Leadership Archives

Shameless Treatment to Challenge Imposter Syndrome

It might be feeling out of place or unprepared for a task. Imposter Syndrome is real and it is something all professionals contend with.

I believe everyone experiences some level of Imposter Syndrome at several different points in their careers. It could be just a feeling of being out of place. Maybe it’s a delegated task that you feel you have no business being involved in or being offered a promotion simply because of your actions. Both of these scenarios can spark self-doubt, commonly called imposter syndrome. Treating imposter syndrome takes effort but it doesn’t need to be something you don’t immediately want to take on!

Let’s walk through 3 great ways to shamelessly tackle the challenges of self-doubt together!

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Shameless Treatment to Challenge Imposter Syndrome Read More »

Great Project Managers are the official Mortar of Engineering

Leave a Comment / Leadership, Project Management

Being a great project manager means you need to be the mortar that holds your team together. You are vital to your company's success.

The strength of a masonry wall depends on various factors, including the type of masonry material used (e.g., brick, concrete block, stone), the quality of the construction, and design considerations. Generally, a well-constructed masonry wall can resist the highest load and stress. Mortar is the material that holds the individual masonry units together. In an engineering firm, Project Managers are the mortar of all engineering projects.

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Great Project Managers are the official Mortar of Engineering Read More »

3 Reasons Repeat Clients Are the Best Clients

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Clients come in all shapes and sizes. Some clients are “difficult” while others make you say, “I wish all of our clients were like you.” Unfortunately, we remember the difficult ones because of the challenges they presented, whether it was their unreasonable ‘center of the world’ demands or the general stress they caused us. For engineering professionals, these can be one-off clients who only need your services for a specific scenario or repeat clients who have the potential to be long-term relationships with an assortment of different projects over the years. Each has its own unique opportunities when it comes to repeat business.

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3 Reasons Repeat Clients Are the Best Clients Read More »

Engage and Empower Staff while Improving your Systems

Leave a Comment / Leadership, Quality Management

6 steps of a Project Debriefing

The 6 steps of a Project Debrief are purposefully designed to help the team members share their experiences, challenges, and emotions. Through factual discussion and the sharing of different perspectives, the program is intended to identify and resolve issues while recognizing and acknowledging successes. A willingness to adapt and improve your systems is vital. A willingness to engage and empower your staff to improve opens doors of opportunity.

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Engage and Empower Staff while Improving your Systems Read More »

How Span of Control Impacts the Quality of Work

Leave a Comment / Leadership

Span of Control is a concept that I learned in my emergency services training both in the fire service and law enforcement corrections. Yet this topic is not something I read or hear about often, if ever, in the engineering community. The idea behind this concept is based on how many people a leader can effectively manage in a given scenario. In the emergency services world, this normally works best in the range of 2 to 5 people. In the business world, this range may extend upwards to 10 or more subordinates to one leader. There are a lot of factors that go into determining how many subordinates one leader can effectively manage. Each and every situation will be different.

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How Span of Control Impacts the Quality of Work Read More »

Leverage Your Quality System to Combat Burnout

Leave a Comment / Leadership, Quality Management

I was concerned about where the civil engineering industry was in March 2020 as shutdowns and emergency directives from the government sought to limit the spread of COVID-19. My mind reverted to the housing bubble pop of 2008. I remember the lack of development engineering work that was experienced, lasting well after the initial collapse. Yet as we move toward two full years of a pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 800,000 Americans*, the engineering and construction industries are strong and growing. For many, 2021 proved to be a year of challenges to deliver the work on time to clients. Keep in mind, that as workload increases, so does the possibility of employee burnout.

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Leverage Your Quality System to Combat Burnout Read More »

4 Great Traits My Kids Remind Me to Embrace

Leave a Comment / Leadership

Learning new things can be hard in itself, let alone implementing new policies and guidelines in the workplace. I have the privilege of raising two wonderful children with my wife. My oldest is 9* and she is showing what I believe is an engineering brain with her inquisitive and curious nature. My youngest is 6* and he constantly seeks our approval in both doing what is right and letting him do things to help around the house. After spending a wonderful long holiday weekend with my family, during a bit of a time of reflection, I realized four traits that my children show over and over again in their daily routines and they are things that we, as adults, can learn from. Let me describe how my kids reminded me how important perseverance, patience, asking questions, and trying are to our success in life.

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4 Great Traits My Kids Remind Me to Embrace Read More »

Todd Burrier: How His 3 Circles Changed My Life

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In the fall of 2018, I began Leadership Carroll, a professional learning course provided by the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce. The first two days of the course are at a retreat focused on team building and personal development as a leader. The second day of the workshop-style sessions literally changed my life forever: Because was introduced to Mr. Todd Burrier.

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Todd Burrier: How His 3 Circles Changed My Life Read More »

How Does Your Team Compare to Cookies?

Leave a Comment / Leadership

With the holidays just around the corner, I look forward every year to making cookies with my children. I am normally responsible for the chocolate chip cookies while my wife and her siblings handled the sugar cookie creations.

If you know me and have spent time with me, especially working with me, you will know that my mind flows in a million different directions at any given time. It is no different when doing things around the house including baking cookies. When making cookies last year, I noticed the various ingredients spread across the kitchen counter, ready to be mixed for the next batch of batter when I literally thought, “is the team of people I work with like a cookie?” In that moment, I began to want the team I work on to be a cookie.

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How Does Your Team Compare to Cookies? Read More »

The 3 Types of People Exceptional Leaders Embrace

Leave a Comment / Leadership

Throughout my career, I have had the privilege of working directly with hundreds of people and indirectly acquainted with thousands. I have had the opportunity to learn from a diverse variety of managers and leaders in several different organizations. The end result is the development of a concept that considers the similarities and differences of human personality. It further challenges each employee and manager to be a STAR.

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The 3 Types of People Exceptional Leaders Embrace Read More »