How to be noticed for senior management positions in academe

Getting yourself noticed for senior management positions is not only important because you get to practise the skills required to succeed in such positions; if you aren't noticed you are likely to miss out on opportunities. Most people don't notice when these roles are advertised, and some -- especially women -- do not want to put themselves forward. For these reasons, it is vitally important to be noticed as a potential candidate, before your ideal role becomes available. 

Follow the points below and I may tap you on the shoulder about becoming an academic leader.

Be Seen

Create a LinkedIn profile and keep it up to date, it only takes a few minutes each month. If you're worried you will get unwanted approaches, shut them out in your settings. Keep your university staff page up to date and comprehensive. If your institution's systems make updating it too hard, create your own website, or blog. Don’t forget to add the links to your LinkedIn profile.

Be Known, and Well Regarded, as a Deft Administrator

If people notice you managing well, they are more likely to suggest you for a management role. Serving in Deputy or Acting positions is ideal, but these opportunities are few and can be hard to get. Consider other roles that will get your administrative skills noticed and valued by peers, such as editing a journal or becoming involved in a project. Showing your diplomacy, and your competence in getting things done to a level of excellence, not only earns respect from peers but impresses a selection panel.

In an upcoming post I will address the selection criteria used for academic leadership positions, following a research survey I am conducting of the higher education sector in Australia. In the meantime I will speak generally about the skills and experience required.

Acquire Relevant Skills and Experience

The ability to manage financial outcomes is increasingly important and yet many academics fall short in this vital area. Consider managing a conference or other event, and be able to talk about the financial outcomes (did it make money? how did you raise additional funds?). If you don't understand budgets at all, there are plenty of short courses designed for generalists.

Being able to manage change, is another capability of strong contenders for leadership. As change becomes the ‘new normal’ across campuses and disciplines, there are a great many change initiatives you can become actively involved in. Remember to be considered in your approaches and evaluate the impacts of your actions, so you can both articulate how you manage change and become at it. Being able to drive change in an area from the ground up is great for getting involved in your institution, in advocating for changes (both up and down), being good at consultation and building support for initiatives. 

Many successful academics do not want to serve in administration for their academic communities. It is true that management positions on campus today and leave little time for research or teaching; while a good track record in both these areas remain prerequisite to being considered. A desire for academic achievement through others, and through the sometimes exhausting processes of modern universities, is mandatory. And we do need more people willing and ready to step into these positions, with the respect and support of their colleagues, if we are to maintain the strength of our universities through the impending retirement of so many baby boomers currently in these roles. 

The vexed issue of PhDs and how to select people for academic roles

How we blood people for a career in the academy, the topic of a column in The Oz Higher Ed this week, is Peter van Onselen’s take on the problem of selection for all academic roles, from junior to executive positions. To be considered for any of these, a PhD is required. Yet is the PhD a rite of passage to earned academic glory -- or a perverse incentive? The skills and behaviours required to complete a PhD have little correlation to the skills and behaviours that lead to success in roles other than research. It is time for a rethink about how we recruit and select for academic leadership positions, because many baby boomers will soon retire from those roles and replacements will need to be found.

The blooding theme is a striking description of the PhD experience but Professor van Onselen does not exaggerate. I treated my own PhD as a project and a lesson in how to think deeply and widely at the frontiers of knowledge – and then quickly moved on, but not into academe itself. Working outside the academy provided more opportunities.

Now I work in recruitment for the higher education sector, I see the difficulty my clients have in finding people suitable for senior academic appointments. The difficulty is particularly acute in the professions where PhDs are scarce and traditional academic profiles based on peer-reviewed publications are even scarcer. In architecture, leaders design rather than churn out words. Accountants use numbers to tackle real-time problems. People who lead in the professions have good management skills, skills that would be valuable to the academy. Where to find the leaders who will ensure that universities continue to be the right structures for learning, research and community engagement?

People who could be great for academic leadership roles are often lacking the right skill set, or qualifications. Leading researchers may feel their PhD training has not equipped them for the financial management and other management tasks of a Head of School. Some claim that professional managers should take on these tasks. This does not happen in other sectors; people continue to acquire skills through their careers but may climb the ranks from where they started. Gail Kelly started out as a bank teller and rose to CEO of St George and then Westpac. She understands every aspect of banking including the customer experience. A generalist accountant or lawyer would not have that knowledge. 

Research publications and PhDs are counted in university rankings as well as in appointments and promotions of individuals. That is not going to change, and in the rise of the power of students as consumers, rankings only become more important. We must entice good teachers and researchers to diversify their skills into leadership and management, particularly in the humanities and social sciences. And in fields of professional endeavour, we must make it attractive for people who are mid-career to undertake research, or revive their academic profiles, so they can truly be eligible to lead within the academy.

How to be noticed for senior management positions in academe

Getting yourself noticed for senior management positions is not only important because you get to practise the skills required to succeed in such positions; if you aren't noticed you are likely to miss out on opportunities. Most people don't notice when these roles are advertised, and some -- especially women -- do not want to put themselves forward. For these reasons, it is vitally important to be noticed as a potential candidate, before your ideal role becomes available. 

Follow the points below and I may tap you on the shoulder about becoming an academic leader.

Be Seen

Create a LinkedIn profile and keep it up to date, it only takes a few minutes each month. If you're worried you will get unwanted approaches, shut them out in your settings. Keep your university staff page up to date and comprehensive. If your institution's systems make updating it too hard, create your own website, or blog. Don’t forget to add the links to your LinkedIn profile.

Be Known as a Deft Administrator

If people notice you managing well, they are more likely to suggest you for a management role. Serving in Deputy or Acting positions is ideal, but these opportunities are few and can be hard to get. Consider other roles that will get your administrative skills noticed and valued by peers, such as editing a journal or becoming involved in a project. Showing your diplomacy, and your competence in getting things done to a level of excellence, not only earns respect from peers but impresses a selection panel.

In an upcoming post I will address the selection criteria used for academic leadership positions, following a research survey I am conducting of the higher education sector in Australia. In the meantime I will speak generally about the skills and experience required.

Acquire Relevant Skills and Experience

The ability to manage financial outcomes is increasingly important and yet many academics fall short in this vital area. Consider managing a conference or other event, and be able to talk about the financial outcomes (did it make money? how did you raise additional funds?). If you don't understand budgets at all, there are plenty of short courses designed for generalists.

Being able to manage change, is another capability of strong contenders for leadership. As change becomes the ‘new normal’ across campuses and disciplines, there are many change initiatives you can become actively involved in. Remember to be considered in your approaches and evaluate the impacts of your actions, so you can both articulate how you manage change and become better at it. Being able to drive change from the ground up is great for getting involved in your institution, in advocating for changes (both up and down), becoming good at consultation and building support for initiatives. 

Many successful academics do not want to serve in administration for their academic communities. It is true that management positions on campus today leave little time for research or teaching; while a good track record in both these areas remain prerequisite to being eligible. A desire for academic achievement through others, and through the sometimes exhausting processes of modern universities, is mandatory. And we do need more people willing and ready to step into these positions, with the respect and support of their colleagues, if we are to maintain the strength of our universities through the impending retirement of so many baby boomers currently in these roles. 

How to find candidates for academic leadership roles

The higher education sector is approaching a capability crisis with many leaders facing retirement. Given the situation, finding good candidates for leadership roles is critical for ensuring continuity during this transition process. So what is working?

This week, my client is interviewing candidates, that I found for them, for two Head of School positions. To be successful, people in these positions spend 25% of their time on research and the rest on academic leadership, including hands-on management from strategic planning through operations. What I’ve discovered is that not many academics want such a role, and even fewer actually have what it takes for their School to succeed under their direction.

Of all the short listed candidates on campus this week, only one responded to an advertisement for the position. Advertising was part of the blended marketing campaign, including listings on major academic job sites in Australia, the UK and North America.

Why didn’t the advertising work? People who are best suited to a leadership position are too busy being successful in their current role and research to notice job ads.

All the other high quality candidates came directly either identified through my research, or my contacts, or referred to me via a ripple effect generated by my online communications campaign, the message travelling via social networks.

Read my next post for insights on how to make sure you are recommended by your colleagues in an active search for leadership positions in your field.