Leading in time of crisis

 Hope all is well na ka.

Today, my podcast episode is on, 'Leadership in Crises' so I think it'd be nice to share a part of it with you na ka.

This is from my friend back from Teachers College, Columbia day ka. Kevin Quigley was (the last) President of Malboro College, Vermont who had been through a huge crisis the past several years. Like quite a number of liberal arts colleges and universities in the US, numbers of students were smaller and smaller while the expenses were high, among other reasons in our changing world. Heard that about 500 of higher education institutions were closed and it was time for Marlboro too ka. This situation, in fact, happened well before the COVIC-19 ka.

Preparations were made by Kevin to make sure that his team and students would be secure.  In addition, he had to work closely with his Board, supporters, and the community, etc. for the best options possible. In any case, after some tough rounds of discussions with several key potential partners, he finally managed to negotiate successfully for Marlboro to be part of Emerson College in Boston. This means, those decided to move on this track would sure have a place to work/study. 

This is only a background for you to go to read what Kevin has shared on his leadership in this hard time ka. I think this could give some thoughts for many. Who knows, eventually, we could see similar situations in our country's universities too.

Here's what Kevin shared ka:

Leadership in crises, whether across cultures or not, requires at least three things:

1.  Knowing exactly where you are:  understanding as best you can what are your circumstances, clearly, honestly and objectively...and without any illusion.  And given that understanding of where you are and what are your available options.

2.  Communicating clearly and frequently:  it is essential that leaders in the midst of crises communicate clearly and regularly with all key stakeholders whether they are trustees, faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters.

3.  Modeling appropriate behavior:  most people pay much more attention to what leaders do and how they do it rather than what they say.  This requires leaders to be steadfast, hopeful while acting with the greatest possible honesty and integrity and expressing empathy regarding how the crisis is affecting people. 

He said after all the efforts made,  อุเบกขา (let go and stay calm....my own translation ka!) would be crucial ka! 

I like his reflections especially อุเบกขา ka. Once the leader has tried his/her very best for the higher purpose beyond him/herself, whatever happens is beyond one's control! 

Over to you who are interested na ka.....what do you think ka?

President's views on his leadership

 TGIF mai ka? For me, it's quite chill these days ka.

As some of you know, I'm hosting a podcast program, called, 'Learn Plern Plern' and I've started a series on leadership, which I found very crucial in our university administration.....in fact, in all sectors ka. 

I had an honor to get a contribution from Professor Tan Tai Yong, President of Yale/NUS College, Singapore. He kindly reflected on his experiences and shared the following ka:

The challenges of leading in a university.

 

·       Leadership authority at universities does not come from electoral mandates or hierarchical structures;

·       Often, academics are appointed to positions – Heads of Depts/Deans/Vice-Presidents, etc, based mainly on seniority, inclination or interest;

·       Appointments are usually rotated, and trajectory is not necessarily one-directional

·       Faculty tend to prefer consultative/democratic approach, instead on top-down

·       Then, there is the diversity of university communities – faculty, staff, students

·       Students change; and have specific issues that may differ across cohorts

·       The university has many stakeholders – governing boards, the government, parent, the public – and they all need management;

 

What do I see as my roles as a leader?

Showing direction and How to get there

·       A leader is expected to show the direction, set goals, and develop an agenda and action plans to achieve the objectives and goals. This entails the ability to see the big picture, and to articulate vision, mission and purpose.  Your colleagues look to you to see where you are taking them; it is important to know what that destination is.

·       To be able to provide direction, a leader needs foresight – the ability to see likely outcomes of a situation - understand the lessons of the past, the realities of the present and likely consequences. of a decision for the future.

·       Knowing where you want to get to is important, but knowing how to get there is even more important.  You need to have a plan, and know how to execute that plan. 

·       A good leader needs to be able to deal with the nuts and bolts.  You need a good clear head for planning, understanding of operational issues, structures and management of resources – budgets, human resources, infrastructure, etc.

·       So, a good leader must be able to “zoom in and zoom out”.

·       A leader needs to be “political”; by that I mean the ability to balance interests and needs of different groups of people, allocation of resources,  prioritisation; which battles to fight; what to let go. 

·       A good leader will have the ability to view situations from integrated, holistic position;  need to have an astute understanding of issues involving ethics, power and values, and understand how decisions in one area and impact on other areas, and often have unintended outcomes.

Develop people; build teams

·       Leadership is not a one-man/woman show. A leader cannot do everything himself, and should NOT always be leading from the front.

·       A good leader therefore needs to build teams of complementary strengths;

·       In this regard, having self-awareness is critical - know your own strengths and weaknesses, and then draw on the strengths of others to make the shortfall in your own abilities and capacities;

·       Teams become effective when there is belief and commitment; building trust (in the leader as a person, and in his/her vision) is important.  

·       Your colleagues may not agree with your decision, but they should not doubt your intent and purpose. Personal integrity and honesty are important attributes in a leader.

·       In a university setting, which is usually flat and democratic,  communication and persuasion are critical.  The leader needs to convince rather than coerce compliance. The need to secure buy-in is very important, and especially critical if you are leading change; need to get people to embrace these changes, even if these changes are likely to be disruptive and uncomfortable.

Build Community

 

·       The university is an organisation; it is also a community, a community of study and learning. It is an organisation that works best when it is undergirded by a functioning, vibrant community.

·       What holds this community together? The community is held together by common purpose, culture and values. Members of the university community are not born into the university; the choose to join a university and then develop bonds with it.  When a university is successful, people proudly identify themselves with it as faculty, staff and alumni.

·       Communities are not built solely on structures or rules and regulations. These are important, but communities are built on shared beliefs and values.

·       In building community, empathy- putting yourself in the shoes of others – is an important attribute;  empathy stems from a humility that expresses itself in the ability to listen and understand.

 

The above observations are gleaned through my personal experiences of the myriad of roles I have assumed in the past.  It was on the job training for me.

This is what struck me most when he talked about his mistakes ka:

I don’t always get it right, and have made mistakes and have had to adapt and often learn from bad decisions and judgements.

 

But, I have found that openness, the willingness to listen and learn, and the ability to conduct myself with humility, honesty and empathy, through which I try to earn the trust and respect of the community I belong; these are attitudes that have served me well in many situations. 

Any comments mai ka?

Questions about your own self

These days, I continue to listen to a podcast program called, 'How Leaders Lead with David Novak' ka. In fact I've always found some lessons to learn.

Today, let me go for something light but powerful from my view ka.

David Novak always asks his guests these questions....not the exact wordings na ka:

1. What are the three words that would best describe you?

2. What is one thing that not so many people know about you?

3. If you can take the place of one person for a day, who would that person be?

Could you answer the questions right away? I found it quite hard to give a prompt response since I had to sit back and think about it ka.  The three questions could be a good game to use for each of us and for team building to share their unknown/little known sides that they want to share....will be quite amazing and could be quite impressive too ka.

Will share my answers in the next email ka.

Stay well na ka.

Language learning and teaching

 I was interviewed a short while ago what I thought about language learning and teaching. Looking back, I wasn't sure if I answered the questions but the interviewer was kind to say I did ka. 

This is what I'd like to share today na ka.

For me personally, we've gone beyond the traditional ways of language proficiency to think and act more on the skills we wish to get out of the language learning process ka. 

I drew two three-circles-overlapping diagrams to clarify my answers. 

The first was to include key issues for global competence so on the top circle, it was diversity, the bottom left and right are inclusion, and belonging accordingly. The overlapping space is to fill in ‘Leadership with respect’ ka. 

The second was to see the top circle on ‘Intercultural learning system’. On the bottom left and right are ‘International partnership system’ and ‘KM system’. I believe that IZN has been taken for granted and it needs to have some kind of systematic approach to make it more powerful to drive institutions to their visions. Because of this thinking, systematic IZN can be used to gain wisdom for sure ka. 

When combined both circles, we'll have leadership with respect and wisdom via IZN, the qualities we wish our younger generations and all learners to acquire besides their language proficiency and teaching skills ka. Actually, it can go beyond language to the quality of our global citizens into the future. 

What do you think ka?

 

Two experiences, two extremes?

 Hello all....happy for many to say TGIF tomorrow na ka. 

I have two little stories to share ka!

Customer experience to buy online: I decided to buy 3 sets of back pillows to get 20% off and had two sent to my house while the other to my sister's. To be sure, the communication was through messenger and email (old people like me use email to confirm too kraaa!)

You could guess that things didn't happen the way we wished it to be which is fine with me ka...human errors happen all the time. I ended up having 3 sets at my house and my sister got hers. So instead of having to send back, I decided to buy the 4th. 

When asked how much, it turned out to be much more expensive than what we got earlier and there wasn't much room to even negotiate. The admin only said the company would pick it up soon.

After I decided we no longer wished to buy it anymore, I wrote to suggest that they could be more charming handling the case while having less costs. Only the word 'ka' was the answer!

Any comment mai ka?

On another experience when my friends and I wanted to have a little birthday celebration at Baan Ya Hom (บ้านยาหอม) ......sounds so right for my age mai ka? 5555! I texted at night to get a very speedy response, asking what kind of experience I expected. I told the person there would be 3 birthday girls so if cake could be prepared, it'd be more than enough. 

We were thrilled to get like 2 pounds of orange cake that was more than enough for us. It was delicious and we appreciated the warm thought.

It was a surprise as there was no charge for the cake ka.....we felt real grengjai and I texted to thank the person/owner mung ka? with pictures of the three birthday girls ka. 

Happy not because it was free, but the kind thought and prompt action were truly appreciated na ka.

Sure will try to go back when I can....and in fact, I should really write on TripAdvisor ka!