Training Young Engineers on Soft Skills 39

[KernOily]

Good afternoon guys. I would like to hear from you supervisors and lead engineers on your ideas on training young engineers on soft skills. As you all know, the most difficult and most frustrating part by far of the real working world is working with other people. Also, as you all know, being technically proficient will only get you so far in the world.
In engineering school, students are largely isolated from this until perhaps their senior design seminar during which they are put on a small team to develop a project. Upon graduation, they get out in the real world and find out pretty quick that real life in industry ain’t too much like college, and one finds oneself unprepared for this reality thus forcing the learning of soft skills by hard knocks and OJT.

Some example “soft skills” might be these (a short list):
• How to communicate effectively with others
• How to select the best communication vehicle for a message, e.g. email, verbal, phone call, etc.
• How to manage your supervisor
• How to get work done by people over whom you have no direct reporting authority
• How to know when to cc your boss on emails and when you don’t need to
• How to work with other people who have communication styles different from your own

Just wondering how you all have managed this, if at all. Maybe hard knocks is the only way? I guess I could buy them all a copy of “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and The Golden Rule, as a starting point. I might still do that.

Thanks guys! Pete

 

[MacGyverS2000]

"Go over the org chart to identify people they can trust and go to and those they can't"

That struck me as a potentially dangerous and unwise bit of advice.

I thought the same, but then I tried to read it in another light.

Perhaps "can't trust" is not the proper terminology. Maybe if it read "identify people who can be expected to provide pertinent information to helping your career versus those who are more concerned with merely solving their own problems." Not as reactive a statement, but does help separate the folk who can truly help you versus the ones who are simply there to do their own job.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[truckandbus]

MacGyver and Greg-

You are both correct in that a review of the org chart shouldn't be used to project my own beliefs about a person into another person's head and 'trust' probably wasn't a good word.

I use the org chart to differentiate between the figure heads and those that actually make the organization run; to identify people with specific skill sets that would prove useful

Good catch and clarification

 

[BraunP]

Go over the org chart to identify people they can trust and go to and those they can't

Review and edit their emails/memos and explain why changes are needed and why word choices matter until they can create a decent email/memo on their own

Assign benign tasks early on to confirm 'they get it' before assigning more significant tasks

I've also compiled a list of 'what they don't teach you in school' articles that I pass down occasionally

One-on-one feedback sessions monthly that are not project specific but rather focus on the soft skills

Thanks for the hard info brother; exactly what I was looking for.

minus the org chart point, I feel if this was covered not only in collage but also in high school, it would have benefited greatly. the only thing I might add is how to write a progression document for a project, so that anyone will know what point you are at in the project, what came in, what have been implemented etc. That is something in my work I need to do often just in case I either leave or get sick, someone else can pick up where I left off with little set back.

 

[1gibson]

You should try to do favors for everybody. Don't go out looking for them, and don't take on a bunch of wish lists or research projects. But if someone asks if you can help them out for 10 minutes, the answer should usually be yes. Just take a crack at it, you'll learn something along the way, and maybe even a partial solution or suggesting a certain approach will get them past a roadblock.

When it starts taking up too much time, change the response to "sure, just run it by my boss first." Initially, everyone will appreciate your help and your time. Once availability of your time is restricted, that appreciation suddenly turns into value. These are two VERY different concepts, and it took me about 6 years to figure that out. It took my first employer another 2 years (and multiple direct explanations) but they didn't get it until the last day of my 2 week notice, which of course was too late.

The basic premise of a career is to continually increase the value of your time. Of course a major part of that is building skills, an equal part is building relationships and getting other people to recognize those skills.

 

[MacGruber22]

I also am still in the fundamental stage of my learning so...

Oh the contradictions and irony of posting in this thread.

KernOily - you are asking earnest and thoughtful questions without whining or bragging. That in of itself is an EXCELLENT base for developing good soft skills. The bad news - a lot of the answers to those questions are not deterministic in nature, i.e. you are going to have to live through various human interactions, make mistakes, adjust and try again.

 

[SkipVought]

Hi,

Just a retired EE, who became a computer geek when he grew up, and now posts primarily in Tek-Tips and occasionally here.

"What we have here is a failure to communicate," for you Cool Hand Luke fans.

I'd recommend that such youths join a local Toastmasters club, where they will be strongly encouraged and trained in the art of communication. They'll get lots of peer review feedback from a cross section of the community. It's a great training ground and test bed for honing at least the speaking part of communication, that should bleed over into the written arena.

Skip,
[sub]
Just traded in my OLD subtlety...
for a NUance![/sub]

 

[FeX32]

I recently read a quote:
" 90% of your financial success will be due to your communication skills, 10% due to your technical competency."

 

[MikeHalloran]

You need to PRIVATELY construct and study the REAL org chart, not the public one.

Meetings are a good place to gather data for sketching it out, with an interpersonal interaction graph. Draw the seating arrangement, with initials. When someone speaks, draw an arrow from them to the person to whom they seem to be speaking. Later you can get an idea of who is talking and who is listening.
IMPORTANT: Make it sloppy enough to be mistaken for a random doodle. You can put it in the margins of your real notes, which you should also take, religiously.





Mike Halloran
Pembroke Pines, FL, USA

 

[berkshire]

Right on Mike,
Get to see who the contributors and the time wasters are.
B.E.


You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[MacGyverS2000]

LPS for Mike. I have <ahem> recently encountered such a difference in org charts. Knowing who REALLY pulls the strings helps significantly.

Dan - Owner

http://www.Hi-TecDesigns.com

 

[FeX32]

oooo Mike that is a gold idea.