Last Friday, Jessica Krywosa posted her five lessons learned about working in higher education after six months on the job. I thought her six-month evaluation of the higher ed environment would resonate with a lot of you, so I’m sharing snippets of the five lessons here. But I encourage you to read Jessica’s full post and the comments, as she puts it better than I could. Well done.
1. Politics, Politics, Politics: It seems like not much can get done because someone else may be upset.
2. Decentralization: Without one area for messages, branding, and strategies to filter through, how will we know we are successful?
3. Fiefdoms Proliferate: Not sure why someone doesnt want to let you in? Maybe its because they are master of their own kingdom, having been there for 20 years and are afraid you’ll uncover that they do not really have any content knowledge beyond ‘the way its been done’.
4. Old Way (My Way) versus New Way (Your Way): Building on #3, many employees feel threatened, not only by new technology and social media, but by your expertise in an up and coming field.
5. Slow Sallies: Mix 1-4 together and what do we have? A slow operation that gets even slower when educating people on new tactics and strategies becomes central to moving anything forward (which, it should).
Jess concludes that she’s still “up for the challenge” of working in this environment and “optimistic that stars will in fact align.”
“There’s a tide turning here and its exciting to help steer the boat that rides it.”
That’s good to hear. We need more people like Jessica, who truly believe in the enterprise of higher education and are helping to bring about reform and change from within. Who knows, Jess? Maybe in another 17 1/2 years, you’ll be able to post something like this.
Andrew Careaga 