Time and department heads

Of course I don’t consider 2015 to be this horrible, impending doom that I implied in my last post. I’m not heaping a load of expectations on it either. I try very hard to remember that time is just a human construct, an attempt for us to make sense of our world. I do think that I spend a significant amount of time figuring out how to manage time, how to make the most of my time, and how to make sure that I am useing my time wisely. That’s a lot of paying attention to time.

This has become particularly important at work. I have workshops to create, and consults to set up. I have faculty and students to follow up on. I have my own professional development to keep going, and my research to get started. I have all the committee work to do. My time management skills have been challenged in a way they haven’t for years. I have had to figure out what my new workflow is and how to document it in a way that I don’t lose details or get overwhelmed. This is still a work in progress.

The work I have been doing in one committee has been particularly helpful in defining some of these issues for me. That has been the search for my department head. In serving on that committee, I have been involved in serious, and thoughtful discussion about what we want this person to be able to do and what qualities we want them to have. What I discovered about myself is that I need a department head. I am independent and I have a stong desire to get work done, but I uunderstand now that I need someone who is regularly around to be able to help me shape that work and set boundaries for it. Right now I feel that I am all over the place in terms of types of work that I do and priorities. And it is becoming increasingly clear that the department needs that layer of management that advocates, that helps us define boundaries, that pushes back on our behalf. All together that helps our time management and helps us figure out a direction.

The decision should be made soon. I know more of what I need in terms of leadership. And I know that I need to sharpen the boundaries between all the projects I have going on. But I am looking forward to having a partner in all of this.