplete work.
Communicate what level of performance is acceptable, and what rate of improvement is expected.
Give help and suggestions as needed.
Summary
The Most Important Skill Is Knowing How to Build a Team
Communication is key to building trust
Feedback on behavior only
Delegate based on individual strengths and weaknesses
Magazines and Websites on Leadership and Management
There are many magazines and journals on topics related to management such as Forbes, Harvard Business Review, Fortune.
Below are magazines that carry articles related to leadership:
Business & LeadershipFast CompanyInc.
Leadership ExcellenceMcKinsey QuarterlyMIT Sloan Management ReviewManagement Today Magazine
INSEAD - Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires Management Today - South-Africa's leading Business Journal
Wharton – Knowledge@Wharton Vistage - World’s foremost chief executive leadership organization.
ABOUT THE SPEAKERCarla Fair-Wright, PMP, CSQE, MCTS is a software engineer with over 17 years of experience in the IT industry. She is an IT Project Manager for Chevron, currently working in Global Power.
Carla is the chapter author of two books, 'Encyclopedia of Energy Engineering and Technology' and 'Case Studies and Applications of Web Based Energy Information and Control Systems.' She has been featured in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) magazine, Maintenance Technology, and CODE Magazine.
Questions