Holdfast Training Services Trial Blog

The management of civilian engineers is really quite different from that of managing Royal Engineers. In twelve months as a project engineer, I have managed teams not only on diverse engineering projects but the people who make up the teams are potentially even more diverse. As a result, I have had to hone my soft skills to get the job done.

Military Culture. When I was a brand new troop commander I heard the term FIDO. I’d be surprised if anyone reading this blog hasn’t heard the term but for clarity I will explain the acronym. It means f**k it, drive on. It succinctly encapsulates the military ethos where the mission always takes precedence and the will to succeed despite shortfalls of manpower, time or resources means the job usually gets done. And credit to the Royal Engineers, in my experience the final job is usually more than fit for purpose. However, this inculcated culture could lead to a potentially one dimensional leadership philosophy where the commanders just shout louder and get angrier until they drive their subordinates to complete the job. I’d like to think I wasn’t one dimensional but I have certainly had to adapt and develop whilst on attachment. A single leadership approach can work in the Army because of the hierarchical structure, the discipline instilled in basic training and the excellent NCOs that enforce it. It also works because the people in the Army are generally different and more robust than their civilian counterparts.

The Army attracts a certain kind of individual, one who is comfortable with straight talking and potentially being told off if they’ve messed up. Also, the average age of a British Army soldier is 20 years old. There is a natural tendency for these younger soldiers to follow the instructions of older and therefore more knowledgeable soldiers. This discipline, understanding of straight talking and hierarchical structure means that when an order is given, even if not completely agreed with, it is usually followed. This means that things tend to move on a bit quicker.

Oil and Gas Culture Differences. I imagine that some of this will resonate with those in design offices in different industries but I have kept it to my own experience. The oil and gas industry has a very risk aware culture and in particular BP PLC’s top priority is safety first. Their mantra is “No accidents, no harm to people, no harm to the environment”. The average age of the oil and gas sector is between 46 and 49 years old. In the design office, they are nearly all qualified engineers, most will be at graduate level as a minimum. And, at age 46 to 49 there is a tendency to think they know best. Sometimes they do and sometimes they don’t. These engineers are often members of engineering institutions with clear codes of conduct regarding making decisions within the realms of one’s ability, they tend to seek a higher degree of assurance and as such they take their time.

Also, there is a functional structure to the organisation which means that the balance of power is held in different places. For example, and in military speak, the discipline engineers are OPCOM to their principal discipline leads but they are TACOM to the project engineers. (For those of you who don’t know OPCOM and TACOM you should be ashamed of yourselves. OPCOM means they get given the mission statement and can be broken down or asked to do anything – essentially the highest level of command. TACOM is what RE CS squadrons are to the BG. They are given tasks and priorities and can’t be broken down further). This confused split of power exacerbates the situation because with two bosses if an engineer doesn’t like a decision they can trade one boss off against the other.

Consequences

Consequently, if you ask someone to do something in the Army they will generally get it done. This is providing you don’t ask the bottom third LCpl or Sapper who’s been in for 20 years and passed over quite some time ago. It doesn’t even matter how you ask, it can be the politest “I’d like groundworks for the LSB complete by COP Friday, please” because this actually translates as “the groundworks will be complete by Friday unless you know of a good reason why they won’t be then let me know right now”.

In BP it seems that unless you get something it writing it is a bit hit and miss whether it will happen or not. The amount of people in the design office who are happy to agree with something to your face and then not do what was asked of them caught me out at first. For example, I might ask a vendor “I’d like all long lead materials ordered by Friday, please”. And what they seemed to hear is “if you can find the time and as long as it’s not too much trouble try and order the materials by Friday. However, this is very much a target and not a deadline”. This actually happened to me and the materials had a 20 week lead time and if they weren’t ordered soon then the job was unlikely to go ahead. Everyone was aware but the materials hadn’t been ordered because it was not the next step in their process. Don’t assume common sense will prevail, even with bright people, they like to follow a process. In my early days, I would naively believe that people would do as they say; nowadays I follow everything up with a desk visit and then an email. Just sending emails is too easy to ignore.

Continue to be polite and friendly (even if you don’t feel like it). It is important to be polite for two reasons. The first is that the people in the office tend to be nice individuals and they respond better to being spoken to nicely. The second is that as a project engineer I am not directly empowered to get them to do everything I am asking. Being polite and friendly gives the impression that you’re friends and it’s harder for them to refuse a ‘friend’.

Finally, be ready for the confrontation. Officers tend to be quite good at confrontation and you should be ready to use this line of action if required. Be prepared to stand your ground but have the technical, financial or project detail handy to back you up. You can usually tell when a conflict is coming, try and work round it with a smile but make movements early to have all you ducks in a row. A confrontation without evidence is at best unhelpful and at worst undermining. I successfully, and publically, argued with a process engineer about the sizing of a shell and tube heat exchanger. He was trying to throw a spanner in the works and was being particularly obstructive. So in a meeting I produced evidence from the design report from a process engineer stating that the STHE was fit for purpose. He was promptly told to get on with his job. Without the evidence to hand, he’d have tied my in knots and would have shouted me down.

It goes without saying that you need to be firm and as a leader you need to be strong willed. As any kind of successful leader clear and concise communication is important as well. These are skills that come more naturally to us. However, working in BP has definitely honed my soft skills when it comes to leadership and management. Some top tips are:

1. When you say deadline they hear target.

2. Use explicit language and ask for exactly what it is you want and don’t think you’re being patronising.

3. Follow up any agreement with desk visits and emails.

4. Be polite and give them no excuse to put your request to the bottom of their to-do list. Also, get round and ask people’s names, know their interests and ask about their weekend. It is hard to refuse a friend.

5. Continue to use common sense. Understand the project lie cycle and when the engineers would normally complete steps. If required, intervene and make sure the overarching aims are borne in mind. As military leaders, we tend to be quite good at this anyway.

6. Be ready for a confrontation with evidence. Do not think you can argue your way out of something with platitudes. Only use as a last resort.

On your last day at work you can tell people what you really think of them if you so desire but I would’t advise it.