Posted on 7th March 2020 at 13:29
I often get asked this question at family gatherings, let alone the obligatory enquiry at networking meetings.
Why?
Either because what I do is difficult to understand, or I’ve not communicated that clearly enough so far.
Or maybe just that what I do can’t be pigeonholed into standard phrases that people relate to.
To make it simple for people, I just relent and tell them I’m an engineer, and that satisfies them, but then I get requests to sort out their computers.
No, dear family, that’s not what I do. Well, OK, I do some of that as part of my skills, but that’s not everything.
Thanks to some intensive support from Peter Baylis of PEB Marketing Academy and BizSmart I’ve come to the understanding that it’s just not enough to give people an answer that you think they’re looking for, but you need to paint that picture a little more clearly.
Well not so much that their coffee gets cold or their beer gets warm and they’re desperate for someone to rescue them from your diatribe, of course, but be enthusiastic about what it is – a difficult task for engineers who are renowned for being dismissive when talking about their activities, but dramatically keen when it comes to actually doing it (aka “obsessive”).
I’ve always thought of myself as an “Engineer” and always equate that to being a “Problem Solver”, but with some substantial self-examination and looking back at 35 years of experience, I’m now persuaded that everything that I do has a human element to it; in fact there is always a large interface with people; clients, employees, users, the public at large.
Does that still make us an engineering company?
Well not in the stereotypical sense, which is why people have not grasped what it is that we do – our actions differ from what they expect and that does not compute.
So:
MATL helps businesses and business owners who don’t have the time or resource to deliver the changes in their processes that they intend whilst keeping costs under control, their workforce fully engaged and their waste reduced.
That’s a lot of human interaction and technology whilst solving problems.
But is it real Engineering?
Oh yes!
To get clear and practical support to plan and execute your changes to your business processes, contact MAT Ltd on +44 1905 888174 or contact us at [email protected]