How do you make sure nothing falls through the cracks?
I have to document it in that moment. I think this has been definitely a part of being on Zoom meetings a lot. So if we're talking about something, and there’s a chance of me forgetting that I said, “Oh yeah, I'm gonnago ahead and do this for you,” I will pull up an email and type in who it's supposed to go and put in the subject line and leave it open. By the end of the day, maybe there's five or six meetings in the day, I'll have 12 emails open with the subject written in, so I know who to follow up with. I do the same thing with calendar invites. I typically won't end a day until all of those things have been sent out.
What strategies do you use to guide or coach people that report to you?
I think building that relationship, first of all, so that there's trust there, and they know I'm invested in them beyond the employee, but also as a person. With that, too, it’s being able to set expectations. What do you want from a supervisor? What do you need from a supervisor? And here's what I expect. Be clear with those expectations. As we're having regular check-ins, I give them feedback around areas that we might need to think about and work on, and resources to help them grow in those areas, too. I also periodically ask supervisees if there are things I could be doing to make them more effective in their job. Many times, with power dynamics, they might not share, but if you ask directly, then it might open space for them to share that information as well.
I think giving regular feedback outside of just the evaluation process is important, that we have that as a normal part of a relationship and not just when someone does something bad or wrong — so that pushing folks to grow is normal. It doesn't mean they're a bad educator. It doesn't mean there should be shame around that, just that we're all kind of on our journey for growth. Normalizing feedback and giving feedback as a gift versus as a punishment.
How do you make time and space for big picture thinking?
It's funny, a lot of times I do that while I'm at conferences. I think that those are the few times where I feel like I can just zone out and explore, you know? Maybe I don't take every detail away from that conference presentation, but it sparks something, and I allow myself to kind of wander and I'm jotting notes down and coming back to campus with some things that I want to look into and dig into for the different departments I oversee.
We also typically schedule retreats at least once a semester, with really light agendas, to just think about what could be. Coming into ARC, I'd previously worked at institutions varying in size, so I think I had seen things done in many different ways. That was kind of helpful in remembering that the way we do this process doesn't have to be the only way we do this process. What can we borrow from other organizations, what can we learn from the way they do it and how would that be adapted to fit our institution and our goals and our needs? I think it’s important to create that space to be with the team to do that, so it's not just, ‘These are the Dean's ideas.’
What is the best productivity or time management trick you’ve learned?
I evaluate a lot: Is this really necessary? If it's not, cut it out. In my personal life too, I operate from a very efficient perspective. This is kind of how my brain is wired — whether it’s doing the dishes or planning a vacation. For some reason, I always look at efficiency as a very high value, and that is a huge part of my working style. We can put a lot of effort into this, and is the outcome really going to be worth it? If we have 10 things that we think we should do, and seven of the 10 are highly productive and three of them are not, those three can be cut. Sometimes we cut things from our schedules or project list, and no one even noticed we cut it! I've learned to humanize that or balance that with a human perspective and a relational perspective. I learned early on as an administrator that you can't always focus on efficiency and return on investment in balancing that with team dynamics and power dynamics.
What did you think the job and the role of the dean were before you got the job?
I thought that as a dean, I would be more able to create vision and implement change in strategy and be innovative. And that's been challenging because I feel like our system really limits educational administrators from being visionary and innovative.
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Something to think about:
“Inclusion benefitsboththe individual performance and teameffectiveness. Exclusion is usually subtle, but damaging.”
—Juliet Bourke
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The Rabbit Hole(resources, content, etc. that are relevant to the job):
Interesting 14-minute TEDx talk about making better decisions in a team environment:
Juliet Bourke | TEDx Brisbane Do more opinions lead to better results in business and in life? If so what kind of opinions? Juliet Bourke shares her experience and research into the area of business diversity and inclusion to answer the question 'Which two heads are better than one?' Juliet Bourke leads the Austra ... tedxbrisbane.com.au ------------------------------------------
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