Picture Source: 16 Personalities
My name is Erica and I work at the University of Dundee in the role of Director for Quality and Academic Standards. I was delighted, and daunted, to be asked to write this blog; it’s taken me much longer than I initially thought it might to try and do justice to the topic and to set out my thoughts about what leadership means to me and how I’ve developed my own practice over my career. I hope you find it interesting and I’d really welcome your comments and feedback so, if you’d like to get in touch to ask a question, or make a comment, please feel free to reach out to me at e.hensens@dundee.ac.uk
I suspect many of you may have been reflecting on leadership over the past few months as we all try to navigate our way through these unprecedented times. We have seen examples all around us of different leadership styles and approaches. We have seen it in political and public arenas and may well have experienced leadership within our own organisations or local communities that we’ve admired or that has inspired us. Leadership isn’t always about the crisis moments, or the difficult times it’s just as much about the good times. Yet, it’s often a crisis that makes different approaches really stand out in sharp relief. It can also be a vacuum of leadership that makes us realise what leadership is or isn’t to us. If your organisation has hit a crisis of one sort or another and those in charge don’t offer clear leadership or are so busy beavering away behind the scenes that there is no communication you can be left casting around looking for guidance without finding it, and that can be an isolating and confusing experience. Over the last 6 months, I’ve used the opportunity to talk to colleagues who work in different organisations and contexts about the impact their leaders have had on them, or indeed the decisions they have made to lead others. I’ve reflected on how some of my former managers are approaching the crisis and, of course, how I have too. If you haven’t found the time to reflect on leadership and what it means to you then I hope this blog creates a little space and provokes some questions that help you do so.
My career in higher education began when I became a student representative during my undergraduate degree. I’d had a bit of a wobbly path trying to decide between Occupational Therapy and Physiotherapy as my career options and being a student representative kept me engaged in my studies and ensured I didn’t make the drastic decision to leave my course too early. It was at this stage that I started to notice leadership in a professional context and it’s something I’ve watched and observed ever since. Although I loved my training and looked forward to practicing as a physiotherapist the opportunities that opened up to me after my degree kept me in education.
Over the course of more than a decade, I’ve held a number of management and leadership roles in different types of Universities and teams and I’ve developed my own leadership approach through trial and error, learning and research, and in large part by reflecting on the leadership of others around me. Those that have puzzled me and that I’ve found challenging and difficult to work with, or for, have often ‘taught’ me as much as those that I have admired and respected.
I was asked if I follow a particular ‘leadership model’ and in short, I don’t, at least not consciously. However, what I do know is that there are certain qualities, skills or traits that I think are important in effective leadership and that I look for in those that lead me or that I try to demonstrate in my own way when I lead others. My list isn’t exhaustive and often it’s dependent on circumstances. Not all leadership positions call for the same skills, and not every day of your role asks the same of you, however, for me, these are my ‘go-to’ skills. If I’m struggling to identify what to do next, or I’m not sure how to tackle a particular challenge I often come back to these fundamentals.
Reflection and Adaptation
As I mentioned, I’ve often learnt as much from those who I feel were ineffective leaders as I have from those I think are brilliant. The truth, of course, is that often people aren’t one or the other. Typically, leaders will have moments that define what you might think of their approach. I believe it is important that we all take a step back every now and again to pause and to look at what we have done, learn from it and consider how we might do that again if we had the chance.
The people I’ve struggled to work with the most, and generally admire least, are those that just bash away with the same technique hoping that this time they’ll get what they want.
If we remain static and only lead in one way I believe we become less effective. Those we’re leading won’t be engaged because we’re not adapting to the moment or the need. We can just look like we’re hammering away at something we don’t really understand or have the tools to tackle properly.
My approach has changed over time. The leader I was when I started my career is not the leader I am now; and, I doubt I’ll be the same leader when I retire. One element remains constant though: reflecting and learning. And this can be hard.
I am not a naturally outgoing, confident person, and actually, a lot of what I have to do in my leadership roles is to suppress my tendency towards my introvert traits. I’m shy in large groups, meeting new people sets me on edge and laying my work open to scrutiny is intensely uncomfortable. One of the most powerful pieces of feedback I got from a new team at an early stage in my career was that I was ‘cold’ and ‘closed off’ from them and they didn’t know me. I was so shocked by this I had to take a few days before I could think about it without wanting to curl up in a corner and hide away.
What that feedback showed me was the difference of perception and the importance of communication and how I needed to adapt my approach. Whilst I was trying to be ‘professional’ and make sure that people didn’t see me as a shy little mouse, and a very young one at that, I’d projected to my team a hard, outer shell that they couldn’t see through. Over time as my confidence has grown, I’ve adapted my approach as a leader and I’ve reflected on what I’ve done and I’ve learnt from it and I know that I’ll continue too.
Being a Role Model
One of the key things in my own development has been being able to identify leaders who I admire and recognising in them what it is that I respect and can learn from. Without realising it at the time, at the very start of my career journey I was looking for role models. I’ve been very lucky, I’ve had many both personal and professional.
Another key stepping stone for me was realising that I had become a role model myself. Receiving feedback from a new member of a team that outlined the importance for her of seeing a woman in a senior role and asking me to talk about how I had achieved that was one of the most eye-opening moments!
It made me realise that we are all role models, or can be and that we should recognise the value and importance of that position in everything that we do. I’ve been surprised by the number of women in particular who I’ve worked with in a variety of different ways who have reached out to me for advice and guidance and mentorship, and that has only helped to solidify in my mind the importance of role modelling in leadership. Whilst higher education has a significant proportion of women working in the sector, we make up 55% of the total, only 29% of Vice-Chancellors (University leaders) and 37% of senior leadership teams are women and the gender pay gap still remains.
Feedback & Transparency
The process of receiving feedback from others can be like I imagine walking a tightrope might be;
· it can be challenging; you might read or hear things you never expected (good and bad),
· you might need to teach yourself to focus on the right things and drown out the noise of the crowds (it took me a long time to not just focus on the critical and to also look at the positive)
· there will be things that you will need to do time and again before you get it right
· you might need to find something to help you get the balance right, be that a mentor or coach or just a great manager who helps you see how you can navigate complexities
Many of us who take on leadership roles won’t ever be under a national or international spotlight. Most of us won’t have headlines written about us that either laud or lampoon us, or have to attend large shareholder meetings where our efforts to turn a tanker of an organisation into the 21st century are scrutinized and critiqued. However, all of us in leadership positions of one sort or another should be held accountable for how we choose to lead whether this is through a formal evaluation process, informal feedback from colleagues or considering how the teams we lead change and develop over time.
Feedback has been an important part of my development and I always seek it out. If there isn’t a formal mechanism for gathering feedback, I’ll ask colleagues for their thoughts and ideas informally by sharing documents or discussing ideas over lunch. I’ll look for feedback in the outputs of projects or consultation’s and I’ll use results as feedback too. Was the last project my team completed successful or not and what impacted on that outcome? It is important to recognise the power imbalances that can be inherent in a leader seeking feedback from those in their team. Ensuring that you create a culture of respect, support and engagement can ease this imbalance and you might find it helpful to make various routes to providing feedback available. Of course, how you respond to the feedback you’re given is important in encouraging people to continue to share it with you in the future.
Some of the best feedback I’ve received has been from graduates of programmes that I’ve managed or colleagues I have worked within in the past. I feel privileged when they reach out to me for advice about a future job role, or they seek out my guidance on a particular issue; to me that’s feedback and some of the most positive. If colleagues I managed or worked with years ago feel able to reach out to me know I’ve shed the ‘cold’ hard shell and embraced an approach that reflects me much more authentically.
I was often told to seek out feedback when I was starting out, and I get advised of that less and less nowadays. For me, feedback will be important right up to the day I hand in my staff card and head off to that tropical beach to eek out my retirement. The world doesn’t stand still, your team will constantly evolve and so should you.
Authenticity
Finally, although by no means less importantly, the value of authenticity should not be underestimated. For me, a leader who is authentic is someone I can trust, it is someone that I can rely on to be honest, and that is certainly someone I can respect, even if I don’t agree with them!
Sometimes the hardest thing to do when others are looking at you for direction and support is to admit that you have no idea what to do, that you are just as much at sea as they are. However, that can also be one of the most powerful things you can do. If you bluster your way through a difficult situation, I would be willing to bet most people will see straight through you and know there’s something missing. However, if you can be transparent in you decision making, if you can reflect on your own performance and take on others feedback, and then have the courage of your convictions to make a decision that colleagues can understand and engage with, you’re most of the way there.
That of course is easier said than done, and there are times when your responsibility as a leader is to make sure the team keeps going towards their goal in spite of the maelstrom that might be surrounding you. On occasion I’ve felt like I’ve been a human shield for those I work with, sometimes I’d go so far as to say I’ve protected them, from the behaviour or decisions of others, and that has been hard work. Thankfully it’s been rare that I’ve had to do that, and they have been some of the toughest days of my career when I’ve had to. However, if I can support my team to achieve their goals and help them avoid getting swept up into challenges that they are not able to influence the outcome of and that might actually just leave them demoralised and disengaged that’s the role that I’ll take. I have to hope that they will trust I will do my best to make the right decisions and that they can reach out to me and ask questions if they feel uncertain.
Leadership is a complex beast. There often aren’t easy answers. What I’ve found is reflection, role modelling, authenticity and feedback all help to make leadership rewarding. Particularly on the days when things don’t go according to plan.
Erica Russell-Hensens is our Director of Quality and Academic Standards here at the University of Dundee and an inspirational leader, having supported me in my roles as School President and Student Representation Councillor on many occasions. Erica is a Defender as per the 16 Personalities test.
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