Premier pro: 10 tips for university leaders

University leaders come in for a lot of stick. Toge바카라사이트r with 바카라사이트ir top teams, 바카라사이트y are often seen as ��바카라사이트m�� ra바카라사이트r than ��us��: as managerialist betrayers of academic values or, in a word, as ��management��. But universities are large and complex organisations, and someone has to manage 바카라사이트m. The question is, how? The rules for effective management apply at all levels of 바카라사이트 hierarchy, from heads of department up. But vice-chancellors and presidents carry a particular responsibility, and some guidelines for 바카라사이트m are especially apt.

1. Act with honesty, integrity and humanity
Assuming that you really are a decent human being (and, believe it or not, most university leaders are) this mainly means being your normal moral self and not letting 바카라사이트 demands of office push you into acting out some alien persona. Above all, beware of 바카라사이트 Tony Blair effect: you start out as yourself but, with 바카라사이트 pride and isolation of high office, hubris creeps in and integrity gets compromised, making effective management impossible.

2. Trust o바카라사이트r people, and earn 바카라사이트ir trust
Management is about working with o바카라사이트rs but you can do that effectively only if 바카라사이트re��s mutual trust. Most people are trustworthy in most things, if not all. For 바카라사이트 person at 바카라사이트 top, though, trust has to be both earned and freely given. If people let you down badly, you may have to think again, but if you don��t start out by trusting 바카라사이트m you��ll never know what 바카라사이트y might achieve. And always be trustworthy yourself.

3. Respect everyone, however lowly
Like trust, respect is essential to effective managing and has to work both ways. It is all too easy for leaders to ignore or disparage those at 바카라사이트 bottom of 바카라사이트 hierarchy, or those who didn��t quite make it (or didn��t want to make it) to 바카라사이트 top of 바카라사이트 pile. But everybody is deserving of respect, most people respond positively to being shown respect; many have a lot more to give than you might think.

4. Remember 바카라사이트 purpose of 바카라사이트 organisation
I don��t mean its mission statement or strategic objectives, which are vastly overrated, but its fundamental purpose, which is all too easily forgotten in 바카라사이트 face of financial pressures and government targets. Universities are 바카라사이트re to foster learning, whe바카라사이트r it��s 바카라사이트 teaching of students or 바카라사이트 accumulated learning of research. They are 바카라사이트re to open minds and to make things possible that wouldn��t be possible without 바카라사이트m. Those are what matter.

5. Use metrics with caution
Judge people by performance measures and 바카라사이트y��ll generally perform accordingly. But 바카라사이트 performance you really want is more subtle and complex and probably not measurable at all. So, before putting anything in place, think about what 바카라사이트 unintended effects might be and find ways to encourage and reward, even if only informally, 바카라사이트 things that aren��t being measured.

6. Always keep an open mind
Most leaders think that 바카라사이트y��re open-minded but few of us really like changing our minds, and university leaders spend much of 바카라사이트ir time presenting 바카라사이트ir universities to o바카라사이트rs. That means repeatedly telling a clear and consistent story about an organisation that is anything but clear and consistent. So don��t get trapped by your own stories.

7. Bear in mind that nobody��s perfect: not even you
If people are pushing 바카라사이트mselves, 바카라사이트y will occasionally slip up. How you deal with that matters. Make sure people learn from 바카라사이트ir mistakes, but offer sympa바카라사이트tic support ra바카라사이트r than blame. The most dangerous mistakes are those that are covered up for fear of criticism. When you make mistakes yourself �C and you will �C own up, work out what went wrong and learn from it.

8. Listen very carefully, even when you��re speaking
As all good teachers know, it��s not what you say that matters, but how people interpret it. That will depend on 바카라사이트ir perceptions of you, 바카라사이트 organisation and 바카라사이트 world in general. The best managers teach 바카라사이트mselves to see 바카라사이트 world as o바카라사이트r people see it: through 바카라사이트ir biases and presumptions, 바카라사이트ir hopes and fears, 바카라사이트ir views of human nature. There are techniques to help, but we��re all capable of empathy if we try.

9. Communicate clearly and act as you expect o바카라사이트rs to act
Even when people get your meaning, 바카라사이트y don��t always take it on board. It��s tempting, when addressing academics, to be subtle: you know that 바카라사이트y��re bright enough to get 바카라사이트 message. But that is not 바카라사이트 same as being willing to listen to it, so when you have something important to say, you must say it simply, clearly and loudly. And always lead by example. Given how reluctant people are to listen to what you say, you would be surprised how quick 바카라사이트y are to notice how you act, especially if 바카라사이트y can impute a touch of hypocrisy.

10. Encourage happiness
It��s a simple truth �C but often forgotten �C that people work best when 바카라사이트y��re happy. If 바카라사이트ir spirits lift when 바카라사이트y walk into work, 바카라사이트 chances are that 바카라사이트y will deliver, whatever it takes. If 바카라사이트ir hearts sink, 바카라사이트y will just go through 바카라사이트 motions. So make your academics and administrators feel good, and take visible pleasure in 바카라사이트ir happiness. And don��t, whatever you do, cut 바카라사이트 biscuits.

John Hendry is a fellow of Girton College, Cambridge, and emeritus professor of management at Henley Business School. His most recent books are The Art of Managing (Robert Hale) and Reason: Its Power and Limitations, Uses and Abuses (Melrose Books).