Master the interpersonal, communication, and management strategies you need to increase your impact and become an effective leader in today’s technical environments. Over the course of five days, you’ll learn to lead and motivate teams that produce powerful results by mastering proven techniques for building effective technical teams, managing interpersonal conflict, and creating and communicating a shared vision that drives improved outcomes.
This course may be taken individually or as part of the Professional Certificate Program in Innovation & Technology OR THE PROFESSIONAL CERTIFICATE PROGRAM IN BIOTECHNOLOGY & LIFE SCIENCES.
Offered by the premier Gordon-MIT Engineering Leadership Program, this five-day course is designed to equip you with the skills and perspectives needed to lead yourself and others in today’s engineering and technology environments. You will improve your leadership skills by learning from the latest breakthroughs in the practice of leadership within a program that draws on a variety of teaching methods, especially hands-on learning. Like the practice of leadership itself, this program will be high-contact, high-energy, and consequential.
The transition to becoming an engineering leader is one of the most promising, yet challenging experiences that engineering professionals can face. The promise comes from becoming a new kind of professional; one who can mobilize sometimes-conflicting individuals around a shared vision, solve problems through “real” teamwork, and motivate people to deliver their best results. The challenge comes from learning to work in an entirely new way; from relying solely on oneself to deliver individual results to leading others to deliver collective results. Herein lies the nature of the delicate relationship between leadership and followership.
Certificate of Completion from MIT Professional Education
- Enhance your understanding of the nature of leadership and followership
- Build a foundation of team-building skills
- Develop and deliver an inspiring and shared vision
- Discover new ways to lead and motivate others in technical environments
- Gain support for your ideas in environments characterized by conflicting stakeholder needs
- Learn to manage conflicts through negotiations and constructive dialogues
Program Outline
Day One — Fundamentals of Leadership for Engineering Professionals
9:00 AM – 9:30 AM: Introduction to program instructors, participants, and learning goals.
9:30 AM – 11:00 AM: Fundamentals of engineering leadership: Overview of perspectives on management and leadership and implications for emerging leaders.
11:00 AM – 11:15 AM: Break
11:15 AM – 12:00 AM: Fundamentals of engineering leadership (cont).
12:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Where leadership skills matter in technical career paths.
2:30 PM - 2:45 PM: Break
2:45 PM – 4:15 PM: Creating a team vision: Review methods for creating a shared team vision and overview of practice exercise.
4:15 PM - 4:30 PM: Break
4:30 PM – 4:45 PM: Introduce group project: Discuss how program participants will form groups to address topics of special interest
4:45 PM – 5:30 PM: Learning from reflection: Participants review, assess, and document day's key learning.
Day Two– Leading in Multi-Stakeholder and Systems Engineering Environments
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Achieving collective support in multi-stakeholder environments: Discerning and prioritizing diverse stakeholder needs; Reconciling differences and presenting a unifying vision; Achieving buy-in and support for complex projects and programs.
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM: Break
10:30 AM – 12:00 AM: Achieving collective support in multi-stakeholder environments.
12:00 AM – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM – 2:30 PM: Leading the development of complex systems.
2:30 PM – 2:45 PM: Break
2:45 PM – 3:15 PM: Reflection: Participants review, assess, and document day's key learning.
3:15 PM – 5:30 PM: Form special interest groups and begin working on group projects.
Day Three — Building Positive Relationships and High Performing Teams
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Making an Impact: Setting yourself up for successful career progression.
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM: Break
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM: How leaders create motivating environments in teams.
12:00 AM – 12:10 AM: Break
12:10 AM - 1:10 PM Lunch
1:10 AM – 1:20 AM: Break
1:20 PM – 2:00 PM: Developing high performing teams: Challenges and strategies.
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM: Experiential learning exercise
3:00 PM – 3:15 PM: BREAK
3:15 PM – 3:45 PM: Reflection: Participants review, assess, and document day's key learning.
3:45 PM – 5:30 PM: Groups work on projects and final presentations.
Day Four— Managing Oneself, Building an Inclusive Environment, and Negotiations
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Leadership operating framework. An interactive discussion on leadership, and the
skills, characteristics, behaviors, and attitudes forming a framework for effective leaders.
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM: Break
10:30 AM – 12:00 PM: Leading an inclusive engineering environment: Strategies for developing inclusive and creative cultures in engineering teams.
12:00 PM – 1:00 PM: Lunch
1:00 PM – 3:15 PM: Managing conflict and negotiations: Evaluating your personal conflict management styles and practice negotiation skills.
3:15 PM – 3:30 PM: Break
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM: Reflection: Participants review, assess, and document day's key learning.
4:00 PM – 5:30 PM: Groups work on projects and final presentations.
Day Five — Final Presentations
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM: Special topics presentations: Groups will deliver their final presentations on engineering leadership topics of special interest.
10:15 AM – 10:30 AM: Break
10:30 AM – 11:45 PM: Special topics presentations (cont.)
11:45 AM – 12:15 PM: Charting your leadership development journey
12:15 PM – 1:00 PM: Course reflection: Participants reflect on week's activities, assess program.
Adjourn
Links & Resources
- Software Performance Engineering in a Post-Moore Era with Professor Charles Leiserson Podcast - MIT CSAIL Alliances, August 13, 2024
- Transitioning From IT Professional to IT Manager - Baseline Magazine, March 8, 2017
- MIT summer course to address leadership for engineering professionals - Evaluation Engineering, December 12, 2016
The type of content you will learn in this course, whether it's a foundational understanding of the subject, the hottest trends and developments in the field, or suggested practical applications for industry.
How the course is taught, from traditional classroom lectures and riveting discussions to group projects to engaging and interactive simulations and exercises with your peers.
What level of expertise and familiarity the material in this course assumes you have. The greater the amount of introductory material taught in the course, the less you will need to be familiar with when you attend.