Benefits and drawbacks of administration and leadership roles
Photo by Piret Ilver on Unsplash
As we discussed here last week, there’s a lot to consider as you move into administration and leadership, including whether the timing is right for you (and your lab), whether you have the right team and decision-making power to execute your strategic vision for the role, and whether the role aligns with your overall purpose and values. This week, I want to address some of the benefits and drawbacks to administration and leadership that you should be aware of before making the leap. Now, this isn’t an exhaustive list (and if you have other ideas to add to the list, please reach out!), but they are things that I’ve either experienced personally, or have heard from colleagues who have had significant roles in administration and leadership.
First, the benefits:
1. Building beyond. As discussed in a previous blog post about the contemplations of full professors, there are certain moments in your career in which you get to build something that is bigger, better, and beyond yourself. You are not just driving the train, you’re also laying the tracks. In administration and leadership, you have the opportunity to create a culture, execute a series of initiatives, and implement a set of operational behaviours that will allow your faculty and students, including those who come long after you have exited the position, to have opportunities they otherwise wouldn’t have. You can help your institution, faculty, and students occupy a unique space in the broader field, with excellence.
2. Focusing on the priorities that matter to you. Ideally, you are able to move into roles within administration and leadership that allow you to set the priorities that are near and dear to your heart. Related to the above point of ‘building beyond’, focusing on opportunities that matter deeply to you can be incredibly meaningful and fulfilling.
3. Increasing your pay and pension contributions. Let’s not get it twisted tho—just because you find administration and leadership meaningful and fulfilling doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get paid for your extra labour. In this economy, unless you are generationally wealthy, every little bit helps. And the increased pay and pension contributions could add up to quite a lot of money over time. Make sure that you understand what the pay and benefit structure is for such roles at your institution, and, whenever possible, negotiate for more.
4. Understanding how the sausage is made. When you’re outside of administration and leadership, some of the decisions that you see being made may be perplexing at best, or frustrating at worst. When you get inside the room where such decisions are made, you get a deeper understanding of what’s really going on. You get to see the multiple factors that are creating the current climate, whether good or bad—budgets, motivations of higher-ups, strategic goals that are not yet public, etc. Getting a glimpse into all of the nuances behind the scenes provides you with a great wealth of knowledge, and also shows you how to balance competing priorities and personalities.
5. Building your network and skillsets. Positions in administration and leadership require you to interact with so many more people, inside and outside of your institution. This will increase the variety of conversations you’ll have and the kinds of personalities you’ll need to manage up, down, or laterally. These positions will also expose you to a variety of problems and creative solutions (some that will work and some that won’t). You will develop skillsets and insights that will serve you well in a number of different positions in the future, whether that’s in academia, in industry, or in the boardroom. Likewise, one of the many benefits of being in a leadership role is that you can expand your network with peers who occupy leadership roles in other institutions. These individuals can help you find, and recommend you for, your next great career opportunity.
Now, some of the drawbacks (and suggestions for how to mitigate them):
1. Some things will remain outside of your control. You will have more control over your organization than you have ever had before, and yet you will not be able to control everything. At times, that’s going to be incredibly frustrating. Recognize that, feel that, and then move on to what you can control. Also, if you’re honest with your colleagues about what is blocking your path, they may help you find creative end-around solutions to get you to your goal.
2. Seeing (and being seen by) your colleagues and students in another light. Unfortunately, not everything in administration and leadership is going to be puppies and rainbows. People aren’t always going to be on their best behaviour. In fact, one of my colleagues once said to me that the worst part of the job was “seeing my colleagues for who they really are.” Once you are operating from an administration and leadership position, you may find previously agreeable colleagues become obstructive. They may sometimes have their own agenda, one that the rest of the team isn’t privy to, or is not in alignment with institutional goals. You may have to mediate disputes between colleagues, or between colleagues and their students. Or, you may have to enforce disciplinary action against your colleagues or students for integrity infractions. Also, you may be the person who colleagues and students go to when they’re struggling personally; you may have to help them get the institutional resources they need to get back on a path to wellness.
3. You won’t make everyone happy. If you’re stuck in a people-pleasing mode, administration and leadership is going to be really tricky for you. You may make the best possible decision, one that will benefit students and faculty alike, and there will likely still be someone who thinks you’ve mucked it up. Or you may make decisions that actually promote equity within your organization, but somebody’s bound to feel oppressed when their previous privilege is removed. You’re going to have to get comfortable with resisting the noise and the peer pressure, and stand on your own integrity, knowing that you’re doing the best you can with what you have in order to move your organization forward in the best possible way.
4. It can become a 1-way ticket out of science. Because administration and leadership can be quite time-consuming, it can be quite challenging to stay engaged in science, let alone stay at the top of your field. Be mindful of what your goals are, whether that’s to perpetually gain deeper expertise in leadership, or to limit your time in administration to a defined period. If your goal is to fully return to the lab one day, make sure things are in place to make that return possible. That may include hiring multiple lab personnel at different levels of seniority, dedicating one day a week fully to your research and reading the latest work in the field, or ensuring that you don’t miss your usual conferences.
5. Defaulting to reactive rather than strategic behaviour. There are so many things that could be done in any leadership role, that it can feel like you must try to do them all; a kind of academic FOMO. When you add in all of the external pressures—new funding calls, competition or partnerships with other departments/institutions, fundraising and donor requests, new regulations from state, provincial, or federal governments—the responsibilities of the job can quickly become overwhelming. This may cause you to become reactive rather than strategic. In all of the work to do, you may lose sight of your initial why for the role and what you had hoped to achieve, and instead you’re putting out whatever fires seem to pop up in the moment. Make sure you are checking in with yourself and asking whether the activities you are engaging in are helping you move closer to your goal or not.
Moving into administration and leadership can be incredibly rewarding, but it’s not without its drawbacks. Hopefully this post helps you embrace these roles with open eyes and a plan for action. Along the way, if you need help, just book a free call with me here, and we’ll make sure administration and leadership stays meaningful and engaging for you.
Next week: Qualities of a good administrative leader
