Joe Sabado – Higher Education & Technology Leadership

This post contains some ideas I will propose to our HR department as an officially endorsed training program to address two issues I see present in our campus IT community. These two issues are 1) lack of a cohesive community among the different IT units (and leadership), and 2) needed training on IT leadership and management knowledge and skills. As it is, our campus has a decentralized IT environment, and there are minimal opportunities for planning and communication among the IT leadership themselves as well as between the IT leaders and the campus business leaders. As for community building, there aren’t too many opportunities for IT folks to get to know each other as there are only two campus-wide IT events: a once-a-year holiday party and a summer beach party. Training makes it very common for technically adept staff to be placed into management positions without management and leadership training. It is not a surprise when these staff struggle in their new roles. Even with previous management experience, the campus bureaucracy can be daunting and confusing for those new to the campus.

The idea behind a cohort-based program is to promote community building among the participants, a selected group of campus IT managers with varying degrees of experience and positions.  The community-building process happens as they complete a set of training curricula on areas related to IT leadership/management. In addition, a mentorship component could also be part of the program that pairs up more experienced with new IT managers and/or IT managers with senior campus executives.

I’ve experienced the benefits of a cohort-based mentorship program through my participation in our Division of Student Affairs Management Development Group (for mid-level SA managers), a campus-wide program called GauchoU, and through a new professional program within the Division of Student Affairs called Foundations.

I envision the curriculum as a mix of formal training and monthly IT leadership/management discussions.  A schedule could be something like this:

* Two-day institute that could include the following topics:

• Introduction to campus organizational structure and politics
• Budgeting
• Introduction to HR processes (hiring, onboarding, performance evaluations, etc.)
• Policies (Security, PCI, FERPA, HIPAA, etc.)

* Monthly sessions (discussions/training) that could include, but are not limited to, the following:

• IT Project Management
• Employee Engagement
• Technology Trends (security, cloud, infrastructure, etc.)
• Career Development
• Leadership/Communication Styles
• Conflict Resolution
• Change Management

Beyond community building and leadership/management training is the benefit of the cheaper cost of training for the campus. By bringing trainers and having the training done on campus to a pool of participants, the campus can save a significant amount of money spent on travel and accommodations.

Would you have a campus-wide IT leadership/management training program on your campus? Anything you’d add to the curriculum?

I read somewhere that one manages constraints and leads toward possibilities. Indeed, as a manager, getting things done and delivering services and products with the constraints of finite resources, including staff, within the time frame and the level of quality expected is a core of our duties. This responsibility gets even more difficult during stressful times brought on by budget cuts and increased mandates, but with no additional staffing to support the increased demands. However, It is too easy as a manager to get caught up in trying to get the most out of our staff in ways that may need to be more productive and produce unintended consequences. For example, to become more efficient during busy times, managers begin to micro-manage details, ensuring that staff are focused and are following procedures to minimize waste.
In some cases, new procedures are implemented to promote efficiency without realizing the additional time, energy, and effort to implement new procedures. Activities that are not considered part of completing projects and tasks are discouraged. For example, one-on-one meetings with the staff are eliminated as they waste time and take time away from projects. However, there may be more productive strategies than treating staff as machines and robots as units of resources. After all, our staff is human beings, driven by intrinsic motivations, with emotions, and more productive when engaged. This is where leadership is needed. Leadership has many definitions, but ultimately, leadership is about people. As I read once, you manage resources; you lead people.
As leaders, one of our roles in the workplace is cultivating an environment that promotes engagement, which should lead to increased productivity and improved quality of work. As I learned in one of my leadership workshops, engagement is the maximum level of personal satisfaction and productivity in the workplace. One without the other is not engagement. For example, one can be personally satisfied doing work that does not contribute to the organization’s goals. On the other hand, one can contribute to the organization’s goals yet they don’t feel personally satisfied.
As leaders, we must maintain touch with the idea that we must be available and build relationships with our staff. Managers must take the time to recognize their staff, acknowledge their contributions, and resolve staff issues. Having one-on-one meetings when staff can be heard and listened to is a very important activity on a manager’s schedule. Having lunch, taking a walk, or doing an activity with staff without talking about tasks are good examples of being available and building relationships.
How we also delegate matters. Giving orders in a command and control style does not work. Not when working in an environment that requires independent thinking and creativity. This style of managing only leads to resentment and staff not wanting to do more than what is expected from them. I’ve found that teams will go beyond what is asked of them if they know their managers care about them. Even small actions to show managers do care about their staff matter. Stopping by to say, “How are you?” means a lot to some. Taking the time to explain what is being asked of them in person instead of in an email that can be misinterpreted also helps.
As managers, don’t lose sight of the idea that our staff are human beings and not just units of resources. To be productive, managers must make themselves available and build relationships with staff to build an engaged workforce. Being short-sighted and giving orders to complete tasks can lead to unintended and counterproductive consequences.

My use and observation of posts and comments (yaks) on Yik Yak, an anonymous geo-location-based social media app, leads me to believe that perhaps we should have more discussions on the values of having good moral character. What constitutes a good moral character may be subject to debate. Still, I believe that there are certain attributes/actions we should consider as we engage on social media and in other forms of interactions. It seems to me that being kind, helpful, and not harmful even when we are engaged in highly charged conversations are basic principles we should consider and practice, regardless of whether others recognize us. Perhaps, we need to remind ourselves more of how to act and aspire to be individuals that make our world a better place.

In the world of student affairs, there are a lot of discussions regarding reputation and authenticity. They’re related to the concept of personal branding and crafting our persona and how we choose to present ourselves to our colleagues, students, and future employers. Can we be authentic, though if we are crafting our reputation and personal brand in anticipation/expectation of how others perceive us? In short, our efforts to craft our reputation are based on how we want others to perceive us. We craft ourselves as mavericks, radicals, out-of-the-box thinkers, innovators, non-conformists, passionate, dedicated professionals, and crusaders of certain causes, amongst other attributes. I’m not entirely sure which of these presentations are genuine or just facades.

On Yik Yak, the identities oMy use and observation of posts and comments (yaks) on Yik Yak, an anonymous geo-location-based social media app, leads me to believe that we should have more discussions on the values of having good moral character. What constitutes a good moral character may be subject to debate. Still, we should consider certain attributes/actions as we engage on social media and in other forms of interactions. Being kind, helpful, and not harmful even when we are engaged in highly charged conversations are basic principles we should consider and practice, regardless of whether others recognize us. We need to remind ourselves more of how to act and aspire to be individuals who make our world better.
In the world of student affairs, there are a lot of discussions regarding reputation and authenticity. They’re related to the concept of personal branding and crafting our persona and how we choose to present ourselves to our colleagues, students, and future employers. Can we be authentic if we frame our reputation and personal brand in anticipation/expectation of how others perceive us? In short, our efforts to craft our reputation are based on how we want others to perceive us. We craft ourselves as mavericks, radicals, out-of-the-box thinkers, innovators, non-conformists, passionate, dedicated professionals, and crusaders of certain causes, amongst other attributes. I’m unsure which of these presentations are genuine or just facades.
On Yik Yak, the identities of those posting comments are anonymous, so one cannot build a reputation. Interestingly, though, even on this anonymous platform, the comments range from outright despicable and malicious to the kindest, most encouraging posts. Why is that? What drives people to share these comments when their reputation is not a factor? I have had to block some individual(s) because of the vulgar and disgusting comments they post. I can still see their comments after I’ve blocked them (they appear as “This reply has been deleted.” to others). Consistently, they post the same types of malicious comments.
There are other users. However, that posts supportive and encouraging comments as a reply to a yak that expresses the need for support. For example, several times, I’ve seen yaks from individuals who are depressed or considering suicide. Immediately, other users reply, sharing their experience and support and encouraging them to seek professional help through our school’s counseling services.
I’ve also had civil and respectful debates about national and local events and issues I can’t have on Twitter or Facebook because those involved can be honest about their perspectives without fear of retribution or being shamed.
As we educate ourselves and others on effectively using social media, let’s go beyond the mechanics and how to build a digital reputation. Let’s remind ourselves what it takes to be good human beings.f those posting comments are anonymous, so one cannot build a reputation. What is interesting, though, is that even on this anonymous platform, the comments range from outright despicable and malicious to the kindest, most encouraging posts. Why is that? What drives a person to share the types of comments when their reputation is not a factor? I personally have had to block some individual(s) because of the vulgar and disgusting comments they post. I can still see their comments after I’ve blocked them (they appear as “This reply has been deleted.” to others), and consistently, they post the same types of malicious comments.

There are other users. However, that post supportive and encouraging comments as a reply to a yak that expresses the need for support. For example, several times, I’ve seen yaks from individuals who are depressed or considering suicide. Immediately, other users reply, sharing their experience and support and encouraging them to consider seeking professional help through our school’s counseling services.

I’ve also had civil and respectful debates about national and local events and issues that I can’t have on Twitter or Facebook because those involved in these debates can be honest about their perspectives without fear or retribution or being shamed.

As we educate ourselves and others on how to effectively use social media, let’s go beyond the mechanics and how to build a digital reputation. Let’s remind ourselves what it takes to be good human beings.

An IT organization that can effectively deliver quality service and keep up with its customers’ dynamic wants and needs requires guiding values and principles as foundations upon which it operates. Below are what I shared with my organization at our retreat soon after I became the Acting Executive Director for my IT organization in November 2014. The opportunity to be in this position was certainly unexpected. So the transition was short (one month), and within that time, I had to define and communicate my concepts and vision for our organization. I prefer that we as our organization go through a process of defining these guiding principles and values. Still, given the circumstance, some staff members wanted me to share my ideas as a starting point for the organization to consider and discuss. Upon discussions, the guiding values and principles were adopted for our organization.

As I’ve been with my organization for more than 15 years, I have a good sense of our culture, strengths, capabilities, and areas of improvement. I firmly believe that we are a very capable organization, proven by what we’ve been able to do and we can continue/improve our delivery of quality solutions and excellent customer service. We have a dedicated, highly knowledgeable, and skilled team with strong support from our senior management. For these reasons, I strive for the idea that when people think of THE model of higher education IT, they think of UCSB SIS&T!  

I believe my organization’s guiding values and principles must be able to stand through time in the midst of ever-changing technology landscapes and dynamic customer services and needs. It is with this mindset that these guiding values and principles were formulated.

Mission:

SIS&T is committed to contributing to the success of UCSB students in their pursuit of learning and personal development by providing current, effective, reliable, and secure information technology delivered through exceptional and professional customer service.

Three Components: PEOPLE, PROCESSES, PHILOSOPHY

PEOPLE:

• We trust, respect, and value diversity and inclusion of ideas.
• We strive to develop a sense of community, and our organizational roles and hierarchy do not define worth/values.
• We are committed to helping others – our colleagues, partners (staff/faculty), and customers (students, parents, community).

PROCESSES:

• We will define processes and frameworks that add value and effectiveness to our work.
• We will be disciplined in implementing these processes and frameworks.
• We will make adjustments to these processes and frameworks as necessary.

PHILOSOPHIES:

• • We are an adaptive and learning organization.
    * Supportive and learning environment
    * Concrete learning processes and practices
    * Leadership that reinforces learning
  • We are customer-focused.
    *People, Objective, Strategy, Technology (POST)
  • We must perform as a team.
    * “Teams win championships” – VC Michael Young

It has been about six months since our retreat, and I believe we have made some strides toward our goals of being an even better organization. Here are some of my observations:

– Changing the organizational culture, as I’ve found, takes time and requires leadership to model the behaviors we want to see in our organization. Communicating our guiding values and principles must be done through the leadership’s actions and words, and they must be practiced consistently.

– It requires participation/contribution from our entire organization to make change happen.

– At times, the environment that encourages diversity and inclusion of ideas has resulted in honest/frank conversations from different parts of our organization. I have welcomed and encouraged these sometimes uncomfortable conversations as I believe this is a sign of a healthy, evolving organization.

– I expected some missteps in my attempt to implement some changes, and I have. But, I acknowledged this at the retreat, and I encouraged the idea that, at times, we will “fail” with the ideas we try, but that’s perfectly okay.

As a manager/leader, one of our most important responsibilities is to build leaders and productive colleagues by providing them the environment to think for themselves and grow. The confidence to pursue ideas and actions beyond their comfort zones is a big part of this process towards leadership and towards our co-workers’ ability to do their job. I also believe having an environment where people can confidently do their jobs is part of having an engaged staff. Engagement to me means a staff feels maximum personal satisfaction with the work they do. Secondly, they also contribute to the organization to the best of their willingness and ability. From experience, here are some ways we can build the confidence of others:

1. Communicate goals clearly but leave room for staff to find ways to accomplish them. Do not micro-manage, especially when working with talented and creative folks. Unless we work in an environment that doesn’t require much thinking, providing our co-workers room to explore ideas and come up with their own ways to accomplish the goals you’ve given them is the way to go. However, those goals and expectations must be communicated to save those assigned the tasks from spending emotional energy and wasted time and effort.
2. Allow room for “failure” as part of the learning/growth process. The world is changing rapidly, and we encounter new experiences/ideas every day, and we may not necessarily know how to always respond to them in the right ways. Personally, the biggest moments of growth I’ve experienced have been through my mistakes. These mistakes encouraged me to re-evaluate my approach, and these mistakes helped me improve the quality of my work. Luckily, I had bosses in the past who understood that making mistakes is all part of the learning process. So while they helped me understand how to eliminate those mistakes, they also did not admonish me to the point I stopped trying new ideas. Don’t rob your co-workers of these opportunities to grow by not allowing them to make mistakes.
3. Set higher expectations and standards beyond their comfort zones and abilities. This requires that you are intimately familiar with your co-workers’ skills, knowledge, and interests. Understand their areas of strengths and weaknesses and challenge them to further utilize their strengths and improve their weaknesses. You may encounter resistance as this will require more work from them, and they may not understand why you are challenging them, but growth isn’t always comfortable.
4. Praise in public and criticize in private. How demoralizing is it to have your ideas interrupted by your boss in public settings because he/she just happens to believe their ways are better, and does it look incompetent? There are situations when a manager does need to intervene because the information is incorrect. But even then, there’s a diplomatic method to point out the error and/or to suggest different ideas. This point relates to point 1 above in that, as leaders. managers, we need to be clear about our expectations and goals. If our colleagues don’t understand what they are, they may share their ideas contrary to what we have in mind. In these cases of confusion, it’s best to speak with your colleagues behind closed doors, clarify your expectations, and understand their perspectives so you are both on the same page. As I wrote in this blog post, as a manager, your words matter. You can use them to “praise or curse” your colleagues.
5. Lead via influence, not command and control. Treat your colleagues as human beings and not machines or resources. Build relationships with them, so they feel they matter. While ordering your colleagues to perform tasks may yield short-term results, the command and control approach can result in a workforce that will not go above and beyond what is expected. This approach could also lead to unhappy employees and, worse, emotional and physical ailments. However, by leading through influence, you can build a work environment that is more positive and sustainable in the long run. You have a workforce that will go above and beyond what is asked of them because they feel a sense of autonomy, growth and a sense that they are respected.
6. Model confidence. As a leader/manager, your co-workers watch your actions and words. You play the role of the victim/complainer, and soon, they will adapt your attitudes and behaviors. Work is not always ideal, and we are all presented with challenges from time to time. While I’m not suggesting that we always look and feel invincible, we must display the attitude of solution seekers and optimism, even in the lowest moments.

What other methods have you used to build the confidence of your colleagues?