Consulting engineering needs innovation from our leaders
By Rui De Carvalho M.Eng., P.Eng., President, R.J. Burnside & Associates
Listen in on a conversation
between leaders of Ontario
consulting engineering firms
these days and you will quickly
hear of the problems facing our
industry. The diagnostics appear to be
relatively easy to articulate. However,
for an industry that makes a business
of convincing clients that we are problem
solvers, we certainly appear rather
challenged in coming up with appropriate
solutions to our own issues.
This doesn’t mean that Ontario consulting
engineering is in a mess, far
from it. Canadian (and Ontario) consulting
engineering firms are still recognized
as world leaders in technical
and professional excellence; but will
this continue? How often does the
national press, or any media for that
matter, contact the Consulting
Engineers of Ontario or the
Association of Consulting Engineers
of Canada for an informed input on the
contemporary issues relating to infrastructure
or the environment? This
doesn’t happen as often as it should.
While our profile, in my opinion, is
not where it should be, we are likely to
hear more excuses than proactive solutions.
We often appear to be on the
defensive, especially when trying to
explain our net worth to clients who
question our fees and the value that we
bring to their projects. Other professionals
appear to have a much easier
ride.
Over the almost 30 years that I have
been in consulting, it seems that the
industry has gone from the flagship
employer where most engineering
graduates wanted to develop their
careers, to the one where you get out,
if or when you can find something better!
If we agree that there are issues
here, I propose that leadership in our
industry needs to step up to a higher
level; and I don’t mean within the
industry associations but rather in our
everyday practice outside of the formal
associations. The type of leadership
that may have been so successful in the
glory years of consulting that I mentioned
before is no longer appropriate
in today’s environment. We need to
aspire to higher ideals than just subscribing
to the type of price cutting,
win at all costs competition that
plagues our industry.
There was probably more cooperation
between the CIA and the KGB in their time than exists among consulting
engineers! Oh, we hold golf tournaments
and collaborate in any number
of meaningless committees but
when it comes down to it, if we can cut
someone down, we do it, and we are
even proud of our accomplishments in
this regard.
There are too few telephone calls
that begin with, “Hey Joe, why don’t
we combine our efforts on this one and
maximize the value to our firms and
our clients?” Why would we? Chances
are the other guy will just go and “steal
our client”! As if we really believe that
we can actually own a client! We would
rather do it all, the whole project,
because we just love to “engineer” and
are happy to pay at almost any cost.
Our industry needs to adopt a best
practices approach in all our activities.
This requires us to develop and hold on
to future leaders with new and innovative
vision, who will in turn promote,
as a top priority, providing value in a
manner that is sustainable to both our
clients and our industry. This will
require the recruitment of top graduates
and providing them with an environment
where they are able to develop
to their full potential without feeling
the need to move on to another
industry.
Would you ever consider a scenario
where two firms would enter into an
exchange program for two young graduates
to promote their development on
a particular project experience? Likely
not! Yet, can you imagine if this practice
was widespread? Watch out world,
the Canadians are here to stay, and they
are playing at the top of their game.
Our projects need to demonstrate to
the public the application of environmental
sustainability. We must speak
out on environmental, technical, political,
and social issues where we are
most qualified to do so and thereby
make the general public aware that we
have noble ideals and standards and
that we provide value to society. We
need leadership with vision; long term
vision that goes beyond the next fiscal
quarter.
I know very well that much of this
is pie in the sky from a leader of a
small firm who, even after completing
a five year term as president, is still as
naïve as ever. Yet I am hopeful that
new and innovative leaders can make
significant progress and advance our
industry to higher levels of respect and
sustainability and possibly reverse
some of the damage of the last
decades. So continue to enjoy your
dialogue with your colleagues. Let’s
move the yardsticks on this front, and
hope that new leaders will realize
some positive changes. As for me,
well, I am going back to do engineering!
