The Dean's List #27

How do you keep track of what you have to do?

It's just in my head. I'm not very good at listing. I have to force myself to list. I'll have a list for [my supervisor] or, if I'm really worried that something is going to get left off I'll write it down. I tend to think of my job in categories or chunks and then I'll just think, 'OK, what chunk do I have coming up in that category?' I went through all of grad school, and then we had to take this comprehensive exam and I opened up my only notebook and I had, like, three paragraphs of notes–and I passed the exam. I think I'm an auditory learner. I think I have a little bit of a photographic memory, too. I remember being in school, and I could just open up the list of the spelling words and stare at it for a while. I could just close my eyes during the test and see it.

How do you process your email?

It's very important to me to respond to people in a timely manner. I do get paranoid that I'm going to forget. If there's too much stuff in my inbox, I worry that it'll get buried and I won't respond to it, or that I'll read it and then move on to something else. I read through everything in a timely way and then I leave it in my inbox until I respond. After I respond, then I will archive that email or delete it. I really keep my inbox pretty clean because it's too anxiety provoking for me. I noticed when we went remote – it was palpable – how the first few weeks felt really overwhelming because of the volume of email. Everything had to be in email. What's interesting to me is that, in the before times, when we had a meeting, or a conversation in the hallway, you had different associations with the things you needed to do. What was the conversation, what was happening around the conversation–visually and physically? But now everything's in one dimension – email. So I find that I question things. Did I respond to that? Did we finish that call? You know, because there are no associations of, like, whoever and in the hallway and we decided we should do something this way or that way. There's just no way to differentiate when everything is all in this one format. One thing I dislike that I do is, maybe you'll send me an email and I'll say, ‘I don't know, let me look into that.’ I wish, instead of adding an email to someone's inbox, that I could be the person who just could hold off and look into it and then get back. I feel like I've never really gotten a handle on that because my drive to communicate and acknowledge that person is greater than my drive to be more efficient. But I also think over time I've learned to be less wordy in emails.

How do you keep yourself from burning out?

I'd say taking on new projects is really helpful -- even though, at the time, you wonder what you were thinking taking on something new, but it does kind of revitalize you. The other thing that keeps me from burning out is trying to look at things that I've been on for a long time, from a new perspective. I also tend to hold things in, but then I find when I do talk about things with people, it's really interesting and refreshing because I get a perspective that’s very different than mine.

What do you do to get yourself back on track when things are overwhelming or tough? Do you have a Mantra?

I look at my calendar. Sometimes I'll ask myself, how critical is it? How much of an investment emotionally do I want to make? In the beginning, I'd get worked up about all kinds of different things. Then, whatever it was would hook me and I’d go home and dwell on it. I sleep like a baby now. Sometimes you have to remember this isn't brain surgery and nobody's going to die, so we'll just figure it out. So I remind myself of that and then just make a good faith effort. I'll remind myself that I have teammates, and if I can't figure something out or I'm stuck, there are people who are going to help me out. I've figured out, too, there's a value in pushing back the chair and stepping away from the desk for a minute. Because, God, haven't, we all done this? Where we've stayed and we're determined to just doggedly finish something, and then you realize you’re working at a snail’s pace because you’re just exhausted. I could have just left it and got up in the morning and got it done, and done better, in 10 minutes.

What seemed important in the beginning that doesn’t now?

I think in the beginning I really was trying to take my marching orders. I really thought that the management part was really important, but I came to realize that it's the people part, the personnel things that matter the most. That's really why we're needed in the seat. At first, when you get hired as a dean, you think you have to solve everyone's problems, but after a while you learn your job is really to help people to help themselves. Not in a lazy way, don’t put 'em out to sea in a leaky raft. But it's tempting to be the savior or an enabler but, in the long run, that will contribute to burnout. It's like kids, right? It's sweet to have them depend on you, but just for their own sake, do you really want them being 40 years old and living in the basement?

------------------------------------------ Something to think about: “Good communication requires repetition. Data: Leaders are 9x more likely to be criticized for undercommunicating than overcommunicating. Those who say too little come across as unclear and uncaring. When you're tired of your message, it's just started to land.” — Adam Grant ------------------------------------------ The Rabbit Hole (resources, content, etc. that are relevant to the job): How Supportive Leaders Approach Emotional Conversations by Sarah Noll Wilson