Presented by: Jill Almaguer, Carla Fair-Wright and Marie Laplante

1. Leadership Skills for
Technical Professionals
Society of Women Engineers ‘14 National Conference
23 October 2014 - Los Angeles
Jill Almaguer, PE, MBA, PMP
Carla Fair-Wright, PMP, MCTS, CSQE
Marie Laplante, SWE Fellow

2. Disclaimer
OPINIONS EXPRESSED ARE SOLELY MY OWN AND
DO NOT EXPRESS THE VIEWS OR OPINIONS OF MY
EMPLOYER.

3. What I learned from
Business School
JILL ALMAGUER, PE, MBA, PMP
PROGRAM MANAGER
TEXAS HEART INSTITUTE

4. Key Management Concepts
Matrix: people focus vs task focus
Interviewing: Will do vs can do
Management Theory: X vs Y
Management By Wandering Around (MBWA)
Conflict Resolution Modes

5. Avoiding (or Withdrawing)
Someone who uses Passive communication style may tend to avoid or withdraw from conflict
Avoidance does not resolve conflict
Conflict will recur again and again
Passive aggressive behavior may occur if conflict is not resolved
Avoidance could be used short term to buy time to prepare a long term resolution

6. Forcing
Competing
Being uncooperative
Being assertive
Can be result of escalation of conflict to higher levels
Win-lose outcome

7. Smoothing (or Accommodating)
Reduces emotion involved
Emphasizes areas of agreement
Keeps parties engaged in finding resolution
Creates good will

8. Confronting (or Collaborating)
Face to face meeting between conflicting parties
Also called Problem Solving according to PMBOK, 4th Edition, pg 240
Examine alternatives
Requires give-and-take attitude and open dialog
Collaborate and integrate for a win-win

9. Compromising
Could be win-win or lose-lose outcome
Orange example
May be result of confronting
Solution should have some degree of satisfaction for all parties per PMBOK p 240

10. What I learned from school of hard
knocks
HIRE THE BEST PEOPLE
DEVELOP THEM
GIVE THEM AN ENVIRONMENT TO DO
THEIR BEST WORK (ENGAGEMENT)
4 PERSONALITY TYPES
Analytical
Expressive
Amiable
Driver

11. Leading teams
Team building activities
Shared vision
Shared plans
Modify your style to communicate
Each team member has different motivation
Stages of group dynamics
Adult learning techniques (3Ps)

12. What I learned from SWE
Leadership Coaching Committee
3 styles of management
◦ Authoritarian
◦ Participative
◦ Laisez Faire
Orange example of a win-win

13. Summary
Key takeaways
Storms are inevitable
Conflicts unresolved = loss of productivity
Leaders need to connect individually to engage a diverse team
Preparation + Practice = Performance
Contact information

14. References
A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK Guide) 4th Edition, published
by Project Management Institute (PMI), pg. 240
Projects, Programs, and Project Teams, Advanced Program Management, Edited by Hiegel,
James and Cesario, published by Wiley Custom Services for Keller Graduate School of
Management, pgs. 354-355
Organizational Behavior and Performance, 4th Edition, Szilagyi (UH) and Wallace (Univ. KY)
Lead with Heart, Transformational Leadership for the 21st Century by Mark Crowley

15. Jill Almaguer,PE, MBA, PMP
Registered Professional Engineer in Texas for over 20 years (B.S. in
Bioengineering from TAMU)
Managed large project teams at HP, Agilent Technologies, Texas Medical
Center, Harris Health System, SWE
Experience in healthcare, IT, telecom, semi-conductors, education, energy
Adjunct Faculty, DeVry University
Certified Project Management Professional, member PMI
Program Manager, Texas Heart Institute
Biomedical Engineering Society Houston Industry Chapter Co-Chair
Biomedical Engineering Dept. Industry Advisory Board, Texas A&M Univ.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER

16. LEARN TO BUILD AND NURTURE
RELATIONSHIPS
In a cold world you need your friends to keep you warm
MARIE LAPLANTE
CTE UTILITIES, KBR PROCESS ENGINEERING
SWE FELLOW

17. BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS
Meet people – the right people
Do your homework
Set yourself up in the right environment
Be prepared – have your “elevator speech” or short introduction ready
Elevator Speech:
- Name
- What you do
- Value Proposition

18. NURTURING AND GROWING
RELATIONSHIPS
Follow-up
Remember important things about your new colleague
Fill the (emotional) bank account
Make the effort to reconnect occasionally
Ask how you can help

19. MANAGER, MENTOR, SPONSOR,
COACH…WHAT DO I REALLY NEED?
Manager – your boss. Need to keep happy.
Mentor – offers guidance, but has no authority to help you
Sponsor – ally and person of influence
Coach – paid help to identify and improve skills

20. NEVER EAT ALONE - THE SWE VERSION
Get away from your work and office
Connect in person
Use time to conduct SWE work, get work advice, just be friends
These are your real allies and mentors. They are not your work neighbors.

21. SUMMARY
Identify and meet the right people
Stay connected
Get out of the office
Grow your network
Develop your personal board of directors

22. ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Marie Laplante earned her B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of
Massachusetts at Amherst and is a certified City of Houston First Grade Stationary
Engineer and Six Sigma Green Belt. She is employed in KBR’s Process Engineering
group as Chief Technology Engineer, Utilities. Her early career was focused in
operations and project management in chemical manufacturing. Moving to the
business side, she sold environmental technologies and helped American customers
reduce emissions in the refining, petrochemical, and power generation sectors. She
also worked in project management leading product development programs for coal
gasification. She has been very active in the Society of Women Engineers and has
served at the local, regional and national levels for more than 20 years. She is
currently SWE’s national ethics committee chair, serves on the audit committee, and
is a section representative. She also serves as CFO for Global Institute for
Technology and Engineering (GIFTE) and is a member of the Education Foundation
of Harris County. Marie has also been a judge with For Inspiration and Recognition
of Science and Technology (F.I.R.S.T.) robotics for 15 years at regional and
championship competitions. She is also a longtime member of MentorNet and
enjoys working with young women who aspire to enter the science and engineering
professions. She has been recognized for contributions as an engineer, as a leader in
the community, and mentor to younger engineers with awards from her university
and SWE.

23. Managing your
Directs
CARLA FAIR-WRIGHT, PMP, MCTS, CSQE
PROJECT MANAGER
CHEVRON

24. Contents
• Learning Objectives
• Introductions
• The role of a Manager
• Working with your reports
 One-On-Ones
 Feedback & Coaching
 Delegation
•Summary
• Q & A
• Speaker Evaluations

25. Learning Objectives
 To understand core management competencies
 To gain a greater understanding of the psychology of leadership
 Help participants become better managers
 To understand what emotional triggers make men and women
strong or weak as leaders.

26. The Role of the Manager
To create a supportive work
environment where people
can function at their highest
potential to advance the
mission of the organization
To provide leadership for the
team and manage the
performance and
responsibilities of everyone
in the group.
To nurture a strong
sense of common
commitment to shared
goals.

27. Family vs. Career
Define what “having it all” means to you
Family
Partner Children
Career
Roadmap

28. Building Your Team
Communications is key
One-on-Ones
Teams are built on trust - trust is developed through
communication
Regularly, weekly, 30 minutes meeting
• 10 minutes for your direct
• 10 minutes for you
• 10 minutes to talk about future

29. One-On-One Rules of Engagement
Must be scheduled
• Signals to your direct that you are available
• Says you are valuable to me
Rules of Engagement
• No taking control
• No putting agenda above the purpose
• Let them talk


30. Feedback & Coaching
Real
Safe & Effective
Emotionally Neutral

31. Feedback Model
Future Change
Outcome
Permission
Behavior
May I give you some feedback?
When you get the reports done early
(Behavior)
We have more time to review
(Outcome)
Thank you
(I want this to continue!)

32. Delegating
Match the job to the
talent. Assignment
should not be based
on availability
Level of expected
performance should
be communicated
Difficulty in delegating work is a common pitfall for a manager, especially a new manager

33. Delegating - Continued
Delegate Don’t Abdicate
Train and instruct.
Validate and give feedback.
Be very clear on what you expect.
Keep the lines of communication open.
Report should understand how to handle problems
that arise, safe work practices, and proper use of
any Personal Protective Equipment needed.
Set up deadlines and reporting dates. Don't accept
incomplete work.
Communicate what level of performance is
acceptable, and what rate of improvement is
expected.
Give help and suggestions as needed.

34. Summary
The Most Important Skill Is Knowing How to Build a Team
Communication is key to building trust
Feedback on behavior only
Delegate based on individual strengths and weaknesses

35. Magazines and Websites on Leadership
and Management
There are many magazines and journals on topics related to management such as Forbes, Harvard Business
Review, Fortune.
Below are magazines that carry articles related to leadership:
Business & Leadership
Fast Company
Inc.
Leadership Excellence
McKinsey Quarterly
MIT Sloan Management Review
Management Today Magazine
INSEAD - Institut Européen d'Administration des Affaires
Management Today - South-Africa's leading Business
Journal
Wharton – Knowledge@Wharton
Vistage - World’s foremost chief executive
leadership organization.

36. ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Carla Fair-Wright, PMP, CSQE, MCTS is a software engineer with
over 17 years of experience in the IT industry. She is an IT
Project Manager for Chevron, currently working in Global
Power.
Carla is the chapter author of two books, 'Encyclopedia of
Energy Engineering and Technology' and 'Case Studies and
Applications of Web Based Energy Information and Control
Systems.' She has been featured in the National Society of
Black Engineers (NSBE) magazine, Maintenance Technology,
and CODE Magazine.

37. Questions