The Institution of Civil Engineers (UK) is taking this matter very seriously. The problem as you know is, those issues depending on each and every member of a group making an effort in the same direction are the hardest by far. One has to address their challenges as an individual before communicating effectively with the outside world.

Anyway, I am glad we can share these thoughts with others. Thanks again for your post, and good luck!

JC

It is going to be important for engineering schools to teach engineering students to express themselves in language that is understood by all. I am hoping that the universities lead the way. However, leadership will also need to come from professional engineering associations as well.

Thank you for your comments on my article. Many professionals in all fields create barriers to communication through overuse of technical language. In fact, the greatest appreciation is earned by the ability to take what you know and be able to explain it to others in simple terms.

Best wishes,

Babette

It adresses a critical, but subtle issue in the civil engineering
profession: the firm belief that we can keep congratulating ourselves about our achievements rather than speaking them out in a common-language aesthetic manner, and at the same time complain about the unfairly low level of awareness and recognition that we get across society. It is the other way around!

We must work tirelessly to ensure that communication skills become one of the fundamental study and training areas in the engineering profession. Only by progressing in this field we can expect to gain the confidence of the general public that is necessary to play an active role at all decision-making levels in both public and private sectors.

There’s our challenge.

Regards,

Jose Cordovilla CEng MICE
Infrastructure Consultant
Malaga, Spain