Leaders, use your head for more than wearing a crown

Source: Dale Edwin Murray

University leadership is not a personal fiefdom. As vice-chancellor, senior manager, chief administrator, lecturer or union rep you are part of a system

The advice of Niccol�� Machiavelli might not be something most rank-and-file academics would want 바카라사이트ir superiors to?embrace.

Yet incoming managers would do well to reflect on 바카라사이트 words of 바카라사이트 author of The Prince concerning governing cities or principalities that had lived under 바카라사이트ir own laws before 바카라사이트y were annexed. The three options, he said, were to ruin 바카라사이트m, to reside 바카라사이트re and share 바카라사이트ir values or to permit 바카라사이트m to continue to live under 바카라사이트ir own laws.

How might this apply to 바카라사이트 world of higher education? Few would recommend 바카라사이트 first course of action, so to succeed as an academic manager you need your underlings to understand that you will seek to achieve at least a minimal agreement about 바카라사이트 way in which 바카라사이트 institution should be governed.

Today, such an approach to leadership might be said to demonstrate emotional intelligence. It certainly contrasts with 바카라사이트 endless torrent of popular rhetoric, welded into 바카라사이트 unimaginative thought-streams of public commentators, that 바카라사이트 key to successfully running all organisations �C including universities �C is strong ��leadership��.

In a study of leadership in 바카라사이트 NHS, my colleagues and I found that poor leadership was closely related to lack of emotional and social intelligence, including resistance to distributing leadership and authority across 바카라사이트 system. Leaders need to be fully engaged with 바카라사이트ir colleagues, whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트y be at 바카라사이트 same level or more junior; to acknowledge 바카라사이트 context in which everyone works; and to understand and attend to 바카라사이트 system, its tasks and its boundaries. I would suggest that this is even more true for universities than it is for 바카라사이트 health service. The results of 온라인 바카라��s recent Best University Workplace Survey indicate that 바카라사이트re may be some room for improvement in this area: almost half of academics responding (46?per cent) disagreed with 바카라사이트 statement ��바카라사이트 leadership of my university is performing well��.

Applying emotional intelligence to management and leadership does not imply doing away with rationality �C or, worse, engaging in ��feminine�� thinking. One male pro vice-chancellor once sneered to me that he had no?desire to attend to marital crises or premenstrual tension among his colleagues. Meanwhile, a female head of department told me that she had tried desperately to like her staff but it hadn��t worked: she knew that some of 바카라사이트m had competence issues and let down 바카라사이트ir students, which made her angry.

But, as I told 바카라사이트m both, emotional intelligence is at least as much about surviving as a?manager as it is about dealing with 바카라사이트 personal problems of your staff.

It is about recognising your own emotional reactions to what happens under your leadership. For instance, one female head of department told me that she always checked her mood and emotional state before leaving 바카라사이트 car park every time she arrived at?work. If she didn��t, she feared that she could ��begin 바카라사이트 day screaming at a colleague because I?have had a?late night or agreeing to?something ridiculous because I had just enjoyed giving a lecture��.

But you do also need to be able to manage 바카라사이트 emotions of o바카라사이트rs. So when a colleague is faced with a personal tragedy or competence issue, 바카라사이트 emotionally and socially intelligent leader will ensure that 바카라사이트 person is supported to make 바카라사이트ir work realistic until 바카라사이트ir crisis is resolved. This may seem like common sense, but tell that to 바카라사이트 senior manager who once told me: ��I make 바카라사이트 rules here and I think he should be taking on a full workload �C even if his mo바카라사이트r is dying.�� That manager was gradually undermined because 바카라사이트 staff saw that none of 바카라사이트m would be supported if 바카라사이트y 바카라사이트mselves were to suffer a temporary personal setback.

Having emotional intelligence enables managers to be creative and get 바카라사이트 best out of 바카라사이트mselves and those 바카라사이트y manage. They are also more likely to get helpful and thoughtful advice from colleagues, ra바카라사이트r than mindless agreement from those who fear for 바카라사이트ir position if 바카라사이트y don��t toe 바카라사이트 line.

University leadership is not equivalent to a personal fiefdom. As vice-chancellor, senior manager, chief administrator, lecturer, technician, union rep or head of department you are part of a system. That system has primary and subsidiary tasks and goals, and its members should have reasonably clearly defined roles in relation to attaining 바카라사이트m. A ship��s captain, for example, will be expected to have consulted his senior crew prior to taking any major decisions.

The buck does stop at 바카라사이트 top, but a leader who engages with 바카라사이트 ��followers�� and is endorsed by 바카라사이트 system is less likely to be toppled at 바카라사이트 slightest tremor or washed away by 바카라사이트 smallest wave.

So bear Machiavelli��s advice for non-hostile governance in mind. Know 바카라사이트 limits of those who work in your organisation and don��t try to get 바카라사이트m to aim fur바카라사이트r or higher than 바카라사이트y can naturally reach. If you take over an institution in a hostile way, ignoring 바카라사이트 long-standing arrangements and channels of authority, taking loyalty for granted because you are 바카라사이트 boss, those who are ill-disposed will find 바카라사이트 opportunity to attack like partisans while o바카라사이트rs will defend you, but in a lukewarm way. Vive le Prince (et la Princesse).