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Dear Faculty Relations: What do you wish you had known earlier in your career about being a leader? I’d appreciate hearing from our deans. —Looking for Advice

Dear Looking for Advice:��Here are��some thoughts from our academic deans: ��

• Listen each time with a “new” ear. Don’t presume the upcoming personal interaction will be difficult based on past experiences with the individual. 
• Be open to changing your view or position on something. Seek the counsel and input of those around you whom you respect. It’s a sign of a good leader.
• Quickly learn your context because people will immediately want your view on things. For example, while learning the ins and outs of ���������� Boulder’s new budget model, many I was meeting just after starting wanted to know my thoughts about it.
• Don’t say yes to everything! The number of asks you will receive will outnumber the resources you have to fund them. I always say, “thank you for the fresh thinking, and please develop a short white paper on this idea.”
• Prioritize saying “thank you.” An email, text, or even better, a handwritten note really lets people know that you, as a leader, value their contributions. ��
• Celebrate accomplishments. Honor programs when they come to an end, celebrate something new and appreciate ongoing work. A culture of appreciation shows an understanding of the effort and expertise that makes all our efforts possible.
• Learn first to be a good follower and model that behavior. Once I became a better follower, I became a better leader and now lead better teams.��
• Almost every “crisis” can be put off until tomorrow. By tomorrow, it’s likely only a problem, and by next Tuesday, it has probably resolved itself.��
• Don’t be afraid to question the practices of your organization. An important part of leadership is understanding not just what an organization does but how and why it makes certain choices.
• Not all the skills that are required to be an outstanding scholar and teacher at a university,��like self-reliance, are necessarily��skills that translate for outstanding leaders at a university. ��You’re better off learning to be collaborative and fostering cooperative team effort.
• I wish I had read more about or consulted with leaders whose leadership style I admire to learn more about managing people.��
• I wish I had better understood how much of my academic career (primarily writing) I would have to give up.
• As an expert in my field of research, I wish I’d known that I did not have to be an administrative expert on day one.�� When I allowed myself to be a beginner, I really loved the job, and I got better at it!
• It’s important to acknowledge and elevate your own values and��strategic priorities – in terms of both your position and your work-life balance.����
• Network broadly – and LISTEN to what people are communicating to you – through their words and their actions.

With contributions from:

• Glen Krutz, Dean, College of Arts and Sciences
• Katherine Schultz Schultz, Dean, School of Education
• Keith Molenaar, Dean, College of Engineering & Applied Science
• Lolita Buckner Inniss, Dean, University of Colorado Law School
• Lori Bergen, Founding Dean, College of Media, Communication and Information
• John Davis, Dean, College of Music
• E. Scott Adler, Dean of the Graduate School
• Scott Battle, Dean, Division of Continuing Education & Professional Studies
• Robert McDonald, Dean, University Libraries��