What tips would offer to a new manager? Hard skills? Soft skills?
I would say in your first one-on-one with your boss — well, actually what I would really recommend is to try and set up meetings before you even start. Contact your boss and the administrative support and ask to set up meetings with all the required parties so that the moment you step on campus, you’re meeting with your boss or your peers or direct reports, whoever. Just need to have that scaffolding, so that, on your first day, you already have a plan, and you’re not trying to reach out to all of these people you don't even know or how to reach them. I would make sure to manage up as a Dean and, in that first meeting, talk about things you need, duties you’re expected to accomplish in the next year, the culture of the department you’re entering, what your expectations are of communication for me and what my expectations of communication are for you. As a dean, you need to be coming into with your work with staff with a specific understanding of what their duties are. How do I need those to shift under my leadership based on what my boss told me? And then, how do you expect me to communicate with you? How do I expect to communicate with you?
How do you keep yourself from burning out?
One of the things that helped me when I first started the job was getting involved in a community organization that did good work, and that I found value in. So I got on a fundraising committee. It was doing good work that I believed in and, because of that, then I had a community that was outside of the work capacity, which then gave me something to work toward that wasn't just ARC, but I still felt like it was related. It's a community college, so I'm doing work in the community. And the other thing that helped me was I went from answering emails after hours to not doing that — even if I do look at them. Also not having an ego about the work. You're going to get something wrong.
What's the most valuable lesson you’ve learned the hard way in this job?
It doesn't all have to get done at once. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good.
I think another one, and I would say this is one of the hardest ones, is your supervision style might not be the one that other people on your team need. So, supervise people for who they are, not for who you are. I have team members who are very comfortable with a hands-off approach. They want me to be there for them and challenge the systems for them, right? But they don't like it when their supervisor is in their way. That's my dream, because I hate being micromanaged. There are some people who need someone to give them markers and milestones and those kinds of things. That's not my jam as somebody who doesn't like to be supervised in that way. Or I might think I’m communicating well — you know, if you need anything, come talk to me, right? But ‘If you need anything, come talk to me’ is not a supervision style that works well for everybody. That can bite you in the butt
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Something to think about:
“Double down on your best relationship. It’s the investment with the highest return.”
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The Rabbit Hole (resources, content, etc. that are relevant to the job):
Recommended by this week’s subject:
The Ethical Sellout: Maintaining Your Integrity in the Age of Compromise by Lily Zheng and Inge Hansen
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