Breaking free from STEM Leadership challenges
“Chain” Photo by Sonny Ravesteijn on Unsplash
#Leadership #STEM #Technical #Agile #Resilience #Blog
Although STEM-based organisations have been growing at a rapid rate, Leaders have been facing more than their fair share of problems. Being a strong STEM Leader means consistently challenging yourself in an ever-evolving industry. It starts with a solid background in science or technology. To come alive as a successful Leader in this field takes experience, mentorship, and training.
The majority of hurdles Leaders face is due to the nature of the industry hiring based on education and skill. Many personnel lack the interpersonal skills that are essential for a high-performing team. Managing a group of people whose foundation is purely technical, then aligning their goals to that of the organisation sometimes proves to be monumental.
“Scientist” Photo by ThisisEngineering RAEng on Unsplash
STEM organisations tend to hire individuals after years of time spent in an educational institution—a necessary prerequisite to the application of their technical skills on-the-job. Young, aspiring STEM professionals view individual accomplishments as the top priority, and sometimes neglect the crucial income-generating factors of the business. Therefore, the challenge is for Leaders to have the ability to guide their teams to a common goal for the organisation’s benefit.
ICF Senior Managing Director, Dr. Steven Aude says that organisations consistently face two key challenges: external communications and internal development. I believe that both of these factors can be addressed with a single solution. Agile Leadership. An Agile Leader will be able to liaise between decision-makers and staff. They also play a key role in lobbying for internal development and manoeuvre between budget constraints and workload in order to give their people the opportunity to grow.
In a study by Abbott on “What it takes: Becoming a STEM leader”, STEM Leadership typically focuses on three different and complementary characteristics:
Lead the business: Good Leaders understand how their teams and projects fit into the organisation’s overall mission and set strategies to maximise their team's contributions and align their teams around those strategies.
Lead the team: Great Leaders motivate others through a shared vision and trust. They take ownership of successes and failures, and they work to develop potential leaders.
Lead toward the future: Forward-thinking, insight-driven leaders keep themselves updated on technology, new business trends and best practices, and network with other industry experts to stay ahead of disruptions and opportunities.
These, however, are merely the tip of the iceberg. I believe that a leader must serve as a web that pulls all these eccentric minds together into a singular functioning entity. And to do that, there is a need to identify the competencies needed for workplace success.
In a recent case study by Global Knowledge on “The Challenges facing STEM professionals”, several hurdles were listed. Among them were:
Workload – Increase in workload has overwhelmed decision-makers and staff. Time that was previously designated toward skill development is being used to compensate for increasing backlog of work.
Skills gaps - lack of necessary skills can be credited for increased employee stress, development, and deployment delays, and increased operating costs.
Hiring - Managers hoping to hire their way out of a skills gap problem have been dealt a dose of reality, as key positions are the most difficult to fill.
Budget - Budget is often the major roadblock impeding professional development and hiring. Most professionals want to train but their requests aren’t always approved by management due to budget constraints.
Leadership support - Nearly 20% of IT professionals say management does not see a tangible benefit from training. Even though staff has a strong desire to learn and grow their careers, it’s difficult to accomplish that without support from Leadership.
Project management - Rising skills gaps have made the jobs of project managers even more difficult, as critical expertise is lacking. It’s the project manager’s job to communicate skills needs with management and help guide realistic expectations.
Career growth - Leadership must prioritise professional development. Invest in your employees’ skill sets and help them grow their careers. If they’re not receiving support form management, they will seek training on their own or look to grow their career elsewhere.
One potential solution to these quandaries are degree deflation, which is a conscientious effort to focus on skills rather than a college degree during the hiring process. A bachelor’s degree is not necessarily an indicator of abilities, (especially in tech). If a degree is that important to an organisation, then perhaps these organisations can work with STEM educational systems. Given that the candidates show enough promise and skill, scholarships and grants are not such a bad idea for an investment.
“Support” Photo by Neil Thomas on Unsplash
A number of the challenges listed above are directly corelated to internal development, with the common denominator being Leadership support. The goal is for organisations to develop Agile Leaders who can manage and strategise how to best address workload issues and work around budget constraints. Someone who can advocate career growth to address skill gaps without burdening project managers. Which begs the question, how is your organisation’s Leadership development addressing these challenges?
Is your Agile Leadership as competitive as it needs to be in the STEM Industry? Here’s 3 ways I can help you with that:
Work with me – Get in touch here, call 1300 684 669 or email davidw@davidwayne.com.au to discuss options for coaching, workshops or training programs or
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