Summary

• Influence is not the responsibility of engineers

• It’s the job of engineering managers or senior engineers

• Do not include influence in goal setting, it will lead to failure

• Influence requires appropriate authority and power, which is impossible for engineers at the ground level

Background

Influence is not the responsibility of engineers

Here, influence refers to exerting a tangible impact. For example, increasing sales, reducing work hours, or recruiting a certain number of customers or employees.

I want to say this loudly—it is not the responsibility of engineers to wield influence.

Excluding engineering managers or senior engineers, the duty of ground-level engineers is to tackle tasks. It’s about working on tasks decided through top-down approaches or consensus, and thus the engineer’s responsibility ends with task completion.

How much influence a task exerts should be the responsibility of the managers, senior engineers, or possibly the executives who define these tasks.

Yet influence is included in goal setting

How is your goal setting structured? How is your performance evaluation conducted?

Most likely, goals related to influence are incorporated. And assessments are made. Needless to say, influence is not the engineer’s expertise, and expecting an engineer without authority to achieve it is impossible. If goals are unmet, low evaluations follow. In the worst-case scenario, it could even result in dismissal. To avoid such tragedies, engineers end up engaging in activities to influence, and are told to appeal. This is sometimes referred to as politics.

What to do

There are two main actions to take.

1: Do not include influence in goal setting

Firstly, under no circumstances should influence be included in goal setting.

Influence is inherently the responsibility of roles with appropriate authority and power. It should be the work of engineering managers or senior engineers who possess these attributes, not that of ground-level engineers. Incorporating influence into goals anyway is neglect.

Make your case. Compete based on performance, not influence.

Here, performance means ability and results. For instance, consider an engineer responsible for adding functionality and ensuring the quality of a specific module, M. This person’s responsibility ends with the enhancement and quality assurance of module M. How much influence M exerts or needs to exert is not part of their duty. Managers or senior engineers should define or adjust these aspects.

2: Enlighten that influence is their responsibility

Additionally, communicate that influence is indeed the responsibility of engineering managers or senior engineers. Persistently communicate this as a group.

Since it’s business, influence is necessary. Someone has to do it. It should be performed by those with appropriate authority and power. Even if the concept of influence didn’t exist, those who "hold" authority should handle it.

If they categorically refuse to undertake this, suggest delegating it to capable individuals. Of course, authority and power must be transferred along with responsibilities. This would typically constitute an unusual promotion or appointment.