Leadership in Engineering Consulting: a qualitative study on the unique leadership skillsets of top performing engineering consultants, and what companies can do to develop them

Engineering consulting is a unique occupation that requires professionals to possess both strong technical and non-technical abilities. Engineering consulting organizations have identified the the gap between top performers and their peers to pertain to be social, relational and leadership skills. Our work seeks to identify the leadership skillset that differentiates top performers in engineering consulting organizations by taking a qualitative exploratory approach, collecting data through interviews and focus groups with engineering consultants at various stages of their career. We will examine the associated organizational and team-based supports that contribute to leadership and non-technical skill development in collaboration with our industry partners. We approach our work by first defining leadership as a process, rather than a trait or belonging to positional authority. The engineering profession across North America has been issuing calls to action to incorporate leadership learning as part of engineering education, but there remains a gap between engineering leadership needs in industry and the leadership skillsets of engineers. Our work will support understanding leadership skills and development in the unique context of engineering consulting to allow engineering organizations to better facilitate development of their staff.

Faculty Supervisor:

Emily Moore;Elham Marzi

Student:

Partner:

Hatch Ltd;Morrison Hershfield Group Inc.;GraySolutions, LLC

Discipline:

Engineering

Sector:

Professional, scientific and technical services

University:

University of Toronto

Program: