New President Interview -- Part 28 A Wonderful Job
Q: Very often one hears complaints about the
workplace. In a large organization such
the College how do you make it such a wonderful place to work?
A: With multiple stakeholders, the College has multiple
authorities to answer to. Sometimes the
requirements of one, conflict with the requirements of another. As a public institution partially funded by
taxes we need to answer to the needs of entire community. We have accreditation agencies looking over individual
programs while the entire college has accreditation from the Higher Learning
Council. For example the nursing and
radiology programs are accredited by their professional organizations. Employers
depend on as outside organization endorsing the College degrees and
certificates. The taxing body over sees our budget and for
them the bottom line is the money. The
accreditation agency wants our graduates to get an education that enables them
to get a job or continue in a four year college or university.
The two most important factors affecting how people feel
about the workplace are power and money.
If people feel powerless to work within or change the system, they are
unhappy. If they are underpaid or
programs are underfunded, they are unhappy.
People have to be empowered to work toward change that will improve the individual
and the institution. People need to be listened to and heard. Very often the people closest to the end users
know more about how to improve the organization than the administrator in the
central office. Bean counters know
beans, but not students. I am in favor
of being frugal, but not losing sight of the reason the College exists. Not every decision should be based on the
dollars. Decisions should be based on what is good for the students and
communities we serve.
Outside of situations of crisis, or danger to health and
safety leaders should not be barking orders.
Supervisors need to direct because they have knowledge outside of what
people in their department have.
Policies and work conditions need to be based on consensus, not fiat.
Q: What makes one
college succeed and another fail to deal with work place unrest?
When the upper leadership detaches
itself from understanding basic human
behaviors, feelings and motivations
of people in the organization, the atmosphere becomes toxic. By “toxic” I mean
that people are more concerned about keeping their job and not rocking the boat
rather than trying to make the organization better and helping the students. When people work as a team, are appreciated,
and allowed to make mistakes, the organization can grow and thrive. No matter
how carefully the rules are crafted, sometimes people need to change, adapt, and
even bend the rules. (Of course if the
rules can’t be followed, they need to be changed.)
If upper management wants to get rid
of unrest, first they need to listen more than talk. Sometimes directed listening diffuses a
problem without the need to issue directives.
The best leaders know how to listen, read people and anticipate the
future. Leaders who bark orders are similar to dictators who rule by force.
Q: What are the pressures of
funding on college and universities?
Columbia University in the City of New York recently completed a $6.1 billion fund raising
campaign. This was the largest campaign
in Ivy League history.[1] Some of the money is for new buildings, some for endowment,
and some for specific programs. Even
though Columbia’s endowment grew significantly with their campaign to a
value of about $8.2 billion, it is still much smaller than Harvard’s $32
billion, Yale’s $21 billion, Stanford’s $19 billion, and Princeton’s $18
billion. To our College this sounds like
an astronomical amount. We have a yearly
budget of $280 million and an endowment of less than $1 million. Their
endowments allow them more economic flexibility than colleges without
endowments.
Funding
is always a delicate balance of income and expenditures. Income comes from tuition, fees, tax support,
investments, and grants. As a public college we answer to community and to the
state legislature even when their messages conflict. We do not have total control over any of the
sources.
While we
want to keep our costs for students low, we know that to recruit and keep the
best faculty and staff we need to pay decent salaries. We also need to offer
benefits and rewards that are appropriate to keeping our people working as a
team.
Many of my colleagues in other
universities report demoralizing program cuts.
They see the administration demanding budget cuts without concern for
the welfare of the students. We see states wanting more graduates while
forgetting that greater numbers does no service to the community. If we don’t have quality graduates then the
value of the degree is worthless. We
could easily manipulate the numbers of graduates by lowering standards and
requirements. That would be a disservice
to our students and the community.
Q: You are sometimes critical
of the media. We are professional
communicators. What is your position on
communication skills?
With all due respect the general
for-profit media is in the business of selling copies or getting people to view
their web sites. Their business is
selling information. There are
investigative reporters who try to go beyond the daily news reports, but just
look at the promotion of these reports on TV before they air. Sometimes the stations spend more time on the
promotion and teasers, then the whole story.
They are going to choose stories that are most appealing to the intended
audience. Now this is not bad. It is something we have to teach students to
be aware of. Journalists write newspaper
and TV stories while scholars and those wanting to be scholars write for
scholarly publications.
Communication skills are
essential in every field. Listening,
learning, reading, are an important as saying and writing. One must master the
language and vocabulary of the general world so that people take you seriously
and respect your authority. The language
and vocabulary in your profession or academic discipline are important to help
communicate with a precision and expertise.
Communication also includes the ability to read and understand texts,
academic publications, and everyday human communications. Mastery of communication
includes all types of media such as print, electronic, visual, and non-print
media. One must be able to write and express one’s self to the general public
and colleagues.
Critical thinking is a skill that
involves gathering data and information from multiple sources to conceptualize,
analyze, synthesize, and/or evaluate. The information gathered interacts with
previous knowledge and experience and enables executive decisions or indicates when
to seek help.
Q: Thank you very much.
=========================
Part twenty-eight of imaginary
interviews with the president of the College. After more than 20 interviews the
president is no longer “new,” but since we are all works in progress I am
continuing the series as if s/he were a “new president.” Please feel free to
suggest new ideas for interviews and presidential comments. This article is for
your information, amusement, and edification. Any connection to a real college
or president is strictly coincidental.
[1]
For the full story see the Spring 2014
issue of Columbia
Magazine. “The Evolving University”
an interview with Columbia
president Lee C. Bollinger (http://magazine.columbia.edu/features/spring-2014/evolving-university) and “Going
Places” (http://magazine.columbia.edu/features/spring-2014/going-places)
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