Ownership 101: The Key to Propelling Your AEC Career 

Have you ever worked with an engineer who stood out to you, but you couldn’t quite pinpoint why? I certainly have. It was during my time at a previous firm when an intern in our mechanical group left a lasting impression on me. At that point in my career, working with interns was relatively new to me, and I wasn’t sure what to expect. However, this individual quickly set herself apart.  She possessed a unique mindset – one that revolved around taking ownership of her work and career.   

The concept of taking ownership is a powerful force that can distinguish you in the world of engineering. It empowers you to deliver higher-quality work, expand your technical and non-technical skills, and foster a culture of trust and positivity within your team. In the following sections, I will explore seven practical ways for engineers at any level to embrace ownership in their work.   

Treat Delegated Tasks as Your Own 

All engineers early in their careers are delegated tasks by more senior team members. A fundamental way of demonstrating ownership is to treat these delegated tasks as your own responsibility. In my experience, the engineers who embody this behavior are the ones that I could delegate a task to, and I knew that the task would get done on time and with accuracy. To be clear, this does not mean they knew everything and never needed guidance. Quite the opposite actually – I knew I could trust them to come to me with questions or concerns if anything came up. 

The important thing here is not being afraid to ask questions. For junior team members, there is often a fear of admitting when you don’t know something, especially if you were tasked with something and feel like you “should” know how to do it. But the reality is that everyone is always learning and gaining new experiences. Leads will always appreciate you asking clarifying questions or asking to walk through a potential solution as you are working through a problem rather than pretending to understand and taking a best guess. This shows that you are doing your due diligence to get things done correctly and are wanting to build your knowledge! This will also help to build trust with your lead for the next time around.  

Be Proactive 

Being proactive is a great way to demonstrate ownership of your work. Anticipate problems that might arise and find ways to get ahead of them. For example, say you just finished a project where valve access was an issue during construction, and it caused a lot of headaches for the team. Keep this lesson learned in mind and make a point to actively prevent this from being an issue on the next project.  

Proactivity often can come up with regards to project schedules. For example, say you owe your construction team slab penetration locations. To finalize this, you need the structural team’s Revit model. You learn that the structural team is having BIM issues and will be delayed in transferring over their model. As soon as you sense this issue, flag it to all relevant leads and have an open conversation about how the team can mitigate this situation to meet schedule. Being proactive will help the team approach the problem immediately, rather than letting it become an even larger issue.  

Be Accountable for Your Actions 

Say you are a mechanical engineer, and you submitted a design drawing set to your reviewer. It comes back with several comments – it turns out you made errors with your duct sizing criteria which impacted what you modeled in Revit. Maybe you didn’t understand the sizing requirements as well as you thought. Maybe you were balancing several deliverables and in the rush of it all, this was an oversight you unknowingly carried through the design. 

While this can be a painful realization, taking accountability in this situation looks like: 

 1) Acknowledging to your reviewer or lead that this was an oversight or lack of understanding on your part  

2) Seeking further guidance on how to properly size the ductwork   

3) Going back and correcting the design documents  

4) Following up and confirming with your reviewer or lead to make sure the updates are now correct  

Making mistakes is an inevitable part of learning. But being accountable for your mistakes and taking feedback seriously will reduce the chance that you make that error again and will build your skillset as an engineer. By taking ownership of your deliverables, you will also build trust with your teammates.  

Try To Understand The “Why” 

From my experience, one of the best things a junior engineer can do as they are learning is to understand the “why” when they are asked to do a task. Consider if you are a mechanical engineer and your lead asks you to verify that the air handler you have selected can maintain a specific humidity ratio in the space.   

It would be easy to take that request at face value. You check the psychrometric calculations and get back to them with a yes or no. But to take real ownership of this task, you could ask clarifying questions like “I want to make sure I understand why we are concerned about this. What are the implications of having a humidity ratio in the space that is too high?” or “In which industry guide can I find the typical humidity ranges for different space types?” Perhaps it is asking “Just so that I can keep it in mind for next time, do you typically see this step occurring earlier in the process?” 

Seeking to understand what the bigger picture is and where this specific task fits within that picture can help you execute the task more effectively, help you optimize your process the next time you are faced with the task, and will show your team you are taking full ownership of your scope.  

Conduct Your Own Quality Checks 

When I was working in design, the most satisfying thing to me was looking back at a drawing package and feeling proud of the deliverables. Knowing that the design was well thought out and the drawings, schedules and specifications were coordinated made me feel like the hard work leading up to that point was worth it.  

One of the best ways to demonstrate ownership and pride in your work is to keep quality at the forefront of your mind. A great way to do this is to incorporate a self-check of all your calculations and deliverables before it goes into review. Having the mindset of “Oh my reviewer is going to be looking at it anyway – I will let them catch anything that falls through the cracks” is putting that onus on someone else rather than on yourself. Do your due diligence on your deliverables and it will lead to a better product. You will learn a lot more in the process, and it will show others that you care about the quality of your work.  

Adopt a “Professional of Record (POR) Mindset” 

There was a period in my career when I had passed my PE exam but didn’t feel comfortable actually signing and sealing drawing sets yet. My group lead helped me create the goal of adopting a “POR mindset” on every project I was on. Essentially, the idea was even if I was not going to be the one to sign and seal the project, adopting the mindset of being the professional in charge could help me build my confidence towards taking on that role. This mindset helped me think about each design holistically, ask the right questions and take full ownership of the design and deliverables.  

I think some variation of this idea can be applied to all AEC professionals, even if you are on the more junior side. Next time you are in a design review meeting or coordinating with your team, adopt a questioning mindset and flag those questions that are lingering in your mind. If you get a question answered that doesn’t fully satisfy you or make sense, push back and seek clarity.  

Communicate Clearly! 

How often have you identified a task that you could easily help with, only to stop yourself because you don’t want to step on anyone’s toes? Often, the fear of overstepping roles and responsibilities is a hindrance to being proactive and filling in gaps where they are needed. Clear communication can help alleviate those concerns. If you identify a gap you think you can fill, or a task that needs to be completed, communicate to your team that you are taking this on. Understanding your team’s communication styles can also help to understand how best to interact with them.  

While clearly laid out roles are crucial to effective teams and being able to build trust, there are always opportunities for flexibility. As long as you are letting your teammates know what is going on, they will likely appreciate your willingness to step in and help get the job done.  

Final Thoughts 

No matter where you are in your career, everyone can benefit from taking ownership of their work, and empowering their peers to do the same. It is key to remember that this is an attitude – when you can practice this mindset consistently, you can then set yourself up for success in the workplace.  

I challenge everyone to employ one of these strategies on your next project. If you have ways that you demonstrate ownership in your own career, I would love to hear about them! And if you are ever looking for free professional resources such as career road-mapping, performance review preparation, or just a sounding board to turn to in order to talk through various challenges and decisions unique to the AEC industry, reach out to me at th@designforce.me!