Merry Christmas and Happy new Year
Dr Flavius A B Akerele III The ETeam
Posts
We do not hold ourselves accountable in higher education; time to admit it
If you have worked in education long enough, you will quickly learn that educators are full of flaws. · The industry is highly indiscreet, despite FERPA (FAMILY EDUCATION RIGHTS PRIVACY ACT) · People often work in silos without collaboration · We do not admit when we are wrong soon enough · ETC Do not get me wrong, I love my industry and our hearts are in the right place, but real change is really scary for most, and often we do not embrace the change until it is forced upon us. Issues with accreditation did not just happen overnight, this had to have taken years to build up. Accounting and solvency issues did not just suddenly appear, mistakes are going to happen when people get promoted into positions that does not necessarily suit them. Online technology has been grow...
What kind of message does this send to your employees? #leadership #communication
This is a real message sent out to employees in regards to a holiday party: “Please RSVP by COB Friday, December 9th. Holiday Party RSVP The Coleman University Holiday Party will take place on Friday, December 16th in Hopper Hall from 6-10pm. The event will include games, raffles, and a dance floor. The cost to attend is $5 per employee and you can bring one guest at no cost. Please pay at the front desk and RSVP by COB Friday, December 9th . We ask employees to provide a dessert item, employees bringing dessert will get one raffle ticket (only one).” Never mind the grammar issues in the message, never mind the acronyms that are not necessarily clear: you are charging your hardworking employees for a Christmas party! If money is an issue, perhaps just have a potluck, or maybe no party at all? The little things are what matter, it is the little things that get noticed, and these little things...
Do you listen and take action or just hit delete and hope? A communication question
As employer and as a leader, you are going to get negative emails from employees from time to time because life happens. How you respond to those emails can be the difference between solving a problem and creating new one. By the way, not responding at all is a negative way of responding because every person wants to know that their point has been heard. Try and see the issue from the point of view of the employee, if you cannot, ask questions, and ask the employee what they would like to see happen. You might be able to fulfill their wish, but maybe all they wanted to do was vent; venting can be cathartic for people. There are too many people in authority who feel they must defend and counter every argument, rather than listen, understand, and try and help a person get through the issue. Leadership often means you must put the needs of your employees ahead of your own ego. So before you hit that delete button, before you decide to ignore that person, ask you...