As an engineering leader or business owner in the industry at the moment - building and showing the traits of a resilient leader is so critical right now.

The people around you need someone to steer the ship. They need someone who is calm under pressure and who makes decisions quickly when they need to. 

Your team and your business can't afford to have someone at the helm who is unsure, hiding and cracks under pressure. 

Now resilience is a difficult skill to master - particularly when you are trying to navigate your own emotions, thoughts and feelings through this pandemic as well as being there for your team and your business.

Today I want to give you 3 strategies to become a more resilient and more effective leader during these challenging times. 

1) Build Awareness

The first step is building awareness of yourself, your thoughts, your feelings and your emotions in any given moment. The easiest way to do this is to set reminders for yourself on your phone throughout...

Today I want to explore with you an area that a lot of engineering business leaders and business owners aren't getting right at the moment.

Everyone is rushing around like crazy, trying to make sense of what is going on in the market and in the world at the moment. They're not sure what the future holds and everyone wants to make the most of the now.

Because of all the rushing - rushing to do BD, saying yes to everything, rushing to get projects done, rushing the delegation process to internal teams etc. - no-one is pausing long enough to get clarity on what it is that they're actually supposed to be doing and actually trying to achieve.

The problem with rushing and the problem with taking action without clarity - is that it leads to mistakes, it leads to rework, it leads to unhappy clients who may start looking elsewhere, it leads to wasted money and resources and it leads to not profitable projects - all of which is completely unsustainable. 

If you're looking to thrive right...

Today I want to explore with you the #1 trait I see in engineering leaders and business owners who are thriving right now.

One word - action.

Those who are staying still are being left behind.

Those who are getting on with things, adapting, changing, taking responsibility and evolving themselves, their teams and their businesses are the ones who are thriving. 

Let’s explore why.

Those who are staying still and watching things happen to them and around them are moving into a disempowered state. They are telling themselves things like:

 - "I can't do this"

 - "I'll wait till this whole thing is over"

 - "I'm afraid of what might happen"

They are afraid of "getting it wrong" or “making a mistake”, are shrinking away from what is happening in the world at the moment and are unfortunately being left behind. 

Conversely, the mindset in those who are taking action, looking for opportunities, changing the way they do things, creating new servicing...

In any given interaction with a client (or anyone for that matter) there are always 3 different viewpoints:

1) Expectation - what they expect will happen or should have happened.

2) Perception - what they perceive is happening or has happened.

3) Reality - what actually is happening or happened. 

Now as engineers, we get really stuck on the reality of things - what is actually true, what actually is happening or actually happened - the real black and white. 

Well, I'm about to tell you that your clients actually don't care about reality...

All they care about is their expectation of what will happen and their perception of what is happening (which is essentially how you manage their expectations). 

If you can let go of focusing on the reality (which is hard for engineers I know!) and focus your efforts on managing your clients expectations and perceptions - then you will absolutely NAIL your client relationships and turn your current clients into clients for...

There is one word that I can't stand - HUSTLE......

It seems to have become a massive buzz word in the world of leaders, business owners and entrepreneurs. 

I firmly believe that if you set your team and your business up smartly and you have the right systems and processes in place - then you don't need to hustle. Your team is performing well, your clients love you and the work you do for them and your project pipeline is full. 

But today I'm going to break my rule and talk about one area that does require an amount of hustle.... 

...and that is in the follow up!! 

Most people think that a potential client will either love them or hate them after one coffee meeting. They think they'll either get work out of them straight away or it wasn’t meant to be. 

But that’s absolute nonsense. 

If you're a stats person (which most engineers are!) then the latest stats are that a new client will need on average 8 touch points from you before they will...

There is the perception that business development and finding and connecting with your ideal future clients is really hard at the moment.

Most leaders and business owners in our industry are used to the old way of doing things in this space.

You know... register for an event, get a copy of the attendees list, find the names of the potential future clients you would like to 'bump' in to, attend the event, only talk to half the people you wanted to because you got distracted talking with colleagues or friends or people you already know, hand out a bunch of business cards and come away from the event feeling kind of good about yourself but actually knowing that you didn’t really make the most of that opportunity and didn’t really make any solid progress on developing new relationships.

Sound familiar? 

Now obviously attending big live events is off the table at the moment. But what if I told you there was an easier way in general to find, connect with and then build...

At the moment there is a lot of uncertainty in the air. 

Most are worried and concerned about the outlook of the market and where the next project is coming from. Most are worried and fretting over how to keep their teams or businesses intact without having to downsize.

When you're in this kind of headspace, you'll be experiencing a lot of nervous / anxious energy in your system. This leads to your mind and body moving into a short term 'fight or flight' response state - which, given the current circumstanced, is completely understandable.

The problem however, with being in this short term focused, anxious and overwhelmed state is that you're missing out on opportunities. You're missing out on opportunities that are more strategic in nature which are presenting themselves that could be setting you, your team and your business to break through this hill that is in front of you and really thrive through this period.

In any crisis, there are always opportunities that present...

These are interesting and for some, challenging times at the moment. There is work out there, but in much smaller packages and much more hotly contested with everyone bidding on or pricing for the same work. 

So many people in the industry are fighting for work and lowering their fees to win work. Everyone has adopted the scarcity mentality. 

You need to be doing the opposite right now.

This is an incredible opportunity for you to be setting yourself, your team and your business up to break through the hill that is in front of you and come out the other side not just surviving, but thriving. 

Instead of running around and pricing anything and everything, let’s get really strategic here.

Take some time, slow down and identify the value, the real and tangible value, you bring to your clients and your industry. What is it that you can do really well, that no-one else can, that you know will save your clients (or potential future clients) time and money? Remembering...

During a crisis there can be a temptation to split your focus and try and do everything you possibly can to steer the ship out of troubled waters. However, this can be a costly mistake as in actual fact, during a crisis - you need to simplify everything and focus only on mission critical activities. 

And your number one mission critical focus - is cash. 

During a crisis and market downturn - you literally need to be obsessed with your cash flow. You need to be focusing all of your efforts on how you get more cash through your doors. The more cash you have - the more options you have. The less cash you have..... well you're in trouble. 

People can easily get distracted focusing on any number of bright and shiny temptations - but in reality you need to simplify things and focus on dollars coming in vs. dollars going out. You need to be making sure that you're doing everything you can to increase dollars coming in and turning off every and all leaky taps that are...

Let's be honest. This is a really weird time at the moment. 

I know nothing about viruses - I'll leave that to the doctors. 

What I do know is - now, more than ever, we need leaders. 

Your team, your business, the people around you, your family - they need a leader.

Being a leader when things are going really well - that's easy and fun. 

Being a leader in adversity. When things aren't going so well, when people are scared and overwhelmed and can't think straight - that's not so easy. 

But where there is fear and overwhelm, there is also opportunity. And this is a really incredible opportunity for you to learn, to build the skills and get to experience what it's like leading in adversity. 

Now, no-one expects you to be perfect at this. But your team and the people around you who look up to you - are looking at you to guide them, to comfort them and to help them feel more at ease knowing that you're leading the way. 

There are 3 key elements to...