Most professors who end up leading a department do not have formal training in managing people. Usually we are in the chair’s position for two reasons: We met the typical metrics of faculty success, and we volunteered for the position when few others would. Yet trained or not, our single most-important obligation on becoming a department head is managing personnel, and that means a lot of meetings.
This fall, as I was compiling tenure-and-promotion cases in my department, I came across an article in The Wall Street Journal, “Your Boss Doesn’t Have Time to Talk to You.” It noted a decrease in the number of managers, and an increase in the number of employees they supervise. That trend hits middle managers particularly hard since we tend to have more direct reports than senior leaders.
In academe, department heads are the ultimate midlevel manager. A growing number of institutions are consolidating departments and colleges, which creates the same problem found in the corporate world. Chairs and deans are expected to manage larger and larger units. My number of direct reports has doubled to 22 people since I came to the University of Tennessee at Knoxville four years ago, due to both growth and consolidation. In addition to my direct reports, I have about 25 other full-time employees who are ultimately my responsibility.
Leading a large academic department involves some challenges not present in the corporate world. Depending on the institution, for example, the chair’s job is often not a full-time appointment — our teaching and research obligations might be reduced but do not go away entirely while we run the department. Chairs may receive stipends to do some work during the summer, but unlike staff members, we don’t usually work full time in those months. And the presence of employee unions at some institutions creates additional HR-related wrinkles that a professor may not fully grasp before becoming an administrator.
The chair’s role is also tricky because it requires leading so many disparate groups of people: tenure-line faculty members, nontenure-track full-time instructors, staff members, student employees, and often a small army of adjuncts. Many of those people work in completely distinct ways and have very different incentives than what their chair faced climbing the tenure track. Even the expectations for tenure are often radically different now.
As I write, I am finishing up the most substantial portion of our annual employee evaluations: performance reviews for tenured and tenure-track faculty members. With that experience fresh in mind, here are my thoughts on how to manage the meeting-heavy schedule that goes hand in hand with a large number of direct reports.
Block off enough prep time. A substantial share of your weekly workload will be devoted to meetings, some of which will take quite a bit of time to prepare for. It is crucial to be realistic about your schedule, building in enough time to make the meetings a success. That includes making sure you have enough time to do basic things like use the restroom, eat lunch, or check your email.
If you’re a new chair, reach out to a veteran department head on campus to gain insights on what the busy times of the year are for meetings at your institution. Plan your teaching, research, and administrative obligations accordingly. For example, since my meeting load is heavier in the fall than in the spring, I try to teach in the spring.
Use small-group meetings as a partial substitute for one-on-ones. In a large department, you simply do not have enough time to meet individually with all of your employees as much as you would like. So set up a schedule of regular meetings with small groups of people, such as pretenure assistant professors, staff members, or people affiliated with a particular departmental program.
In organizing small groups, however, be mindful of power dynamics and interpersonal conflicts. These meetings can already be awkward for some people because you are their supervisor. A small group that combines people at different stages of their careers — say, an assistant professor and three tenured professors — may not be the best way to go without some careful planning.
Set a regular sequence of formal one-on-one meetings. Meeting individually with people is important for supporting employees, building morale, and keeping your finger on the pulse of your department. But such sessions could easily dominate your days in a large department, which is why you should organize a schedule and stick to it.
My university makes this easy for me by requiring a one-on-one meeting with every direct report during the annual performance-review process. It helps that annual reviews for people on the tenure track happen at a different time of year than reviews for staff members and nontenure-track instructors. If your institution does not require one-on-one meetings as part of the evaluation process, consider scheduling them anyway. Just make sure to spread them out.
Regular one-on-one meetings are particularly helpful in dealing with some of the complicated personnel situations you face in this role — such as helping an employee on a performance-improvement plan or guiding a faculty member who is preparing to go up for tenure. But they are also useful in building relationships with your department’s staff members.
Request — and provide — agendas for one-on-one meetings. Without a clear reason for it, any meeting can be a waste of everyone’s valuable time. But a one-on-one meeting without a stated purpose can be especially intimidating for people. Try to make it a habit to provide a few details about the agenda when you ask to meet privately with someone you supervise.
Likewise, when the employee is the one requesting to meet, ask for a few details about why to help you prepare. Knowing the purpose also gives you the opportunity to decline or postpone a meeting, although you should think very carefully about the implications of either decision. (And don’t forget to provide a clear agenda when you ask your own supervisor, usually a dean, for a one-on-one meeting.)
Create a comfortable meeting environment and try to do some nice things for your people. Being a department head may come with a modest stipend, and it can be wise to spend a tiny bit of that money (or some of your department’s budget, if that is allowable) on a few simple items to make your office a better place to meet in. Even making sure to have bottles of water and boxes of tissues on hand (trust me, you will need them) can help people feel welcome to your office or meeting area.
I book an afternoon with my staff each summer to hear their thoughts about how the department can operate better and the resources that they need to do their work. It can be challenging to get staff members to open up, so I immediately follow this meeting with ice cream on me at the campus creamery. Closing a meeting with a bit of fun away from the office (so many people in higher education love ice cream) can build camaraderie.
Be available. We normally think of office hours as something for students. But occasional office hours can be a way for you to make yourself available to your department’s faculty and staff members. Instead of adding yet another standing meeting to your overbooked schedule, be flexible about it. I recommend two options:
- Announce office hours a few days in advance when you know you’ll have the time. Provide a virtual option for department members who are fully remote.
- Have your office door open as much as possible while you are on the campus. Even if you’re on a Zoom call, people walking by can at least see that you’re around, and can swing by later.
Managing a large number of direct reports takes up quite a bit of a department chair’s time, but it is crucial to do it well in order to advance your department — and make your job much easier in the long term. I appreciate suggestions and tips from colleagues who are also in this role, so please send along (rkelchen@utk.edu) your thoughts and ideas.
