Coaching for engineers and technical leaders
You know your field inside out. And yet some questions can’t be calculated: Should you stay on the specialist track or move into management? Why does your team keep getting stuck at the same point? How do you keep up the pace without wearing yourself out?
When it’s not only about the technology
Requirements, milestones, sign-offs: we speak the same language. In 25 years as an engineer, project manager and leader, I’ve seen it many times: good solutions fail because people don’t put them into practice together.
Situations that bring engineers to me
- Specialist or management trackYou have been offered a management position, but you’re not sure whether you would rather stay a specialist?
- Your first leadership roleYou have just taken on your first leadership role and are looking for your own style?
- Stress and overloadYou love your job, but it’s getting too much?
- ConflictSimilar conflicts keep coming up, even though you have just resolved the last one?
- GlobalisationWork is moving abroad and teams are becoming international: what does that mean for you?
- Artificial intelligenceEveryone is talking about AI, but what does it actually mean for you and your team?
Scepticism is a good starting point
Many engineers approach coaching with a healthy dose of scepticism. That suits me: I don’t expect you to take anything on trust. Together, we agree on a clear goal, a framework and a process.
I won’t bring you a ready-made solution. You know your situation better than I do. What I can do is help you see it more clearly, test your assumptions and weigh up your options, just as you would with a technical problem. The difference: this time, you’re part of a system yourself.
My background
After studying mechanical engineering and earning my doctorate, I led departments in engineering and project management, most recently responsible for more than 200 people at several sites. I’ve served on several committees, and in 2010 I passed the Project Management Professional (PMP) exam. As a coach, I take a systemic approach, and I’m currently training in psychodynamic coaching at Institut POP.
Questions and answers
I know my field well. Do I still need coaching?
Knowing your field and working with a coach go well together. In fact, technical expertise is often what moves you into roles where the challenges are no longer technical: How do I lead colleagues who may know the details better than I do? How do I set priorities when everything seems important? Coaching gives you time and space to think this through.
I’d rather have concrete solutions. Is coaching the right choice?
That depends on what you’re looking for. If you need a technical answer, a consultant is often the better choice, and I’ll tell you so. Coaching works differently: it doesn’t hand you a ready-made solution. Instead, it helps you work through the problem and get clear on how you see it. That often reveals ways forward you hadn’t noticed before.
Does it stay confidential, even from my employer?
What you discuss in coaching stays confidential. If your employer is paying for the coaching, we agree beforehand what they will be told.
Request an introductory call
Tell me briefly what you’d like to discuss. The introductory call takes 20 minutes and is free of charge.