Focusing Too Much on the Negative
Focusing Too Much on the Negative
(OP)
Subtitle: Am I really that bad, or is my skin too thin?
In the realm of getting things done in the engineering industry, I have often heard or been told to assume everything is going fine until someone lets you know otherwise. In other words, engineering supervisors often take extra time to provide criticism and red flag unacceptable mistakes and poor performance, yet they more rarely offer kudos for a job well done or a direct pat on the back for an acceptable job performance. In several instances, I have had project managers pull me aside and give me a reprimand in the guise of criticism, but never had a PM pulled me aside and said that the job was excellent or even above average.
Fortunately, I have finally found a team that seems to work to learn in an objective fashion, noting what went well and recognizing what went wrong, without lowering the boom on the heads of subordinate engineers, and at the same time tries to get things done as fast as humanly possible. Perhaps, because I am more experienced now, I have learned how to accept criticism, or my skin has grown thicker, I find myself in this team, where the stubborn mantra cannot heard. Still, with younger engineers, I am afraid that I will become what bothered me the most during my learning curve, needling them with notes of their mistakes, rather than mentoring them with firm, gentle guidance.
I would like to know, how is it elsewhere? Am I not in an oasis of learning, working and making the company money? Or is fire continuously burning in every engineering department, office, small company and large branch?
In the realm of getting things done in the engineering industry, I have often heard or been told to assume everything is going fine until someone lets you know otherwise. In other words, engineering supervisors often take extra time to provide criticism and red flag unacceptable mistakes and poor performance, yet they more rarely offer kudos for a job well done or a direct pat on the back for an acceptable job performance. In several instances, I have had project managers pull me aside and give me a reprimand in the guise of criticism, but never had a PM pulled me aside and said that the job was excellent or even above average.
Fortunately, I have finally found a team that seems to work to learn in an objective fashion, noting what went well and recognizing what went wrong, without lowering the boom on the heads of subordinate engineers, and at the same time tries to get things done as fast as humanly possible. Perhaps, because I am more experienced now, I have learned how to accept criticism, or my skin has grown thicker, I find myself in this team, where the stubborn mantra cannot heard. Still, with younger engineers, I am afraid that I will become what bothered me the most during my learning curve, needling them with notes of their mistakes, rather than mentoring them with firm, gentle guidance.
I would like to know, how is it elsewhere? Am I not in an oasis of learning, working and making the company money? Or is fire continuously burning in every engineering department, office, small company and large branch?





RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
I learnt more there that anywhere else and also came to have a lot more confidence in my engineering knowledge and judgement.
It also worked both ways there, if I found something in one of their standard details that I though was wrong then they would listen to me and have a round table on the issue where necessary.
When I did anything for the first time, they would explain it briefly to me beforehand or refer me to a relevant text so that I was armed with the correct knowledge.
These things rarely happen in most companies, but there is no reason why they cant.
You should also be open to criticism from the junior engineers in return, sometimes they may catch one of your mistakes.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
corus
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
The only time we hear from a Partner is when the fees are over budget and we get chastised for blowing the fees (but sir, the Architect has made the fourth round of changes in the reflected ceiling plans...) In building systems design the game has become keeping up with the changes and chasing the scope creep from all these changes, the design process is secondary now. It's all about information management and trying to get a good working efficient design at the end of the day in spite of the process.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
Other than the occasional, budgeted, very large project shirts, hats and smoke-blowing thank yous, I haven't had positive feedback on any project. I've come to accept that the ones that I never hear from are the ones that go well...
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
I expect to hear more criticism than praise in my industry. I do expect to hear praise once in a while. I don't know if there is an industry norm for the ratio - if someone does, please share.
With regards to how to deal with the new engineers, if you didn't like the way you were treated when you were starting out, then I would suggest that you treat the new engineers you are working with differently - like the way you would like to be treated. The cycle needs to be broken, might as well start with you?
"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
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RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
IMO, if the managers or coworkers are always negative, or don't say anything at all, you can be miserable and dislike your job.
Take all criticism as positive and as a learning experience. We all make mistakes.
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 02-10-07)
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
Going well - This person is expensive overhead.
Not Going well - You're the engineer, get yourself out there and fix it!
I have been praised in the past and I have been flayed in the past. As long as I find myself still enjoying the work, I stay around.
Regards,
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
A lack of any feedback at all is another story. I worked in one consulting firm where not only did I have to figure out how to do my job without much guidance, but I also had to figure out whether or not I made a mistake without much feedback--from the boss, that is. When the clients called, by then I knew I had made a mistake. And then when it came time for an annual review, from under the table, the boss pulled up a long list of my cumulative transgressions. I was dumbfounded. Now, back to my mom. She is not perfect. She used to use my dad's past transgressions--sometimes ten or twenty years past--against him whenever she was losing an argument.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
I don't know abut anyone else, but whether I am happy about it or not is not the point. I guess like your mom, I am "old" school (no further comments necessary), in that happy and work are really not used in the same sentence very often. It pays the bills. That is why we called it work.
If work = happy, it would be called "hobby". Very few people have a paying hobby. I guess Bill Gates and Warren Buffet are some examples. For me, it really doesn't matter.
I don't need a lot of praise - I know how I did. I can usually find the feedback if it isn't readily offered. I also usually know when the criticism is coming - benefit of experience I guess.
"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
I figure, getting more of the first one is nice, but it's more important to reduce the amount of the second one.
Nowerdays, no one says anything, so I figure I'm doing okay.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
Chris
SolidWorks 06 5.1/PDMWorks 06
AutoCAD 06
ctopher's home (updated 02-10-07)
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
I may be more sensitive than I wish to but I think new engineers to the industry need a confidence boost every now and then.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
Cheers
Greg Locock
Please see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
Following up on that, I had one boss who provided me only one piece of constructive advice. He said, "Never feel good about anything you do. As soon as anything leaves your desk, you should always be worrying about what you might have done wrong."
At the time, I felt that was ludicrous, but with no one to review my plans, I eventually found myself worrying more and double-checking everything. Double-checking is a good habit to have, and I believe senior engineers understand that the habit needs to start early in a career.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
I have found that that little feeling of panic that comes with/during handing over a design to the manufacturing engineers (and that little lull period, waiting for parts to come to the floor) can be a very healthy period for my designs. The first keeps me on my toes trying to head-off any potential problems that are in my design, and the second is the start of the 'what could I have done better' part of the process.
Double-checking (you know the thing you thought only older engineers did coz they were afraid to trust their designs) is probably the best lesson I have learned over the years. It is NOT focusing on the negative, it is step 1 in covering your ****.
These approaches have all come into my work life because some scary guy (various ex-bosses) let fly when I got something wrong. A good shouting from your boss tends to keep you on your toes....so long as it doesn't get personal.
PS I got praised once by one guy who was possibily the loudest of all my ex-bosses and to be honest I had no idea what to do with it. After a day or so I was begining to think I had reached some sort of watershed in my career. Two days later I was hauled into his office to explain another 'disaster' and life returned to normal
Kevin Hammond
Mechanical Design Engineer
Derbyshire, UK
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
Try to look at the original questions with a 'helicopter' view.
One US study implied that the best companies had leaders that most clearly managed to communicate the companys targets and policy to the employees.
Since the target of any engineering task is the best possible and optimum solution on long-term basis, all is based on and exhange of communication between people inside and outside your company, pooling information, knowledge and experience.
To communicate well (writing, drawing, calculating or orally) any person has to feel secure and understood, and also has to understand others.
Answer to questions: you have to have 'a little bit of this and a little bit of that'. But then statistically not more than a limitid nuber of companies or leaders will reach the 'very good' status on communicating and creating the right athmosphere.
Hence, we have to live with what we have got, try to improve ourselves and the company in this area, or change job....and even then there will always be some person in the system that could be thecnically very professional, but unprofessional in handling people...
And then again we will always end up where we started, with your own ability to handle yourself within a system consisting of a mix of engineering and people.
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
RE: Focusing Too Much on the Negative
I now manage six or seven people directly and I try to be supportive of their efforts even when they get it wrong. The best time to support anyone is when they are struggling. Giving praise occurs after the fact and does not help when tackling the complex and challenging project work. I'd say my job is now all about getting my guys to realise that their difficulties are not unique and can be managed...
I try very hard not to get angry when dealing with failure. This is the time when it is important to ensure than you remain calm and do not let the matter become personal. This goes both for my failures and for those of the my team.
Finally - I do think of the people working for me as MY team. I didn't hire any of them and I don't directly have the power to fire them, but we maintain a united front and the work problems are tackled collectively. I guess that gets more difficult with larger teams.