Effective Leadership Strategies for the Automation Consulting Engineer

Manufacturing

Apr 29

Have you mastered the art of engineering consulting?

As I look back on my college years, I realize that I didn’t spend enough time developing my soft skills. When I graduated, hit the work playground, and snatched an automation consulting job, I was completely clueless about the unspoken rules that come with the territory.

Promoting fluid team collaboration and translating my client’s needs into paper were struggling areas for me, not only as a rookie engineer but also as I climbed the ladder to a leading position.

Now, well over a decade later, as I am fulfilling one of my long-term goals (being the CEO and founder of my automation consulting firm), I want to pass on a few helpful tricks that I picked along the way. They are meant to smooth the path of the new litter of engineering consultants who are still finding their footing in this treacherous but worthwhile world.

Without further ado, here are five leadership strategies for the automation consultant engineer.

Five strategies to ace your role and duties as an automation consulting engineer

Leading a team of diverse and talented professionals is tough. Cohabiting with superiors, colleagues, clients, and suppliers is no picnic either. That motivated me to share with you some of the effective leadership strategies that I have learned and applied in my career.

1. Fine-tune your communication skills. Choose our words carefully. Aim for clarity and brevity. Measure your audience. And prepare ahead of time. Your ability (or lack thereof) to express and convey information clearly and effectively changes how others perceive you. For instance, if you fail to articulate the purpose and direction of the project, people won’t be on the same page, and a good opportunity to foster a sense of ownership and commitment goes to waste.

A piece of good news? Practice makes perfect.

Try these activities to be a better communicator in verbal and written form:

a. Pay attention to your emails, presentations, and documents. The intent should be clear, purposeful, and written using appropriate language.

b. Be an active listener in conversations. This action will make your interventions more timed and precise.

c. Check your body language. Eye contact and body-positive expressions are recommended. Avoid crossing arms, as it is interpreted as conflictive.

d. Ask someone you trust for feedback on your communications.

e. Practice public speaking. Recording yourself for notes and improvements is one way to do it.

2. Free your creativity. Any project you take on will feature common and singular characteristics from the ones you have already completed. To face the new challenges, you’ll need to free your creativity, produce designs, and implement solutions that solve your client’s automation problems.

How can you unleash your potential? Find inspiration everywhere:

a. Stay updated on the latest trends and technologies in automation.

b. Look at third-party insights and compare them to yours.

c. Seek different iterations to solve the problem. Don’t overlook small details. They might convey a huge part of your solution.

d. Make your team a primary resort to land the solution.

e. Test and troubleshoot until you can ensure the solution meets quality standards.

3. Build a critical thinking environment. Clients look up to you as a guru carrying the answers to their problems. To respond to them, you should be able to analyze data and processes, identify issues and opportunities, and propose improvements in a critical thinking zone suited for this line of query.

How can you install such a domain among your teammates and peers?

a. Promote a growth mindset where everyone learns from successful and failed experiences.

b. Bring in contrasting perspectives to assess different viewpoints.

c. Develop case study or simulation programs to analyze and solve real-world or hypothetical challenges.

d. Adopt fit-for-purpose automation tools that can make you more competitive.

e. Organize workshops to go over problem-solving and decision-making techniques that give you an edge. Don’t hesitate to invite automation engineers from other companies so they can share their knowledge and best practices if it only enriches the experience.

4. Learning to adapt is crucial to moving forward. On the job, soon you’ll realize that change is the only certainty. Sometimes, your client will kick off the project and request a centralized control architecture. Fast forward three months, and now they want to switch to a distributed control system. The very idea they initially rejected when you first suggested it.

Nurturing resilience is an essential ingredient for processing this kind of information and moving ahead without dwelling on past efforts. Because, trust me, you will want to.

How can you bounce back from those situations and still ensure a brilliant delivery?

a. Take a breather to recharge and repurpose.

b. Assess the setback’s impact.

c. Break down the new steps needed to get back on track.

d. Renegotiate your terms and conditions.

e. Be optimistic, maintaining a positive outlook.

5. Give credit where it is due. As a leader, you must give constructive and timely feedback to help your team improve. But, in addition, it has worked well for me to honor individual achievements and team contributions whenever they hit the mark.

Every small gesture counts, with results surfacing right away. You might start to bond with someone you couldn’t before. Your team becomes more cohesive. And, internally, you realize that, for a fact, you can depend on each other.

How can you launch a positive and supportive work environment?

a. Promote professional development (training programs, forums, workshops).

b. Celebrate milestones (outings, starting a wall of recognition, etc.).

c. Foster a balanced workload-well being environment.

d. Encourage team activities centered on bonding.

e. Be thankful and appreciative.

Need automation consulting support?

Finding support in the narrow and in-demand automation talent pool is tricky. Hiring might feel like catching lightning in a bottle. Especially when you have no inside contacts.

At Verdusco Consulting, we are experts in automation and the people behind it. Our purpose is to present you with automation solutions suited for your industry that will allow you to: