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Upskilling operators in scope for redundancy for Advanced Manufacturing 2025
The Engineering Skillnet invited companies in 2025 to participate on a Pilot programme for P2P Career/Leadership Programme. Four availed: BCD Mascogroup, Designwise Automation, OBW Technologies and T & T Precision to access a fully funded career coaching programme to support their leadership development. Peer groups were selected in each including graduate engineers (BCD), senior management (Designwise), early-career, mixed disciplines (OBW) and early-stage engineers (T & T).
The Challenge
In fast-moving engineering industries, skills become obsolete quickly and SME’s regularly need to pivot and serve a wide range of customers and sectors. Adaptivity relies on staff taking ownership of learning and close-knit, often interdisciplinary, teams. Future leaders can also be harder to identify due to SME’s being flatter organisations and with a less-structured approach to career development.
The Solution
The Engineering Skillnet engaged four leadership and performance coaches—one for each participating company—to support the development of nine career-critical skills: (1) self-leadership, (2) systems thinking, (3) achieving a ‘flow’ state, (4) questioning, (5) active listening, (6) networking, (7) flexing communication styles, (8) learning how to learn, and (9) adopting new positive habits.
Each company appointed a ‘sponsor’ as the main point of contact for the coaches. Using a non-prescriptive approach, coaches were encouraged to introduce their own preferred tools and techniques. However, all grounded their work in established coaching frameworks, such as the G.R.O.W. model (Goal, Reality, Options, Will), and combined peer-group ‘clinics’ with one-on-one coaching sessions. This flexible model enabled coaches to tailor their support to each sponsor’s specific needs while also addressing broader employee development goals—fostering self-mastery, mindful agency, and a sense of shared purpose for each peer group.
We thank the companies (pictured BCD, Designwise and OBW) and coaches (pictured Aine O'Dea, John McNamara, Michael Mulligan and Theresa Nanigian (pictured) for their co-operation and contributions.