So You Want to Be a Director?

So You Want to Be a Director? GLACUHO November 2005 Presented by: John E. Collins

Presentation Outline • Introduction • Leadership vs. Management • Competencies/Skills • Education/Experience • Four Frames • Advice

A. Introductions

B. Leadership vs. Management “Managers do things right, and leaders do the right thing,” Kotter, 1988.

Leadership • “Leadership is a change-oriented process of visioning, networking and building relationships.” Kotter, 1988 • Emphasize vision and renewal, Gardner, 1989

Management Kotter (1988) echoes many writers in seeing management as primarily about structural nuts and bolts; planning, organizing, and controlling.

Leaders Long-term thinking Both internal and external focus Beyond immediate constituents Managers Short-term thinking Internal focus Immediate constituents Leaders vs. Managers

C. Competencies/Skills Key Skills & Competencies

D. Education/Experience • What degree? • What experience? • Balance

E. Four Frames • Structural • Human Resource • Political • Symbolic

Structural Frame These assumptions reflect a belief in rationality and a faith that the right formal arrangements minimize problems and maximize performance.

Structural Frame Assumptions • Organizations exist to achieve established goals and objectives. • Organizations increase efficiency and embrace performance through specialization and a clear division of labor. • Appropriate forms of coordination and control ensure that diverse efforts of individuals and units mesh. • Organizations work best when rationality prevails over personal preferences and extraneous pressure. • Structures must be designed to fit an organization’s circumstances (including its goals, technology, workforce, and environment). • Problems and performance gaps arise from structural deficiencies and can be remedied through analysis and restructuring.

Human Resource Frame The human resource frame centers on how characteristics of organizations and people shape what they do for one another.

Human Resource Frame Assumptions • Organization exists to serve human needs rather than the reverse. • People and organizations need each other, Organizations need ideas, energy, and talent; people need careers, salaries, and opportunities. • When the fit between individual and system is poor, one or both suffer. Individuals are exploited or exploit the organization – or both become victims. • A good fit benefits both. Individuals find meaningful and satisfying work, and organizations get the talent and energy they need to succeed.

Political Frame Viewed from the political frame, politics is simply the realistic process of making decisions and allocating resources in a context of scarcity and divergent interests.

Political Frame Assumptions • Organizations are coalitions of diverse individuals and interest groups. • There are enduring differences among coalition members in values, beliefs, information, interests, and perceptions of reality. • Most important decisions involve allocating scarce resources – who gets what? • Scarce resources and enduring differences make conflict central to organizational dynamics and underline power as the most important asset. • Goals and decisions emerge from bargaining, negotiation, and jockeying forposition among competing stakeholders.

Symbolic Frame The symbolic frame seeks to interpret and illuminate basic issues of meaning and belief that make symbols so powerful.

Symbolic Frame Assumptions • What is most important is not what happens but what it means. • Activity and meaning are loosely coupled; events have multiple meanings because people interpret experience differently. • In the face of widespread uncertainty and ambiguity, people create symbols to resolve confusion, increase predictability, find direction, and anchor hope and faith. • Many events and processes are more important for what is expressed than what is produced. They form a cultural tapestry of secular myths, heroes and heroines, rituals, ceremonies, and stores that help people find purpose and passion in their personal and work lives. • Culture is the guide that holds an organization together and unites people around shared values and beliefs.

F. Advice • Politics • Tasks overpower strategic • Relationships – invest in people • Trust vs. be suspicious • Someone is always watching • Little people • More complicated • Be intentional • Make allies • Budget

Advice Continued • Keep your boss informed • Be visible • Find balance – Can you do everything? • Decision-making • Students • Support staff • Privilege • Do what you say • Parents can be allies • Cry wolf

So You Want to Be a Director?