New Engineering
Manager

“I had a minor managerial role four or five years ago. If I am honest, I don’t think I was ready for it. I realised I wasn’t enjoying it. So, I took on technical position. But now, I feel I am ready and my objective over the last couple of years has been to work on my leadership and mentoring skills. My longer-term goal is to work in project management.

“I want to learn more about managing people, managing teams and understanding myself a bit more – to be a stronger engineer and a more confident person and leader. Taking this course was a big part of that. It also aligned with one of my key objectives for CPD last year. I completed the IMechE’s Aspiring Engineering Manager training in 2018 and, talking with my manager, we agreed this next stage was the right course.”

“The two days were intensive but enjoyably intensive. The tutor, Paul Taylor, was very engaging and there was a great flow to the two days. He encouraged us not to look at the course handbook but refer to it once the two days were over as a reflective process. I wouldn’t normally do that but I took his advice to the letter – it was really effective to focus on the content and interface with the other attendees. It meant I was fully focused on the content.

“There were seven delegates and none of us were in the same industry. There was a nice mix of people who were already at a manager level doing a bit of a refresher, and others who were new to managerial positions. It was one of the best things about the course – learning from other people’s experiences and industries, and realising that you can apply these techniques regardless of what industry you’re in.

“The first day explored management styles and techniques, with us all discussing them in depth under guidance from Paul. I found some of the techniques we covered very interesting, such as DiSC profiling and Robert Cialdini’s six principles of persuasion and negotiation. Cialdini, in particular, instinctively made sense to me.

“On the second day, we completed a number of exercises, including role play to practise coaching. For example, I recall an exercise where we asked someone in our team to do something outside of their comfort zone and then tried to persuade them to do that. It was putting Cialdini into practice.”

1 “You will learn that communicating is so much more than just words – tone and body language play much bigger roles. I didn’t really think about it until the course. It seems so deeply obvious now!”

2 “You will understand what your strengths are and as well as your blind spots. I have found that very useful.”

3 “You will learn about different techniques to engage with others, such as Robert Cialdini’s Principles of Persuasion.”

“I made quite a lot of notes and revisit them regularly. You can’t apply everything straightaway. Some of the techniques need practice to build on your own experiences and you need to have the confidence that it’s OK if you fail first time. Paul reiterated throughout the course that your particular leadership and management style is always in development. It’s a skill that you can hone and refine.

“One of the big learnings for me was the more flexible you are, the more effective you can be as a manager. It seems obvious in some ways but that kind of hit home. We often work in silos and It’s helped me be more open-minded and to push outside of my lane.

“I have been able to use some of the techniques when I was offshore. It can be a high-pressure environment there but the techniques were very useful. I am also an MPDS mentor and I have been able to apply the coaching techniques of what we covered straight away with my mentee. It’s helped me support them and push them to the next level.

“I took full advantage of the optional Engineer360 appraisal the IMechE offers at no extra cost. It gives personal feedback on five competences as required and defined by the Engineering Council. That was eye opening – in a good way! – and really useful. The appraisal has given me more confidence in areas where I am strong but didn’t really appreciate. It has also made me aware of a couple of skills I need to work on. For example, I give a lot of positive feedback but I find it more difficult to give negative feedback. I need to work on that.”

1 “Consider what you want to get out of the course – both during and afterwards. I found completely disconnecting from the day-to-day work to focus on the course and reflecting on the sessions really helped me make the most of the opportunity.”

2 “Try to switch off from the day job to make the most of it. It is difficult to do that, but for me it was nice to be away from work, go to London and really focus on the course with no distractions. It’s difficult to find that kind of time in everyday life.”

3 “Sign up for the Engineer360 programme. It provides additional insights and encourages your team to provide valuable feedback. I really recommend it.”

“I have no interest right now in further academic development after around 20 years of this, but I am interested in my personal development and working on my soft skills. I’ve completed quite a bit of professional and personal development recently – including this course.

“The course included great references, suggestions of books on management styles and techniques – Paul recommended even more, and I have a list covering a wide variety of skillsets which I plan to tackle when these apply more to my role.