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ASCE Dallas at the Multi-Region Leadership Conference

ASCE Dallas at the Multi-Region Leadership Conference

Ed Penton, Fabian Herrera, Julie Jones, Ashlyn Kelbly, Brad Hernandez, Jonathan Brower, and Sean Merrell (from left to right) hanging out with the celebrity stars from the murder mystery dinner

The ASCE Dallas Branch sent eight representatives to the Region 3, 6, & 7 Leadership Conference in Houston on Friday, January 30th and Saturday, January 31st.  Fabian Herrera, Julie Jones, Sean Merrell, Brad Hernandez, Jonathan Brower, Ashlyn Kelbly, Anthony Luce, and Ed Penton all participated in some capacity at the conference that included a Younger Member Council, a Workshop for Section and Branch Leaders, and a Workshop for Student Chapter Leaders.  This was a great way for civil engineers in all stages of their careers to network with, learn from, and encourage one another.  Regions 3, 6, & 7 include 16 states stretching from the Mid-West region down the middle third of the United States to Texas, providing a basis of diversity to the conference.

The conference started off with an introduction to the organization and structure of the American Society of Civil Engineers as well as a speech from the new ASCE Executive Director, Tom Smith.  Learning about the political efforts and consistent policies that ASCE National and the Executive Director are overseeing was an especially important take-away during this morning session.  The professional and technical depth of ASCE is of great benefit to its members, and gives the organization a larger and louder voice when it comes to legislative lobbying.

Younger Members:

Fabian Herrera, Ashlyn Kelbly, and Jonathan Brower then broke off into the Younger Member roundtable discussions where ideas were shared on improving local branch practices in areas such as outreach & community service, professional technical meetings, membership recruiting, student chapter interaction, and volunteer management.  As a summary, the majority of the discussions centered on the use of social media as a multi-faceted tool and making interactions personal for both member recruitment and retention.  Another big topic was the need to get students interested in civil engineering before college and involved in ASCE during college through student chapters.  The pursuit of young engineers then follows immediately after college through Younger Member Groups as graduates enter the workforce.  Ashlyn and Jonathan hope to take a lot of the ideas gained from these roundtable discussions and incorporate them in the ASCE Dallas Branch and Younger Member Group!

Leadership Training:

The first of many leadership presentations then began with Amber Fessler from Toastmasters International and her speech entitled “Being a Leader, Being Yourself”.  Amber used the Toastmasters-developed “structure” of speeches to illustrate the qualities of a strong leader.  The “structure” of a great speech consists of the following: inspire trust, clarify purpose, align systems, and unleash talent.  If you are listening to a presenter who can effectively master these four things, there’s a great chance that they will have your attention for as long as needed!  Now think of what a leader has to do, whether that be an engineering project manager, a little league baseball coach, or a teacher.  These are all elements that effective leaders put into practice on a daily basis.  What about the introverted engineer that doesn’t see themselves as a “natural leader”?  Well, let’s consider the second and third elements mentioned by Amber: clarify purpose and align systems.  Clarifying purpose and aligning systems is something civil engineers do every day at work.  The design process demands this of us as engineers, and it’s a natural part of how an engineer is wired.  Therefore, we can see that 50% of the elements that make a successful leader are inherently present in engineers!  What an amazing foundation we innately possess as engineers when it comes to leadership, and what an encouragement it is to those of us who may feel timid to step into leadership positions.

The afternoon sessions began with a great breakout session with the student chapter leaders, at which all of the Dallas Branch leaders enjoyed getting to know the young engineers at their alma maters.  It was especially refreshing to see the passion that the students leaders have for the civil engineering profession.  Sometimes we as engineers in the “real world” forget why we fell in love with civil engineering in the first place.  It’s great to be reminded of what a genuine interest and passion for the profession looks like from the perspective of a young student.

Sean Merrell got involved in the action by participating in the comedy skit “How to NOT Run a Board Meeting.”  The goal of the skit was to gain a better understanding of Robert’s Rules of Order while considering some of the challenging circumstances that happen in most organizational board meetings.  The most entertaining part of the skit came when Sean fully embraced his “drunken representative” role by taking an “accidental” tumble away from the board meeting.  Let it be known: Sean does his own stunts!

ASCE 2010 President, Blaine Leonard, then led a practical discussion on “How to Address Confrontational Leaders”.  As engineers coordinating with other disciplines and co-workers, it’s only a matter of time before we encounter a “difficult” person.  Blaine pointed out that as leaders we should seek to first understand the other person and be introspective about our own contribution to the “difficult” situation.  Additionally, we should try to be proactive about the situation instead of reactive; Offer solutions instead of simply confronting the issue at hand.

This action-packed first day came to a close with a brief reception in the hotel lobby followed by a star-studded murder mystery dinner.  Special guests Sherlock Holmes and Lieutenant Columbo led the dinner party through an investigation surrounding the death of Harry Carey (as played by the Dallas Branch’s own Fabian Herrera).  Potential suspects included Marilyn Monroe, Dr. Evil, and Elvis Presley.  The Dallas Branch leaders were lucky enough to snap a picture with the cast at the end of the night.

Saturday started off with the opportunity to hear from the two ASCE President-Elect nominees, Norma Jean Mattei and Thomas Walther, in an open-mic question and answer session.  Students and Branch/Section leaders alike had the chance to ask the two nominees some tough questions face-to-face about the future of ASCE and their goals for the next couple of years.

Blaine Leonard then took the stage once again to lead a breakfast presentation on “Generational Differences”.  There are currently four generations in the workforce: traditionalists, boomers, gen-Xers, and millennials.  To complicate matters, we are all wired completely different and are influenced by very different things.  Gaining a better understanding of where each generation comes from, how they were influenced culturally, what their general ideals are, and their work style can only make us better as leaders in the engineering workplace.  We should work to appreciate the strengths of each other, while leading through and managing the differences. 

Civil Engineering Club Presentation:

Jonathan Brower also had the opportunity to present during two “best practices” focus sessions with smaller groups of Branch and Section leaders.  As the Dallas Branch Education Co-Chair, Jonathan took this as an opportunity to highlight the success that the Civil Engineering Club at Woodrow Wilson High School in East Dallas has had over the past two years.  The program has experienced significant growth from an after-school program with a handful of students to an in-class series of presentations where civil engineering professionals serve as substitute teachers for a day in the Engineering Academy’s four “Civil Engineering/Architecture Design” classes.  The hope was to inspire other branch and section leaders to expand their education and outreach programs based on the success that the Dallas Branch has experienced.
 
Jonathan Brower, the ASCE Dallas Education Co-Chair, presenting on “Bringing STEM Education to Schools” at the MRLC

Website Award:

Finally, the weekend would not be complete, of course, without ASCE Dallas collecting some well-earned hardware.  Sean Merrell and Brad Hernandez accepted the ASCE Website of the Year Award on behalf of our local branch from ASCE President-Elect, Mark Woodson.  This is the fourth time in five years that the Dallas Branch has received this award for the Branch website.  Next time you see Sean Merrell be sure to thank him and the Communications Committee for establishing such a strong foundation for our Branch website that only gets better with each year.
 

Sean Merrell (left) and Brad Hernandez (right) accepting the ASCE Branch Website of the Year Award from 2015 ASCE President-Elect, Mark Woodson (center)

The weekend concluded with a bit of fun with the ASCE Houston Younger Member Group hosting a trip to Space Center Houston; an experience that left the ASCE Dallas leaders pondering what could be possible for civil engineers in the future.

If you have any questions about any of the presentations mentioned in this article or are curious about what else the Dallas Branch leaders learned during this fantastic weekend please do not hesitate to contact them via their respective email addresses listed on the Branch leadership webpage or, better yet, talk to them in person at the next Branch Luncheon!

Inspiring quotes from the weekend:
“Empathy is understanding and sympathy is agreeing. Even if you don’t agree with someone (can’t sympathize), you should at least attempt to be empathetic – put yourself in their shoes to see where they’re coming from.”

“Good decisions come from good experience.  Good experience comes from bad decisions.”