leadership and culture building
As I reflect upon some of my personal experiences in working through relationships with faculty, I am left thinking about what the role of a leader is in building a culture that nurtures difference and positively encourages an open climate, creating spaces for the diversity of opinions on issues and simultaneously encouraging faculty to participate in constituting a highly productive culture as productive citizens (In such a culture, the productivity of colleagues acts as a catalyst and as an inspiration, not as a threat that provokes pettiness).
On one hand, it is immensely encouraging to witness the tremendous potentials that might be created and sustained when you bring a group of smart and engaged scholars around the table, create resources for them, connect them up with exciting opportunities, and give them the room to grow by working with them to address the barriers they face. In such a culture, the individual growth of faculty members is facilitated by the inspiration and examples that are offered by others. Colleagues step in to support each other, work as a collective, and figure out ways to accomplish the collective goals. When the individual succeeds, the collective grows.
On the other hand, I believe it is also important for leadership to work consistently in discouraging the pettiness that perhaps resides in every human being, and more so in narcissistic academics who can easily get tied to the ivory tower and to the game of taking themselves too seriously. Just as a leader ought to encourage those traits among the faculty such as cooperation and intellectual engagement that promote a positive climate, she/he ought to discourage those traits such as gossipping, rumor mongering etc. that negatively impact organizational effectiveness, individual performance, as well as the performance of the collective as a unit. It becomes one's duty as a leader in ensuring that her/his colleagues can function effectively and productively, and not be distracted by pettiness, incivility, and the lack of decorum.
Ultimately, a culture of productivity becomes one that creates spaces for minds to come together. In such a culture, differences are celebrated, debates are engaged, and worldviews are given opportunities for growth. Personally, in order to be able to grow as a scholar, I want to be amidst colleagues who are smart and engaging, who are civil to each other and are respectful of the differences, and who become sources of encouragement! My sense is that many of our colleagues in academ (barring the few who thrive on the incivility as means of engaging the world) desire these similar sorts of things.
On one hand, it is immensely encouraging to witness the tremendous potentials that might be created and sustained when you bring a group of smart and engaged scholars around the table, create resources for them, connect them up with exciting opportunities, and give them the room to grow by working with them to address the barriers they face. In such a culture, the individual growth of faculty members is facilitated by the inspiration and examples that are offered by others. Colleagues step in to support each other, work as a collective, and figure out ways to accomplish the collective goals. When the individual succeeds, the collective grows.
On the other hand, I believe it is also important for leadership to work consistently in discouraging the pettiness that perhaps resides in every human being, and more so in narcissistic academics who can easily get tied to the ivory tower and to the game of taking themselves too seriously. Just as a leader ought to encourage those traits among the faculty such as cooperation and intellectual engagement that promote a positive climate, she/he ought to discourage those traits such as gossipping, rumor mongering etc. that negatively impact organizational effectiveness, individual performance, as well as the performance of the collective as a unit. It becomes one's duty as a leader in ensuring that her/his colleagues can function effectively and productively, and not be distracted by pettiness, incivility, and the lack of decorum.
Ultimately, a culture of productivity becomes one that creates spaces for minds to come together. In such a culture, differences are celebrated, debates are engaged, and worldviews are given opportunities for growth. Personally, in order to be able to grow as a scholar, I want to be amidst colleagues who are smart and engaging, who are civil to each other and are respectful of the differences, and who become sources of encouragement! My sense is that many of our colleagues in academ (barring the few who thrive on the incivility as means of engaging the world) desire these similar sorts of things.
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