Joe Sabado – Higher Education & Technology Leadership

I am able to accomplish my job effectively because of the informal relationships I have built and maintained throughout the years and the relationships I am building now.  My work relationships are based on trust, respect and loyalty. To be able to develop and maintain relationships require that I find connections with others, share vulnerabilities, the values and culture I represent. I am a member of a university community, a community of human beings who have lives outside work. I have worked in the corporate and start up worlds where I rarely interacted with my customers and when I did, it was through phone calls or emails.   I came back to student affairs twice because for me, there’s a sense of personal satisfaction, there’s a sense of purpose in what I do. I define myself as a student affairs professional working with technologies and not a technologist working in student affairs. To me, there is a big difference with that mindset. I don’t work for computers and policies. I work for my customers – the students, the staff, the parents, my staff and those who are involved with the university. I believe that my role is to assist the university in providing support and environment for students to develop holistically as scholars, leaders and citizens.

It is because of this mindset that I find it laughable and even feel offended when I come across ideas that in higher education, we are not supposed to talk and share about what we do outside work, the things we do during the weekends because somehow we are wasting time and company resources.  Collaboration and communication, to some, may mean talking exclusively about projects, tasks and timelines. I don’t agree with this approach.  If we are solely in the business of producing the same widgets requiring no innovation and creativity, then design automated processes where robots do the work.  If the concern is that the level of productivity will significantly diminish because of the chatters, I know from personal experience that within these chatters may come good ideas and relationships amongst co-workers/customers develop. In the long run, effective collaborations that yield productivity results come from them. I learned early on in my career that while I believe intrinsic motivation is internal, as a manager/leader of a team, I can help create an environment where they feel welcomed, nurtured and heard as human beings. In part, I do this by promoting time and space for my team to share what we do outside work, our personal interests. For me, recognizing what makes us passionate about life; our value systems are invaluable to me as a leader and as a team. It is my belief that leadership is not just about communication, it’s about making connections. As a team, shared purpose, accountability and vision are keys to success.

I do not know about other industries but I know that the developers/designers I work with are driven by sense of accomplishment, sense of autonomy and the sense that they are able to contribute. Put them in a box where they are not able to express themselves,  use command control as a model of management instead of influence, and I think I have a workplace that they do not enjoy.

If there is one thing that annoys me, it is the assumption that I reached my position in my organization because of favors, “kissing ass”, or via tokenism.  It reminds me of when one of my hall mates during my freshman year in college inferred that I was somehow accepted to UCSB only because of affirmative action. If indeed I was given some advantage via those means I mentioned, so be it. However, having seen my father work multiple jobs simultaneously as far as I can remember, I came to believe that the world does not owe me anything. I came to believe one way I was going to be successful is through long hours of smart, hard work. I may not be the smartest person but I do pride myself in working those extra hours to get ahead, or in most cases, just to keep up with others who are smarter than I am. Maybe I’m just a “workaholic” with the sometimes 14 hour days or going to bed at 3 am just to wake up at 6:30 am to get  ready for work. This is a routine that’s become normal for me since I started working professionally in 1996. For me, it’s just fun, learning about new ideas, new ways to program, or just thinking about random topics like the next generation student information system, 21st century leadership or social business.

I see discussions about work-life balance, or leaving the workplace at 5:30 pm. While I respect all perspectives regarding this topic, ultimately, we all have our own motivations that drive our choices and the amount of hours we work.  Spending time with my wife is definitely a top priority for me and throughout the years, we’ve found arrangements that allowed us to spend time together by spending time during weekends and evenings. Working after she has gone to bed definitely helps.  It helps that we both work for the same organization and we have the same schedule. The 1 hour daily commute together gives us time to talk.

I was once asked if my habit of working long hours and  late nights is a “badge of honor”. I’ve never seen it that way.  It’s not about me proving anything to anyone nor is it about competing against anyone else.  What I can say however is that I do not think I would not be where I am now without those countless hours of working late nights. Certainly, I did not get to where I am now overnight, but it’s through working a lot of nights.

Do you bring your frustrations home with you when you have bad days at work? Do you snap at your co-workers because you’re having some issues back home? My advice – don’t.  It’s really unfair for your co-workers and your family members to have to be the receiving end of your frustrations when they even have nothing to do with them.

Here’s another reason – while you’re seething from anger at home because some co-worker “did you wrong”, chances are those that “did you wrong” may not even be thinking about you or they probably didn’t even intend to. Don’t victimize yourself by spending unnecessary time and negative emotions.

Life’s not perfect and we all have our problems. While it’s sometimes hard to separate our professional and personal lives, do ourselves and those around us a favor by leaving our problems where they should be.

What if we sometimes just explore social media just for the sake of curiosity, just for fun? Sometimes, I get tired having to examine social media in the context of my profession as an IT staff in higher education.  Sometimes, I get tired of having to think about policies and why we should/should not be using social media and having to deal with those that just see social media as a threat to our institutions. I think some of those resistances come because of the fear of the unknown and the fear of being left behind and so instead of accepting change, some folks resist to slow down change to match their comfort level.   Sometimes, I get tired of thinking about metrics and strategies and guidelines.

I enjoy spending hours on social media each day because it’s very fascinating to me. Many have written and spoken about the idea that social media is not just about technology and I agree. I like connecting with people and I like learning, a lot. I go on twitter and it’s like a candy store to my brain. I find tweets, blog posts, status updates, photos and videos that take me to learning something new for days, meeting new people and reconnecting with old friends. Some things I come across challenge me and some validate my thoughts.   I like to observe the interpersonal dynamics that go on between individuals based on their tweets, their conversations and even in what may consider “communities” based on hashtags or common interests. I like thinking about the possibilities brought on by social media, both good and bad.

I think sometimes we just need to stop over analyzing what social media means and trying to convince others to think the same way we do.  Social media means different things to all of us. Let’s just enjoy it from time to time.

image credit: http://www.pittimmagine.com/en/corporate/news/2011/tobiasroettger.html

There was this meeting I attended years ago. The  committee chair posed the question to the few individuals present as to why attendance had dwindled down to a few.  He was trying to figure out why and said he had no clue. I raised my hand to try to tell him what those who stopped attending told me –  it’s because he monopolized the meetings.  I was ignored.  Other members tried to talk but were also either ignored or ideas were dismissed.  He kept on talking for the rest of the meeting, proposing his solutions to the group. It became the typical monologue.  I stopped attending after that. I wonder if anyone ever told him what some of us were thinking.

I know I’ve been guilty of failing to realize my own shortcomings many times as well. As painful as it is sometimes to hear even things I’d rather not hear,  one of the most valuable decisions I have come to make is to welcome and seek feedback. The key for me has been to figure out who I can trust and those who I am willing to listen to, with reservations. I have  a boss who is really honest and it’s one of the reasons I respect him.  I have some co-workers whom I’ve built good relationships with, good enough that they can tell me even things I’d rather not hear. I have colleagues at other departments I have known for years, my customers, who will do the same.  My wife is my biggest supporter and I also appreciate her honesty. All of them have challenged me, forced me to think differently.  I learn from all of them. They keep me honest.

I know it’s so much easier to surround myself with those that always agree with me, a “yes” group. I doubt I would be learning us much though. Do you have your own inner circle of feedback?

Image credit: evarykr.com