Engineers are on the whole regarded as poor communicators who chose engineering so they don't have to communicate. While there is often a grain of truth in any joke, communication is essential to the success of any project.

Communication is not a soft skill reserved for human-resource folks and marketing types. Instead, it is the skill of connection and understanding. It is what often makes the difference between a project's success or failure. Team Of Engineers Having Discussion In Factory
Here are four tips that will guide you and help lead your next engineering project to success.

Tip 1 - Improving your team dynamics

It's true that as humans that we don't always get along. The bad news is that an inability to work together towards a common goal can mean lost hours, projects halting or worst still people being replaced altogether, costing money. The good news is that you can find the root of the cause and change your behaviour.
Look for these common issues before they spiral out of control:

• lack of commitment
• lack of interaction
• personality clashes
• lack of interest in constructively resolving conflict
• Losing or gaining people during the execution of the project

When this happens, it is important that the team spend a half hour together developing your new team guidelines and meeting protocols. With any new people joining the team, it becomes a new team. Re-developing guidelines and protocols is done for the same reason it is done initially—to facilitate working relationships, to create a way to positively interact, and to prevent destructive conflict. Don't let 'new' deter you. Instead, let new people bring ideas and energy to the project.

Tip 2 - Create a living project agreement

Things happen all the time and situations change. Customers change their minds about what they thought they wanted, market forces change, new threats and opportunities arise, and new priorities surface. All of these changes can make the original goal of a project obsolete.
When creating a project agreement, make it a living document written knowing there will be changes. Make it a document that everyone understands and feels a part of. When you write a project agreement and simply file it, it doesn't breathe and set the stage for further communication and discussion throughout the project.
When a project is directed by agreement, project changes often mean a re-launch of the project. It's better to spend half a day re-launching based on the new project agreement than to create a final deliverable that no one wants, or to attempt to complete a project with inadequate resources and lack of support from the project sponsor.
When you're developing a new project plan from the new project agreement, you may also be able to use interim deliverables you've already created for the new project, ultimately shortening project cycle time.

Tip 3 - Create institutional memory

How smart is your company? Industry standard project management practices require a critical project closeout phase that collects lessons learned and gives your organisation powerful historical knowledge from across the enterprise.
Think of it as giving every project a chance to take centre stage and be a stand-up for the day. A company that can learn and grow, rather than continually repeating mistakes, will grow faster. As an employee, it's frustrating to recreate the wheel. It's empowering when you see your work building upon that of others and vice versa.

Tip 4 - Create contagious commitment

People need to see, hear, smell, and taste success; even small victories have a big impact. It's important to communicate and show success with early adopters, so people will understand what you're doing and how they can be a part of the ongoing success.

Tip 5 - Create a safe 'blue sky' environment

For people to communicate openly, they have to be in an environment that's safe and allows for some blue-sky and off-beat thinking. If you foster an environment that shoots down ideas, then people will stop sharing ideas, and instead just take the path with least resistance. This is what we call mediocrity.
The next time you conjure up a stereotype of yourself as a non-communicator, think about communication as a business lubricant—one that makes systemic detours bearable and understandable to team members. Think of communication as a tool that clarifies, illuminates, and unifies, and ultimately brings you closer to the goal that is just ahead.

If you are seeking engineering talent for your business or looking for a new engineering role, we can help your business, contact us today on 0116 254 5411, email at hello@precisionrecruitment.co.uk or click here to get the conversation started.