July 2016 - Volume 2, Issue I
ADVICE FROM AN IE LEADER
Head of Operations
Universal Brushware (PVT) Limited
Head of Enterprise Lean and Supply
Chain
Avery Dennison Corporation
It is an honor for me to share a few words with all the recent
graduates and future Industrial Engineers out there who want
to bring a positive change in the working environment in each
Industrial sector here. Also, I have had a brief interaction with
PSIE team over the past few weeks and foresee an immense
valuable contribution coming from them through their enthusiatic energy in the field of Industrial Engineering. I have spent
my university years in USA and Canada with members of the
sudent chapter of IIE and find the current PSIE team has the
same talent DNA code built in them.
Over the 14 years of my career, in Operations Management in
USA, Canada, and Pakistan dealing with customers ranging
from NASA and Boeing to Motorola and Blackberry, I see the
limitation of traditional industrial engineers and black belt
gurus. Their limitation comes in the form of techniques regarding a particular tool; however, there is a great tendency to
discount the fact that every system is profoundly driven by
people and not by machines only. The tool and its technique
have their own place in making an organization competitive
but to make any initiative sustainable and successful in the
long run we cannot ignore human psychology within the
workplace. This is the prime reason, lack of people skills, that
even the most basic tool such as 5-S is not sustainable and
fails at most companies within few months.
It is therefore very crucial for engineers to learn how to revitalize lean and other continuous improvement initiatives through
learning and applying people skills. This is in order to deliver
bottom line results that your business leaders and customers
are expecting and to sustain the gains in the long run.
In order to be a successful industrial engineer you need to be
an artist, inspirational, a story-teller, creative, and holistic. You
need to learn how to influence and must be equipped with
persuasive and motivational skills, along with the know-how
on handling fierce conversations and conflicts.
I was given the opportunity to study and work with multi-cultural and multi-national teachers, students, and co-workers. They
are from Spain, Romania, Croatia, UK, USA, Germany,
Bangladesh, India, Argentina, Australia and many others – all
of whom contributed bits and pieces to my learning on how to
deal with difficult and not so difficult people. My teachers were
bad managers and good managers both alike. You may or
may not be able to work with international people but you will
certainly work with people from different geographical
locations and ethnicities. Therefore it is advised to come out of
your comfort zone to be able to work with different co-workers
and managers and learn from them. Make mental notes on
what type and style of communication worked and what did
not. Within a short time you will get a great deal on the art of
people skills.
Last, learn how to ask questions and ask the right questions.
Experience dictates that solutions exist with people who run
the process and if you fail to ask them good questions you will
fail to deliver an intelligent and comprehensive solution.
Mastering above mentioned skills will take you to the unprecedented summit of success in your career In Shaa Allah.
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