Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - November 2005
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Leadership and sustainability changing the context of consulting engineering

By Bill De Angelis, P.Eng., MBA,
Associated Engineering
and
Michael De Angelis,B.A.,B.Ed., M.Ed.,
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education
University of Toronto

We face a multitude of challenges in the consulting engineering industry today, not the least of which are leadership, sustainability, context, succession and development. We have tended to look within, but seldom outside of our own ranks for answers. The benefits of looking externally for answers to issues affecting the consulting industry, in effect changing our context, will become clear.

Lessons learned in other fields and sectors can influence leadership practice and development in the private sector. Many sectors are in the same situation, including public education and the private sector. Much research has been conducted in the education sector around leadership and capacity building that can be applied to other industries. This article will look at some of those issues that are common to public education and to consulting engineering, and will attempt to begin to develop a new paradigm to ensure our sustainability as engineering professionals.

The leadership gap results in the degradation, over time, of the performance of an organization and its ability to be competitive in its chosen markets. In the education sector, this hypothesis is confirmed by the threat to public education posed by the rise of third party institutions to instruct our children.

An article in the December 2004 edition of Canadian Consulting Engineer brought forth the perspectives of four senior executives around the current state of the consulting industry and marketplace. There was much talk of profitability and growth, but little mention of where the future leaders of our industry would come from.

George Comrie, in the March/April 2005 edition of Engineering Dimensions, touched on the topic of leadership succession. He stated that organizations “require mechanisms to develop leaders from within their common memberships, and to provide for succession of their governance structures”. In the same breath, he spoke of the tendency for charismatic leaders to dominate organizations and impede (suppress) the development of colleagues and successors and thus hinder the development of cohesion within the leadership base. It seems that new leaders are required, but strong leaders can stymie the growth of an organization by not allowing the development of leaders at all levels. It has been suggested that the sign of true leadership is when a leader leaves behind more leaders than when he or she arrived.

We have an inconsistent approach to leader identification and selection. Many engineering organizations are touting their leaders today; some will seek out charismatic leaders from the marketplace, believing it is the key to growth and success. Charismatic leaders have been negatively associated with sustainability. Other firms have taken the approach to promote from within, putting ill-prepared individuals into leadership roles.

What all this suggests is that neither camp fully understands what constitutes leading and leadership, and as such neither will be overly successful in identifying it, attracting it or appointing it.

Michael Fullan, in his book Leadership & Sustainability – System Thinkers in Action, described eight elements of sustainability in the education and public service sectors that are just as applicable to the private sector.
They are:
  1. Public service with a moral purpose – commitment to increasing the level, value and quality of services provided.
  2. Commitment to changing context at all levels – adjusting the entire structure and cultures within which we work.
  3. Lateral capacity building through networks – development of deliberate strategies that allow transferring of knowledge across peers.
  4. Intelligent accountability and vertical relationships - encompassing both capacity building and accountability through development of collaborative networks.
  5. Deep learning – that focuses on fostering and harnessing the creativity, commitment and access to leading practices and continuous improvement.
  6. Dual commitment to short-term and long-term results – setting targets to achieve early results while seeking deeper change over the longer term.
  7. Cyclical energizing – recognizing that sustainability is non-linear, and requires continually changing strategies to ensure the success of an organisation.
  8. The long lever of leadership – transforming systems requires leadership at all levels, and the development of new leaders.
By embracing these elements of sustainability in the consulting sector, we can transform our institutions in response to changing situations and requirements. A goal is to develop into what are called “learning systems”, that can, by their nature, respond to external pressures and demands through a process of self-transformation.

Lessons learned in other fields and sectors influence leadership practice and development; they should be studied and selectively applied to the consulting business to more quickly move us along the sustainability learning curve.

Contact: deangelisb@ae.ca

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