Governance and Decision-Making
Significant learning points:
This
seminar was led by the three vice-president and campus directors, Dr. Ileana
Smith, Dr. June Turansky, and Dr. Kathy Janvier. They began by each telling their personal
stories of how they got to their current position. Although I had heard it before, I was struck
by Ileana’s story of emigrating from Cuba at age 11 as she was forced to leave
behind all of her belongings, including her cherished dolls. This experience reinforced for her that you
can lose everything, but not your education.
The key takeaway from Kathy’s personal story is that life is full of
challenges, obstacles, and opportunities and that obstacles and become
opportunities – so seize them.
Based on questions the leadership development participants submitted ahead of time, they also discussed the key functions of their job, communication strategies, decision-making strategies, time management, and strategic thinking and planning. A significant learning point for me was the extent to which they did or did not trust their intuition when making decisions. Ileana emphasized the importance of intuition saying that we should never dismiss our gut instinct, but learn to balance our intuition with analysis. A good test for a decision is whether or not it is okay if it ends up on the front page of the News Journal. Another significant learning point was when Kathy said, “You’re never caught up. Once you’re okay with that, you’ll actually be more productive because productivity is hindered by stress.” Ileana gave a visual to this idea by using a beach ball analogy. She said, “You don’t need to be unsinkable, just buoyant.”
Based on questions the leadership development participants submitted ahead of time, they also discussed the key functions of their job, communication strategies, decision-making strategies, time management, and strategic thinking and planning. A significant learning point for me was the extent to which they did or did not trust their intuition when making decisions. Ileana emphasized the importance of intuition saying that we should never dismiss our gut instinct, but learn to balance our intuition with analysis. A good test for a decision is whether or not it is okay if it ends up on the front page of the News Journal. Another significant learning point was when Kathy said, “You’re never caught up. Once you’re okay with that, you’ll actually be more productive because productivity is hindered by stress.” Ileana gave a visual to this idea by using a beach ball analogy. She said, “You don’t need to be unsinkable, just buoyant.”
Relevance to ideas about leadership:
Leaders
are decision makers, and some decisions will be easier than others. Whatever the decision, you have be able to
justify it, so careful and thoughtful analysis of the data and the potential
impact of the decision is important.
Ways to apply learning to current role:
As
both the department chair for mathematics/physics and the campus assessment
coordinator, I often find myself torn between two competing job
priorities. Understanding that it’s okay
to not be continuously caught up gave me a sense of relief in that I’m not the
only one that feels like there are not enough hours in the day to get
everything done. I will continue to
prioritize both job responsibilities
until they can find someone else to be the assessment coordinator, so I can
focus on the math/physics department.