Get to know Haig Baronikian, one of ILead’s newest instructors. Haig teaches Leadership in Project Management at both the undergraduate (APS446H) and graduate (APS1019H) level.
What intrigues you most about teaching leadership to engineering students?
To start, being an engineer myself, it is exciting to be working with young, motivated engineering students who have identified for themselves that leadership would be an important asset for their careers and have chosen the course. I couldn’t agree more with that view!
During my own education, leadership was not well recognized as something deserving of courses or other special attention. It just happened, somehow. Today, I would say ILead is at the forefront in leadership education for engineers and I’m really pleased to be playing a part.
The most enjoyable aspect of working with engineering students is probably the debates that emerge about how engineering practice and projects and leadership come together. Some students have had a little professional experience already, while others have none. Students arrive at the class from different engineering disciplines. There is also much diversity in terms of ethnic and cultural backgrounds. All of this makes for a range of views, healthy exchanges and deeper insights.
My approach is that leadership is fundamental and much-needed to achieve success, in projects and in life more generally. In addition, I firmly believe that leadership is gratifying in so many ways. If I am able to influence even a few young engineers to embrace leadership as an essential ingredient for their careers, I will be delighted. Working with engineering students means helping with their first footsteps on a lifelong leadership journey… which is itself very gratifying.
Why does engineering leadership matter to you?
Engineers have so much to contribute. As problem-solvers, innovators and experts within their own technical domain, they are called upon to do so much for society. Being able to lead today’s complex projects, often with large multi-disciplinary teams and a web of stakeholders is, however, no easy matter. Leadership understanding and skills should be developed in a more deliberate way to maximize the value engineers can generate for their clients and for society. In other words, without being active and effective leaders, engineers are probably not rising to their full potential in making the world a better place.
Leadership matters enough to me to have prompted me to co-author a book – the first textbook on the topic – entitled Leadership in Project Management: Leading People and Projects to Success. Though it is intended for a broader audience, it certainly has applicability within the engineering context (it is also being used at a number of institutions for project management as well as business education).
The course you teach, “Leadership in Project Management,” equips students with the concepts, tools and techniques for effective leadership within a project context. Why do you think these skills are important for engineers?
A vast array… probably the majority… of work performed by engineers, regardless of discipline, sector or type of organization takes place within a project context and engaged with project teams. Projects and project teams, therefore, represent a significant proportion of the typical engineer’s professional life. Projects also represent major investments by the organizations involved.
Project management has emerged as a discipline to help run projects efficiently and effectively. The usual education in project management, though, is about the tools, techniques and processes for managing tasks and things. Success in projects, however, happens with and through people. The right understanding and leadership approaches can make the difference between a high performing project team and a lacklustre or ineffective team. Leadership also relates to working with project stakeholders beyond the team itself. High performing teams often have a lot more fun and there is much professional growth, as well. Lastly, an engineer who is capable of leading a project team has a head start in taking on more significant leadership roles within their organization or in other activities.
So as a project leader, an engineer is able to bring together his or her technical and problem-solving expertise, core project management skills and people skills to deliver outstanding projects.
What is one thing you would take with you on a desert island?
Well, I will make the grand leap and assume that ‘thing’ includes people, and so it would be my marvelous wife of nearly 25 years!