This is the third in a series of posts about my most recent educational experiment. The quickest way to get the full story is to go read the other two posts, which also have the number ‘44’ in their titles.
Running a group of 44 undergraduate TAs was the biggest leadership endeavor I’ve ever undertaken. As I designed the course, I first had to set the scale: how many would I hire? Next I wrote a job description. Then I recruited.
Next thing I knew, I had 44 people working for me. Now what?
I started out by micromanaging.
I’d identify a specific task that needed doing, pick a few people who I thought could do it, and tell them what I wanted. I’d ask them to check in regularly, and I’d have edits every time they did. Essentially, they were just doing the work that I would have done myself, the way I would have done it myself, if I had the time. We even had a single document with “todo’s” that everyone was supposed to refer to.
When the group was small, I was able to keep tabs on each person. As the number of jobs grew this style of leadership became unsustainable. Not to mention I had just recruited bright independent thinkers and I was stifling their creativity.
Growth looks like letting go
Soon, the team was large enough that I couldn’t keep up with everyone on my own. I couldn’t manage each person’s task list, or double-check them as they progressed. I learned to give people more space, and spend my time communicating the vision and goal instead of checking “the third sentence of paragraph two” in the instructions they were writing.
Fast forward a year and things looked pretty different.
The team created an organizational structure several layers deep to make sure everyone had the support they needed. I was unaware of most of the day-to-day tasks that individuals completed. The team identified and solved many problems internally, and elevated things when my help was needed. They kept me focused on my job, and executed theirs far better than I could have dictated.
Four Lessons That Every Leader and Administrator Needs to Learn
- 99% of leadership activity should be communicating the vision and goal. The second you start dictating HOW something should be done, you’ve started killing creative potential.
- The best way to cause panic is for a leader to take action without communicating with the team. It doesn’t matter if you’re a school administrator beginning renovations on a study lounge, or an instructor creating an extra credit assignment – if the people affected by your actions don’t know what’s happening and why, be prepared for drama. It’s your fault. Stop doing it. Return to Lesson 1 and spend your time doing the work of leading. Autocracies don’t work.
- Open doors and open organizational structure aren’t the same thing. One is critical, the other is damaging. Open doors: anyone should be able to go to their leader and express a concern. Open structure: the more you blur the lines between individuals’ roles, the more confusion, chaos, and frustration you build.
- Empathy trumps authority every time. There is just no better way to get buy-in and genuine effort than truly caring for your people. When you care, they’ll care. They’ll see the organization as a family, and they’ll do what it takes to nurture it.
People want to work for a cause, not a grade, not a paycheck. The job of leadership is to give them that cause, the belief that it’s attainable, and the resources to make it happen.
Thank you, TA Family, for teaching me that.
