Whether you are new to the school or moving into a position of leadership with more responsibility in your current department, there are some things to keep in mind for a smooth transition. In either situation, the work of a leader is not easy. Shifting from being a member of a team within a department to being the leader of those same people can be complex. Similarly, joining an existing team as an outsider can pose a comparable challenge. The potential for pitfalls exists in either situation; however, there is also potential for significant gains on all sides.
A friend of mine posed a question that I’ve been grappling with: “Why are so many college and university presidents so … bad?” The question caught me off guard since many of the college presidents I meet are hardworking, creative, dedicated leaders. But I knew exactly what he meant. Increasingly, the faculty and even many midlevel administrators at colleges and universities are finding themselves dealing with presidents and chancellors who appear to view faculty members as though they were the enemy, micromanage colleges and departments within an inch of their lives, alienate one group of institutional stakeholders after another, and then depart from the institution after five or six years, leaving others to pay the bill for the damage they’ve done. The fault lies, I believe, in something I call bottom-line leadership.
