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Engineering Leadership Skills Matrix
Highly effective engineering leadership requires a set of
competencies that are impossible to achieve unless responsibilities are
delegated to project leaders, supervisors, team leads, or engineers who
are willing to share the load.
The table below lists most of the key
competencies that are required for effective engineering management, and
suggests various people in an engineering organization who could take on
these responsibilities.
It's not recommended that engineering
managers delegate all the responsibilities that have potential for
someone else to own, but enough should be delegated so managers can focus
on what's most important, what they're best at, and also the key
competencies they need to personally improve.
Depending on the size of the group, the
company's financial resources, organizational structure and policies, it may not be possible or
practical to have additional "managers" or "supervisors." Regardless
of any other considerations, it should always be possible to designate
certain engineers as project leaders or team leaders, and delegate
responsibilities to those leaders.
|
Competency |
Delegate to: |
| Technical
contributions |
Engineers |
| Project
management |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Employee
performance management |
Don't
delegate unless a strong leader is willing and capable. |
|
Performance reviews |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors. Engineers' self
evaluations and peer input increases quality of reviews and reduces
the manager's workload. |
|
Cross-group collaboration |
Don't
"delegate." Encourage collaboration and lead by example. |
| Knowledge
management |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers. Manager
must insure that company IP is properly documented and "transferred"
to people who need to know. |
| Influence |
Don't
delegate. Help everyone on the team become more influential. |
| Meeting
facilitation |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Project
reviews |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors |
| Design
reviews |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Status
reports |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
|
Communication with executives |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Engineers |
| Customer
relations |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Strategic
planning |
Don't
delegate. Get input from team but take ownership of strategic
plans. |
|
Negotiation |
Don't
delegate unless negotiation skills are excellent. Encourage
other team members to build negotiation skills. |
| Resource
allocation |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors |
| Budgeting
/ forecasting |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors |
| Task
prioritization and management |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
|
Engineering process development / management |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Employee
development |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
|
Interviewing / hiring |
Don't
delegate, but get others involved. |
|
Interpersonal problem solving |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Stress
management |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Coaching /
mentoring |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Continuous
improvement |
Project
Managers, Project Leaders, Supervisors, Engineers |
| Employee
empowerment |
Don't
delegate - empower! |
| Employee
motivation |
People
need to motivate themselves. Create an environment where
people find their own motivation! |
|
Accountability |
Don't
delegate. Lead by example. |
Again, no manager can be expected to excel
in all of these competencies (and this isn't even a complete list!) so
others need to step up and help engineering managers and team leaders if responsibilities
are not already distributed.
Engineering Management Assessment
Engineering Project Leader Assessment
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