Interpersonal skills are increasingly essential for engineering work and should be explicitly incorporated in engineering curricula. There is a growing need for social skills and abilities in teamwork, leadership and multidisciplinary work in the field of engineering. As renowned figures have said, “an engineer’s competence can be presented as the aggregate of knowledge, know-how and skills. Usually engineering students possess technical knowledge in their disciplines, but lack better education in problem solving, communication skills, creativity, teamwork, leadership and a set of other factors. Several studies show that these so-called “soft skills” or interpersonal skills as increasingly important to future engineers. In order to build a good professional relationship with other people and enriching emotional intelligence. Graduates with excellent interpersonal skills are certainly at an advantage in the job market.
Interpersonal skills are difficult to quantify compared with technical skills. Since less merit is often attached to these skills’ competence in academia and so they are perceived as easy going. But, externally they are perceived as extremely valuable. Most highly specialised academics, are typically not well trained in teaching these skills and hope that the skills are simply acquired through experience.. The Confederation of British Industry which conducts regular education and skills surveys reported that there is a “growing” skills gap in STEM subjects.
As the current education system is too focused on quantifiable hard skills such as qualifications, certifications etc. soft skill development is often neglected. Soft skills are the most difficult skills to teach and assess in education, and another fact being, most teachers in engineering higher education are only technical specialists who lack relevant formal skills training themselves.
In the STEM fields, interpersonal skills are becoming increasingly important for career advancement which is equal to technical skills, which helps one create personal branding and an all-round network of professionals thereby opening better opportunities. Some of the key interpersonal skills that all engineers and other STEM professionals should develop for career success:
Clear Communication
Communicating in a manner that is clear to those outside the field is really important. The ability to communicate clearly, is one of the most sought skills in the workplace. As the job is not all about knowing, but to be able to present and put forth the data and communicate about it in a way that others can understand better.
Collaboration
Steve Jobs may have been an incredible driving force behind Apple’s success, but there were countless engineers, developers, and other professionals working to create, market and sell their products. There are engineers who are specialized, which can often lead to workplaces in which only one person really understands what’s going on when it comes to that specific project. In order to get ahead in the workplace, one needs to learn how to build relationships and to share the information in a manner which makes collaboration easier.
Being a Leader
Most Engineers may believe in the Peter Principle, leadership is one of the most important interpersonal skill that every engineer needs to learn. Being the leader of a team or a manager might not be ones goal, but in order to show ones ability to take knowledge and thereby using it to improve the quality of others works. In order to figure out how to best use the skills of other team members and learning to take the responsibility for mistakes even when it’s not your fault.
Adaptive Thinking
It might be the technical skills that helps one get the aspired field, its important to be able to look at things from the side of those who lack that same skill set. In order to look at the world through the lens of another is something that’s important not just in the world of engineering, but in any field that requires working with customers.
Some reports even suggested that a person’s ability in interpersonal skills and Emotional intelligence depends on their innate personality traits. However these findings show that interpersonal skills can be taught and developed through innovative experiences along with its application. Work experience which includes mentoring, industrial placements, communication etc. have been identified as vital methods for developing graduates in interpersonal skills and therefore employability. Interpersonal skill development is a shared responsibility and is only developed throughout a lifetime. Higher education institutions are currently still too heavily focused on technical skills and lacks work force in teaching interpersonal skills which also has equal weightage in ensuring graduate employability. In to teach these skills efficaciously, requires a progressive revision in educational philosophy and endorsement of more innovative, futuristic and pioneering teaching methods.
