Leading engineering projects training: Raise your skills in taking the lead

The Institution’s project management courses will help improve your performance in all areas of engineering project management, including the interpersonal skills needed to keep your project team working together.

A competent engineering project manager balances available resources diligently to complete work on time, within budget constraints and to the level of quality required. Alongside this, they both earn and maintain the support of everyone working in their team, while ensuring they have the adequate understanding of project’s key processes, objectives and deliverables.

Taking inspiration from George Washington Goethals, one of the most successful engineering managers of all time, we’ve listed eight of the most important characteristics that make a project manager. Goethals combined traditional “hard” and “soft” skills to mobilise a huge workforce in the face of countless challenges to complete the Panama Canal in 1914, finishing the colossal undertaking with both money and time to spare.

1. Assures project outcomes

   A good manager has as a strong understanding of a project’s broader deliverables, ensuring that they are focused on throughout and met upon completion. They will clearly define these objectives from the onset of a project, and set in place quality assurance procedures to guarantee delivery in every crucial area.

   George Goethals’ high standards often distanced himself from others in the Panama Canal project, but consistently earned him great respect from key stakeholders, as well as those working around him. Those involved knew what he expected, and that he had respect for those who worked hard.

2. Organisation

   Successful project managers organise their team and resources diligently, minimising the risk of unexpected complications hindering a project. Risk assessments and contingency plans are essential to this, as well as realistically calculating necessary time, budget and resources, including the size of team needed to complete the project.

   When approaching the Panama Canal, a project crippled by poor organisation in its early years, Goethals took a holistic approach. He split the huge project into three more manageable ones, and created complex cost-keeping systems for all materials and jobs required to successfully complete the canal.

3. Sufficient know-how

   Whilst there is no necessity for a project manager to be able to carry out the roles of specialists in their team, it is important that they understand the fundamental tasks expected of them. A good team manager delegates roles with a sound understanding of what is necessary for project completion, then shows faith in the abilities of each team member to carry out their role.

   George Goethals’ know-how was one of the key reasons he was assigned to the Panama Canal project. He had nearly three decades of experience and had worked on several similar, water-based projects. Alongside this, he also understood the importance of not micro-managing, left most of the engineering work to specialists, and instead focused on worker wellbeing and morale.

4. Leadership skills

   A good leader gets the very most out of everyone working around them, ensuring that morale is high, targets are met and individuals feel sufficiently challenged. Excellent interpersonal and team-building skills are essential to this, as well as a responsiveness to the needs of individuals within their team. In addition to this, a good project manager will feel a strong sense of responsibility for project success, and are able to mobilise disparate teams to this end.

   George Goethals’ leadership style was highly focused around the needs of those involved in the project - what he called the “human element”. He spent time meeting individuals, ensuring they were motivated, and responding to their problems where he could. Combined with his meticulous planning and unbending sense of duty, this leadership style gained him respect from almost all working with him.

5. Skilled in communication

   A good project manager can clearly communicate everything from roles and requirements, to project progress and changes of circumstance. They will also ensure that lines of communication remain open in all directions, creating an openness which instils confidence and minimises the risk of important elements going unnoticed. In order to guarantee that all communications are understood, using “playback” (where instructions are reiterated by those given them) can also improve project outcomes.

   The communication mechanisms which George Goethals created within the Panama Canal project were amongst his greatest achievements. He set up a complaints board enabling workers to talk directly to him about their issues, meaning that all knew he cared for their concerns. He also distributed a newspaper to everyone working on the project, supporting inclusivity and positivity around the canal’s progress.

6. A keen problem solver

   It is rare for an entire engineering project to pass complication-free, meaning that the ability to deal with unexpected problems and conflict is an essential trait of a project manager. Whether they occur as a result of error, resource shortages or unexpected events, problems must be resolved at the source, and in a calm, reasoned and organised manner.

   When George Goethals took on the Panama Canal project, he had several huge problems to overcome. Morale was low, killer diseases were ravaging workers and the project had earned a poor reputation due to its past failures.  Despite these huge challenges, Goethals made use of his experience, organisation and interpersonal skills to complete the project around 23 million dollars under budget.

7. Manages time effectively

   A successful project manager carefully allocates time necessary for different elements of a project, as well as monitoring progress and re-allocating time and resources if deadlines are set to be missed. An atmosphere of openness means that team members feel comfortable speaking to their project manager if they are concerned that their work may overrun.

   The fact that the Panama Canal was opened an entire six months ahead of schedule is testament to Goethals’ time management skills. He employed over 40,000 people in order to meet the demands of the project on time, and his organisation of the canal’s build into smaller chunks meant that deadlines were more manageable.

8. Recognises and utilises skills

   A good project manager recognises the strengths of their team, delegating individuals to roles which match their skills with the needs of the task. Where inexperienced team members are assigned, they will balance this with more seasoned specialists, ensuring work is completed to the standard of quality that’s expected. Additionally, good project managers will prepare for the future by developing inexperienced engineers while projects are underway, for example using mentoring and on-the-job training.

   George Goethals was extremely careful when delegating senior positions within the Panama Canal project. Notably, he called upon experienced experts like Maj. David D. Gaillard to become involved in challenging management roles, as well as employing a huge number of Corps of Engineer officers for their organisation and experience.

If you want to update your project management expertise, the Leading Projects suite offers a comprehensive range of project management courses to enhance your vocational skills and ensure that no projects you’re involved in go astray.

Call our experienced training advisors and discuss your training needs on +44 (0)207 304 6907 or email us at training@imeche.org.

View the project management training portfolio.