Institution news
Members are invited to take part in a new survey to identify the leadership qualities of engineers.
We look for special qualities in those we choose to follow. Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner are the authors of bestselling books The Leadership Challenge and Credibility. In their work on leadership and followership over the last 30 years, they have found there are certain characteristics of people we willingly follow. Their research suggests that these qualities are cross-cultural and enduring. What is striking is that four qualities have consistently ranked as the top four, and these are also ranked top across different countries.
These four characteristics are like an “essential character test” that an individual must pass before others willingly follow them. So this sets up the intriguing purpose of this research: what are the characteristics of an admired engineer and are they similar or different to leaders?
Nikki Barker, a chartered engineer and member of the Institution, has been involved through a variety of senior roles within the Merseyside and North Wales regional committee for over 20 years. She is an Associate Partner of Perspectiv LLP, a consulting and training organisation, and also runs Redacre Consulting, a engineering, training and development company largely focused on the UK gas and pipeline industries.
Nikki has devised and engineered this research alongside her colleague Andy Wilkins – Partner at Perspectiv LLP and Honorary Senior Visiting Fellow, Cass Business School – with the support and endorsement of Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner. At the recent Essential Management Skills for Engineers conference, held in Keele, Nikki outlined the survey proposal to Colin Brown, Director of Engineering at the Institution. Having received Colin’s backing and the support of James Hobbs, Marketing and Membership Director, the Institution is pleased to distribute the online survey to its members via Agenda.
Briefly outlining the mechanics of the survey, Nikki explains: “From a list of twenty attributes, respondents simply select the seven that they feel are important in the make-up of someone whose direction they would willingly follow. They will be presented with one of three slightly different versions of the instructions in order to answer the research: to select attributes of ‘a leader’; or ‘an engineering leader’ or ‘an engineer’. This is not a long or protracted process; it should take a matter of five or ten minutes.”
Participants will be randomly directed to one of the three versions as they arrive at the website.
Nikki explains the motivation for developing this research:
“The hypothesis that Perspectiv put forward is that the characteristics of a professional engineer are not dissimilar in many respects to those of a leader in business. However, we think it will be intriguing to see what similarities – and what differences – appear between engineers and other leaders of industry and business. That is where the discussion and interesting findings will emerge. When asked, most engineers do not see themselves as leaders (the few that do are usually in management roles).
“Our desire is to liberate the leader in all engineers. One of the reasons why the Institution is promoting this is that the survey may provide insight into aspects of professional registration and professional development. My interest is whether a different skill-set is observed when contrasting engineering and non-engineering leaders, and to what degree there are variations.”
Nikki is pleased that the Institution considers the survey a valuable tool in understanding and developing its membership. Although respondents will be asked to provide some personal information, no details will be shared with other organisations.
She concludes “We greatly appreciate the time and input of everyone who takes the time to complete the survey and who helps us develop our understanding of outstanding engineering leaders. We hope to provide conclusions by the end of this year.”
Take part in the Characteristics of an Admired Engineer survey.