Today at work I conducted a half-day Engineering Leadership Team meeting. We spent the first 2 hours doing a design and construction competition. I am very found of these kinds of projects because they allow me to gauge how well my teams works together and to spot behaviors that are unproductive. They are also a ton of fun. The second half of the morning was devoted to a series of exercises design to help clearly define roles and responsibilities.  I recently added two new Directors to the engineering leadership team and experience has taught me the value of spending time early on to delineate boundaries and clarify accountability.

At the end of the business day we regrouped to see which team constructed the stronger bridge.  The prize?  Bragging rights for the coming year.  The team with less mechanical engineering education won so there will be a lot of crow to eat.