Closing Workshop

Catherine Dang; Janey Piroli; Mike Thomson; John Donald; and Technical Editor: Nicholas Yip

 

WORKSHOP WRAP-UP                                                                                                       

The past 6 workshops have allowed you to explore various topics relating to Engineering Leadership and Personal Professional Development. If you feel the need to review any of the past topics, they have been listed below, and each workshop can be revisited at your own pace.

 

GUEST SPEAKERS                                                                                                               

 As this series of workshops came to an end, Janey Piroli and Mike Thomson, two guest speakers and alumni of the University of Guelph, presented their experiences with Engineering Leadership in their own professional lives.

JANEY PIROLI                                                              

Janey Piroli is a University of Guelph Engineering Alumni who has been working in the field of engineering for the past 25 years. She has had a lot of industry in many notable companies, including PepsiCo, Walmart, and McCain, and has worked in both front-line and corporate positions. Through all of these experiences, she has gained a lot of knowledge on the importance of soft skills, especially those that relate to leadership and core values, in the field of Engineering.

KEY TAKEAWAYS                                                                                                                

  • To feel truly motivated and invested in your job or projects, you must first consider how well your personal values align with whatever it is that you are working on.
  • The foundation of leadership is self-awareness. Mindfulness is a very important tool that helps you to not only stay aligned to all your major life goals, but also assists you in truly understanding what motivates you as a person.
  • There is a major shift going on in the world in regards to the importance of soft skills. The future needs leaders with both technical and social/emotional skills.

MIKE THOMSON                                                        

Mike Thomson is a University of Guelph alumni with a degree in Biological Engineering, and a master’s focused on air emissions in composting. He has spent many years in the industry as a consultant for environmental issues such as organic waste management and waste water treatment. In this video, he will be sharing some of the experiences that he has in his various positions regarding engineering leadership, through both personal leadership experiences and leaders he has looked up to.

KEY TAKEAWAYS                                                                                                                

  • Leadership should be people-centred. All of your peers, coworkers and partners are, at the end of the day, people first.
  • Good leadership often necessitates involving others in the decision-making process, especially when you may not be able to adequately envision how changes may affect others.
  • Leaders should not only lead people, but also nurture them to be the best they can be.

 

CLOSING REMARKS                                                                                                            

Thank you for taking the time to go through these GEL workshops. The skills and experiences gained through these activities will surely be useful to you in the future as they not only facilitate good teamwork and cooperation, but also serve as valuable skills in the engineering industry. Hopefully you enjoyed the time spend with us pursuing personal and professional development, and we hope to see you again in future workshops.

 

 

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