It's not rocket science, but even if it was, engineers should be able to find the answer to recruiting more women into senior positions

The engineering industry will play a vital role in the regrowth of Britain's economy but to do that we need to be able to compete on the world stage and nurture a British engineering workforce. There is a real skills shortage: by 2016, Britain will need to train 96,300 new engineers and scientists just to replace those who retire. Boosting the number of women working as engineers will play a huge part in changing this.

Increasing industry emphasis on collaborative working and communication skills, alongside core engineering know-how, means women bring a powerful mix to the table. Our industry needs to be agile and maximise its assets to make a significant and sustainable contribution to the economy, particularly in recession.

Many women leave engineering, for a wide range of reasons. Some because of the long hours culture, for others a shortage of part-time positions conflict with family responsibilities. It's not uncommon for women to feel that their opinions are not valued as highly as their male colleagues' and gaining respect and career progression within some organisations can feel like a battle.

Women leaving the profession creates a problem. The Davies and McKinsey reports both point to more diverse teams making better decisions, better financially, and in terms of mitigating risks. Acknowledging this will help to increase the number of women in leadership positions by providing role models for future talent to follow and providing a more level playing field.

The issues behind this situation are varied and complex. Unconscious bias plays a big role as we all tend to recruit in our own image. It's a natural tendency, but it's valuable to be able to notice ourselves doing it and compensate for that tendency when we need to. Courses are available to help recruiters to open their minds to the benefits of a diverse team and to embrace flexible working. In some countries parenthood is assumed to bring new skills in negotiation and management and a return from parental leave is frequently greeted with promotion.

As a female building physicist I first became conscious of the issues surrounding gender diversity when I returned to work part-time following two children. Initially this did not cause any major problems, but as I moved into a more traditionally organised company it did. I started to notice that there were very few women above me in the hierarchy and that troubled me. What happened to all the female graduates that I started with, and what did this say about my chances of a successful career?

As a result, I helped to establish WiBSE – a network for women in the building services engineering sector, to support and advise women who chose a leadership role. The solutions are out there and they're not rocket science (although as engineers we should be able to tackle them even if they were).

WiBSE is keen to support the work of the CIBSE diversity panel. The panel are taking an active role to improve diversity of all kinds across building services engineering. We are also taking action to tackle the pipeline – encouraging women to study engineering and to be a part of our future.

Susie Diamond is vice-chair of WiBSE and founding partner of Inkling LLP

This article first appeared on the Guardian Women in Leadership section on the 26th April 2013