How to Deal with a Difficult Engineering Supervisor and Delegate to Gain More Time

Anthony Fasano posted 2013-11-20

The following is a summary of Session 6 of my podcast, The Engineering Career Coach (TECC) Podcast with Anthony Fasano, PE. I will summarize the main points in this session here; however, you can also listen to the show through the player below or by subscribing on iTunes. I offer a career-changing tip at the end of each podcast session.

I would say that most engineers will deal with a difficult boss or supervisor at some time in their careers; and I would say ALL engineers deal with the challenge of not having enough time to get everything done in one day. These are the two topics that I will be helping an engineer deal with in Session 6.

Understanding how to deal with a difficult boss and being able to take more control over your own time management will give you a huge advantage in your engineering career. As usual, I will also give a career-changing tip at the end of the show—the tip in this show will give you a strategy for taking back time in your day.

My guest for Session 6 is Jim from Florida, a structural engineer who is 28 years old and working in the manufacturing field. The key points that I outlined with this young engineer are as follows:

  • The importance of keeping open lines of communication with your supervisor, especially when they are difficult. You must sit down with him or her and express your concerns and also provide solutions with respect to items on which you don’t agree with him or her.
  • It is important to document these conversations and disagreements with your supervisor, preferably by e-mail, in case directions from your boss result in engineering failures.
  • When managing a large team or many projects, it is best to meet daily to review your goals and progress, and also to assess the needs of your team so that you can assist them.
  • The use of digital project management tools can be very effective, especially when managing many projects, so that you as the manager can have a good handle on where everyone is without having to speak to them constantly.
  • Quality control checklists should be used to ensure the end product that your team is producing is of the highest quality every time, not just sometimes. These checklists can save you a lot of time and money by avoiding design issues.
  • Videos provide a good way to show your staff how to do a task and not have to repeat it for every person you attempt to train.
  • The only way to realize a goal in your career or life is to first define it, then create a plan to achieve it, then follow through.

Implementing these strategies will help you deal with a difficult supervisor in your engineering career and also get a better handle on your time management.

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This is a guest post by Anthony Fasano, PE, author of Engineer Your Own Success. Anthony found success as an engineer at a very early age and now writes and podcasts to help other engineers do the same. Visit Anthony’s website at EngineeringCareerCoach.com and subscribe to the top 3 resources Anthony has used to become a partner in a firm at the age of 27.