Leadership & Management at BUE

Dr Andy WilsonProfessional DevelopmentLoughborough University

Purpose of this discussion

To discuss some leadership and management issues…

…as preparation for the University Managers’ Programme.

University Managers’ Programme

Mixed groups of academic, administrative and research managers

Looking at current management issues

Such as… Managing People; Leading Your

Team; Planning and Monitoring; Risk Analysis; The Difficult Conversation; etc.

Process today

Mixture of plenary discussion, group discussion and brief inputs

No Elephants

Leadership & Management

Can be unhelpful to agonise over the differences

Leadership high-level Management more day-to-day Both are needed They interact Today mainly about leadership… …to inform later discussions of

management.

Leadership?

Huge literature NB toxic leadership! Key issues from action learning sets

for manager in UK HE are… Providing strategic direction Motivating people.

Whether you like it or not…

…you will have a strategy ~ but it needs to be the one you want

…you will influence the motivation of those around you ~ but it needs to be the influence you want.

Values

Strategy is about what you do… …and what you don’t do How do you decide? Partly driven by institutional values But it must be something that

matches your personal values… …or it’s not personally or

professionally sustainable.

Values 2

When push comes to shove it’s values that help you decide

So what are your fundamental values?

And to what extent do these match those of your institution?

What vision arises from these values? If you want to know what your

institution really values, look at who they promote.

Levels

It’s easy to get lost in the detail Keep moving up a level from time to

time to check that you are still being strategic.

Levels

Vision

Strategic

Operational

Detailed

Trivial

Developing and sharing a vision Managing the interfaces Motivating people Understanding the environment Controlling resources Developing strategies to deliver

the vision VIPERS.

Leadership

Creating time for leadership

These activities all take time Essential to carve out time for the

strategic alongside everything else Administration is getting the

paperwork done Management is getting the job

done Leadership is VIPERS.

A – M – L

Admin-istration

Manage-ment

Leader-ship

All of these are needed

Pressures

Urgent Important but not urgent

Delegation Comments

Delegation is not a dirty word Most people want you to delegate more Delegation can develop people… … coaching may be required Delegation is often inadequately done Handle different people differently Delegation gets easier with practice Don’t forget upwards or self delegation.

Your Awareness of Your Skills

Competent

Yes No

Yes

No

ConsciousDangerous

to delegate from here

Delegation Tips

1. Explain what, why, when, how and who

2. Don’t assume that they know the background or have all the skills

3. Alert them to possible pitfalls4. Discuss resources, authority and

support5. Discuss reporting mechanisms6. Don’t rush it7. Allow time and space for questions.

Risk

Risk influences people’s behaviour Do you want people to show

initiative? Initiative carries the risk of failure How is failure treated? The risk of punishment can inhibit

initiative What is your approach to risk?

Risk analysis

ProbabilityConsequence

x

Risk

Risk analysis 2

What’s the probability of something going wrong?

What’s the consequence if something does go wrong?

You can only answer these questions if you understand your environment and your stakeholders.

Risk analysis 3

You manage them differently What can you do to reduce the

probability? What can you do to reduce the

consequence?

Leadership concepts

Four key concepts here for me1. 360 degree leadership2. Complementary teams3. Task plus…?4. Leadership and institutional

values.

360 degree leadership

Your team

Your bosses

External stakeholders

Internal partners

Leadership directions

It’s not just downwards 180 degrees You will want to influence your

leaders You will want your followers to

influence you You will want to influence your

peers.

Complementary Teams

Belbin Team Roles

Belbin Team Roles

Action-oriented roles

Shaper Implementer Completer

FinisherPeople-oriented

roles Co-ordinator Team Worker Resource

Investigator

Cerebral roles Plant Monitor

Evaluator Specialist

Task plus…?

Models of leadership recognise the need to get the job done

Often called the task They also recognise – in a range of

forms – important non-task dimensions

The key one is…

social.

Leadership styles

Competent

Yes No

Yes

No

Committed

Leadership styles 2

The relationship is both cause and effect

If a member of the team is incompetent and uncommitted the leader may need to provide high direction and high support

If the leader continues to behave in the same way, so will the team member

Don’t encourage dependency And it’s the same in teaching.

Three-Circle Model

Task

TeamIndi-

vidual

John Adair

Key Functions Task Team

Indivi- dual

Define Objectives

Plan and Decide

Organise

Control & Support

Co

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Review

Leadership and institutional values

The way leaders behave will be the clearest signal that most people will get of what the institution values…

…whether these values are explicit or not

If leaders behave courteously… If leaders behave strategically… Etc.

How do you want to behave?

Please produce a few adverbs to describe how BUE’s leaders and managers should behave.

Your actions

Adverbs are one thing… …actions are something else What actions can you take to put

your adverbs into effect? EG… Adverb ~ courteously Action ~ say “thank you” at the end

of a meeting.

Contact information

Dr Andy Wilson Director of Professional Development Loughborough University Leicestershire LE11 3TU UK

Phone: +44 (0) 1509 222380 Fax:+44 (0) 1509 223992 Email: d.a.wilson@lboro.ac.uk Web: www.lboro.ac.uk/service/pd