HPP Learnings
Signs of an Excellent Leader
Throughout my placement at Mercedes-AMG High Performance Powertrains (HPP), I noticed common trades that the best team leaders, heads of departments and chief engineers share. But first, who is a good team leader?
A good team leader is a person that delivers – meets the expectations of the management/higher-ups (head of departments, chief engineers) whilst keeping a healthy working relationships (no toxic environment) between its colleagues. In F1 in particular, this means that brings quantified performance gain (greater power output, weight reduction), with sufficient prove-out and puts short-term and long-term containments in place for faults.
These are the common trades that I observed between the best team leaders, heads of departments, chief engineers:
- Inspires motivation in team – the enthusiasm and will to succeed is shared in the whole team
- Asks right questions – even if he/she may not know the answers, the leader is able to ask the right questions which ultimately help him/her with guiding the team.
- Clarity – Short, straight to the point answers.
- Up-to-date – Monitors the progress of all of its engineers and clearly defines the priorities of each engineer. This is usually achieved via morning stand-up meetings.
- Being in frame – Understanding on the full picture of the topic: problem, root cause, urgency, priorities
- Prepared – Prepares for big, important meetings well ahead.
- No blame culture – Does not blame its engineers for mistakes (even if he/she could).
- Hard Working – Is ready to work hard if the situation requires him/her to do so
This list can be updated in the future.
