Having been in similar situations in my career, I found the
article I am about to share very interesting because it crosses all levels of
education and all industries. Being in a leadership position is truly an open-ended
interview, and since your main job is to manage personalities, it makes it that
much more fun!
“For College
Presidents, the Interview Never Ends”
“When you do
research on candidates running for public office, you seek to learn their
positions and promises. And later, when you’re deciding whether they should
keep their jobs, you compare what they have done against that election-year
rhetoric.
The same holds true in other
leadership posts, including the one I hold: community-college president. To
ensure that an institution is making progress toward its goals, candidates for
positions like this must do more than interview well at the outset; they must engage
in what I call the "everlasting interview" and be forever accountable
to the college’s students, faculty members, administration, and community.”
“For me, the desire to become
a president was neither preordained nor obvious. In the beginning, I engaged in
serious self-reflection. I asked myself, "Why would I apply for the
position?," and realized that I wanted to leave an imprint on an
institution in a way only senior leadership would allow. I had 40-plus years of
experience, and in 2011 I was as ready for the opportunity as I could have
been.”
“During the marathonlike
interview process, members of every constituency from every corner of the
college get out their microscopes and, like medical doctors, begin poking and
prodding. Screening committees, faculty and staff members, students, community
members, and public forums are all part of the lengthy and deliberate process.
Not for the faint of heart, it is meant to be thorough, helping the hiring
committee find the best "fit" for the institution.”
“What kept me going was the
confidence that I was the one the institution needed, and when I received the
phone call offering me the position, I felt like I had won Olympic gold, with
all the cheers and adrenaline rush.”
“What is not often said,
however, is that being the successful candidate does not mean the interview is
over. Far from it. The continuing interview is the everyday measure of the
congruence between what the candidate said and what the president does.”
“The minute I arrived on campus, I was tested: favors of
every kind requested; private emails suggesting the most successful leadership
style; public scrutiny of my decisions both large and small; and frequent
"to do" lists offered. These tests came in the form of requests for
purchases that had been heretofore denied; the need for travel to places around
the world; luncheon invitations (for the discussion of private matters); and
complaints about office locations. The savvy president will know that while
many of the requests are not necessarily strategic to the college’s agenda,
they are clearly part of the protracted testing process. And this testing is
particularly extensive when a president is bold, sees herself as a change
agent, incorporates accountability standards, and insists on moving the college
forward.”
Read the whole thing here: http://chronicle.com/article/For-College-Presidents-the/145035/?cid=cr&utm_source=cr&utm_medium=en
Whether you are K12 or HigherEd: What are your experiences?
How do you approach new leadership positions? What advice would you give
someone?
Dr Flavius A B
Akerele III
The ETeam
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