The Dean's List #35

What have you learned about communication in this work?

I’ve been reminded lately that communication has to be pretty simple. People don't always have the capacity to take in a lot of stuff all at one time. This is a thing I remind faculty about -- there's this basic communication model: sender, message, receiver, feedback. I think we don't pay attention to that feedback part. It doesn't mean you have to agree with the feedback, but it's part of the cycle and it will backfire if you don't pay attention to that. I also tend to think very quickly and I’m often focused on my own message, so I have to work to be slower and simpler when I’m communicating – and patient. It's not my ideal communication situation, but I know that my own shorthand in communication doesn't really work with other people. I used to have a dean, and when we would meet, I spoke way too quickly and had way too many things to report. I learned that I had to say – and I think this is true with anyone – “OK, I have two things I want to talk to you about today.” Another part of the communication thing has to do with external and internal noise -- that affects all the parts of it. We have no idea what internal noise is going on with people. Absolutely none. I mean, whether they are hungry, or their wife just told them they're a jerk. I have no idea. The chances of me being able to communicate very much in one interaction and have it turn out the way I want are, at most, 50/50.

We spend so much time just managing things. What does leadership look like to you?

To me, it really is empowering other people, facilitating their good work. On the best of days, that's what it is. I think there isn't a lot of room for leadership with people who are really unhappy in their jobs or people who are not doing a great job. I mean, you are not the first person that tried to be a leader to those people. So, I really try to focus on what we're doing right and help facilitate the work those people are doing. In terms of actually leading, I try to do that by example, because to me it's about relationships and communication and not about all the stuff people often come up with about what they think they need. This is a hard structure to lead in because you don't get to make many decisions. I try to think of leadership as being a little bit further ahead on the path and paying attention to that and to what you see coming ahead and how that might impact people, whether those are good opportunities or hard realities.

What are the positive and negative impacts of the job on your personal or inner life?

Well, you want people who are really good at people stuff, but it's torturous, you know? It's very hard. And there’s so much stuff you have to keep in your head all the time that it's very hard to be present in your life. I don't think that means that you can't. You can come up with all kinds of productivity tricks to help -- you know, not reading email in the morning, blah, blah, blah – all those things. But it's just a pretty consuming job. And when there's a problem, you have to kind of chew on it for a while, and it's hard to shut that off. I think it's really good if you have a partner or a family that's engaged in their own stuff, but it has a big impact, and I don't know that there's any way around that. In terms of more positive stuff, I think it's really good to be engaged. Not to belabor a currently common phrase, but these jobs are just social constructs, right? Really what you're doing is practicing and learning how to have balance and to be present. It’s so great that you have a chance to practice that, right? If you're just home alone, working on your house or whatever, you don't really get practice at being a human. You might feel less stressed, but I don't know that that's necessarily a good thing.