Picture an engineer, what do you think of?
When someone (other than an engineer) does this, they usually think of someone working by themselves, in a lab, consumed by their own calculations. Engineers are often stereotyped as being introverted awkward people, who are too scared to talk to others. This couldn’t be further from the truth!
Engineers spend a lot of their day working with others. In fact, it might be surprising, but communication may be the one skill engineers use every day. This is why effective communication is a vital skill for engineers to know.
Engineers are required to interact with many different people and cultures to complete their tasks. Each interaction requires a different type of communication. The way you communicate with your friends probably (or shouldn’t be) how you communicate with your professors. The same holds true in industry.
Below are the reasons why effective communication is a vital skill for engineers:
- Running an efficient meeting
- Working with people besides engineers
- Working with other cultures
- Sharing Ideas
- Sending Emails
1. Running An Efficient Meeting
Companies host an average of 61 meetings per month! During these, 73% of people do other work. What does this tell you? Most of them are ineffective or people think they are a waste of time so they bring other work.
As an engineer you will attend a lot of meetings and most days will consist of more than one. Communication is critical to running them effectively, which involves getting what you need accomplished and having engaged attendees.
Here is how to run a productive meeting using effective communication:
- Share the objective (anything from a decision needing to be made to giving a project update) in the email request so that all attendees understand the purpose.
- Create an agenda detailing what you want to cover.
- Send the agenda out to the attendees prior to the meeting and let them know if anything is required from them so they come prepared.
- During the meeting, stick to the agenda. This will ensure you stay on task and it runs on time.
- After, document your notes and the action items. Send these meeting minutes out to all of the attendees with due dates for action items.
Notice that both written and oral communication is part of running a meeting. Also, reaching out to the people attending before and after is just as important as the communication that happens during the meeting.
You can practice honing your ability to communicate and run an efficient meeting while in college by utilizing the steps outlined above in meetings you may have working on a group projects or with professors.
2. Working With People Besides Engineers
Engineers work with many different people besides other engineers. Some of these individuals include upper management and other non-technical functions (i.e. regulatory, marketing). Engineers must be able to convey their ideas clearly to all these different people, which is another reason why effective communication is a vital skill for engineers.
Some instances that you would have to communicate with upper management would be to let them know about a project update, an issue, or you need their input on a big decision. When I refer to upper management, I mean anyone above your boss.
Management doesn’t need all of the nitty gritty details of your project, they just need the big picture and they need it fast. You do not want to waste their time!
So how do you give enough information, but not too much, in a short amount of time?
By using the Issue, Impact, Recommendation method.
Anytime I had to give an update to this one particular director he required it to be presented using this method. I have since used it for all upper management meetings because I have found it is the most productive way to communicate your ideas in an efficient manner.
The idea is you start the discussion by defining the issue. What is the problem you are trying to solve or the purpose for the meeting? For example, one of the parts did not pass the tensile testing.
Next, is the impact, which is why upper management should care about the issue. Continuing with the tensile failure example, the impact of the failure could be a delay in the project ranging from 3-6 weeks depending on the root cause investigation.
Finally, is the recommendation, which details the actions you think should be taken next to resolve the issue. For the tensile failure example, the recommendation could be to start a root cause investigation of the failure and target to complete it in a week. Also, stop manufacturing anymore parts until the issue is resolved.
The recommendation is a key component to this method because it demonstrates you have thought about the issue as well.
Management wants to see your thought process and does not want you to just go to them looking for answers.
I think it is also beneficial to give them a one page slide detailing the issue, impact, and recommendation. Some people are better visual learners so that will help them. Furthermore, it gives them a take-away from the conversation that they can use when describing the issue to others, such as their boss or another function.
Using the Issue, Impact, Recommendation method will help get upper management the information they need to help you in the most time efficient way.
3. Working With Other Cultures
Most companies are global so as an engineer, you need to be able to communicate with other cultures.
I was on a project that included working with people from our branch in Costa Rica. Realizing everyone is busy, I like to jump right into the agenda for the meeting and start on time. After, I got a phone call from my counter part in Costa Rica.
He was concerned that his team did something wrong because I seemed upset during the meeting. A little taken aback, I reassured him everything was fine and asked him for more clarification.
He asked why I didn’t ask how they were doing and we didn’t exchange pleasantries at the beginning. I apologized and told him I didn’t mean to offend them, I just knew there was a lot to get through, so that was my focus.
I never realized how important a short conversation to check in on how everyone was doing prior to the meeting was to them. I’m glad he brought it to my attention because it was not on my radar.
It is good to be aware of the expectations of other cultures when you are working with them. This will foster a better working relationship and make you a more successful engineer.
4. Sharing Ideas
Engineers are constantly solving problems and sharing ideas on how to solve those problems. This is done both through written and oral communication, which include:
- Presentations
- Technical Reports
- Test Methods
- Day-to-day interactions with colleagues
Engineers need to be able to communicate their ideas effectively and have others they are working with understand them.
A question I was asked once on an interview truly puts this into perspective. I was asked to describe my senior design project so that a five year old would understand what I was working on.
If you can do that, it one, shows you understand the problem you are working on thoroughly and two, demonstrates your ability to communicate. It is easier for people to digest what you are saying if you make it clear and to the point instead of using a lot of technical jargon.
5. Sending Emails
American workers will receive an average of 126 emails a day! So it is not surprising that a good chunk of an engineer’s day is dedicated to this. In my experience, most people would rather email than pick up the phone to call you or walk over to your desk and ask.
One of my pet peeves is when someone who is a few cubes away from me sends an email that requires some back and forth between me and the person. It would’ve been so much easier to just walk over to my desk and ask! That would’ve saved us both time, but I digress…
When communicating in emails here are things you should keep in mind:
- Keep it short and to the point. Longer emails tend to be ignored or saved for later.
- Remember your email could get forwarded to someone else so keep it professional.
- If you have an issue with something someone sent to you, do not respond with a nasty email back (as tempting as that may be). It is better to pick up the phone and call to resolve it.
- Do not use slang in emails as you would in text, again keep it professional.
- Make sure your subject is relevant.
- Add attachments to illustrate your points in an email.
- A picture is worth 1,000 words, so add images if it helps. For example, if you have a question about a drawing, add an image of the drawing (if your company allows it) and circle the section you have a question about. This will save you time and let the person you are sending it to know what you are talking about.
To summarize, the reasons why effective communication is a vital skill for engineers are:
- Running an efficient meeting
- Working with people besides engineers
- Working with other cultures
- Sharing Ideas
- Sending Emails
You should start developing your communication skills as soon as possible so when you become an engineer you will be ahead of your colleagues. In my experience, the engineers that communicated the most effectively were given the best projects to work on and promoted the quickest.
You can start improving your communication skills using the tools, such as the Issue, Impact, Recommendation method and steps for an efficient meeting while you are still in school. Use them for group project meetings or meetings with your professors.
Let me know if you use these tools and how it goes in the comments below!
