Friday, September 28, 2012

Leadership for Operational Excellence

Thanks to all of you who attended the IT Town Hall Meeting this week with VP and CIO Scott Studham.  If you weren't able to attend, here is a link to the video recording of this event.  Here is a link to the PowerPoint presentation that Scott used, which will give you a closer look at some of the graphs that might be hard to see in the video.

If you are interested in knowing even more about President Kahler's Operational Excellence Initiative, you can watch his Campus Conversation on Tuesday, October 2, noon to 1 PM, via UM Connect.

I will be communicating with IT professionals and others on campus as we work together to improve efficiency, reduce cost, and provide outstanding IT services throughout the University of Minnesota system.  I am pleased to be a part of the IT Leadership Community of Practice, and I look forward to the formation of other IT communities of practice soon.  I hope I'll see great participation from UMD IT professionals.

If you have questions, feel free to talk with me, comment on this blog, or talk with Jason Davis or Peter Angelos, both of whom also serve on the IT Leadership Community of Practice.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Collaboration, Operational Excellence, and Dotted Lines

I spent two and a half days this week on the Twin Cities campus of the University of Minnesota, working with colleagues to implement President Kahler's memo, "Operational Excellence:  Administrative Optimization and Dotted-Line Reporting."  My dotted-line reporting line will be to Vice President and CIO Scott Studham.

For more information about operational excellence and IT, I encourage you to attend:
IT Town Hall Meeting
Tuesday, September 25
10 - 11 a.m.
Coffman Memorial Union’s Great Hall (ground floor)
Online viewing will be available via LiveStream.

During our work this week, I became convinced that this change is real and immediate.  The quickening pace of change requires us to be nimble and responsive.  We need to collaborate to align our services in order to achieve operational excellence.  We need to engage in the process and be a part of this change.  I believe there is room for IT staff at the Duluth campus to make a difference, but it will require that we expand our horizons and work collaboratively across the UM system.

A number of IT staff have already stepped up to this challenge.  Tim Biles is serving his second year on the Computer Management Steering Committee.  Debbie Wing has joined the Enterprise Upgrade Project.  Peter Angelos and Jason Davis join me in serving on the IT Leadership Community of Practice.  Other communities of practice will be forming in the next several months.  Watch for announcements and consider joining if you find one you can be passionate about.

Friday, September 14, 2012

Leadership and Inspiration

Last weekend, I watched the movie Invictus, starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon and directed by Clint Eastwood.  In this film from 2009, Morgan Freeman plays Nelson Mandela, recently elected president of South Africa in 1994.  South Africa was emerging from the apartheid system in which the white minority ruled the country.  Mandela's release from prison and winning of the presidential election was historic, but his challenges were great.  How could he build a new country from two factions that had long considered each other enemies?

This film is a great study in leadership.  Mandela chose to make a symbol of the national rugby team, the Springboks (with only one black player), which was strongly supported by the white minority and despised by the black majority as a symbol of apartheid.  By supporting the team and working directly with the team captain, François Pienaar, played by Matt Damon, he helped the country unite behind a common symbol.  Mandela had to overcome much opposition to his efforts from many of his closest advisers in his efforts, but they paid off in the end.

The title of the film is also the title of a poem, Invictus, by William Ernest Henley.  Mandela had used this poem as inspiration during his 27 years in prison.  During one scene in the movie, the rugby team and their partners visited the prison on Robben Island, where Mandela had spent much of his imprisonment.

I am not a big sports fan, but I did find the scenes of rugby to be interesting, appearing to be an interesting cross between American football and soccer.  There is leadership and inspiration to be seen here, in the way Pienaar leads the team to improve not only as rugby players but also as important symbols of the newly defined nation of South Africa.

In the actions of both Mandela and Pienaar in this movie, I saw great examples of leadership.  These leaders helped their followers move past barriers from the past, leading by example, standing fast when appropriate, and exhibiting understanding when people struggled.  If you are interested in leadership, consider seeing this film, or watching it again through your leadership lens.

Friday, September 7, 2012

When You Don't Get It All Done

It's the end of the first week of classes, and I'll be leaving today with many things undone.  Actually, I often leave work with many things on my to-do list, but usually they are things that can wait.  I have some things that I try very hard to complete by the end of the week, such as minutes of our management team meetings, and I don't much like it when I don't get those things done.

When I was a new assistant professor many years ago, I felt this pressure greatly.  I had very high standards for what I should accomplish in a given day or week, and I frequently found myself not meeting those standards.  One Friday when I was heading home for the weekend, I ran into a colleague.  I was feeling pretty bad about all the things I hadn't gotten done, so I transferred those feelings into a somewhat snarky comment to my colleague:  "So, are you all done?"  He replied, "I'm not done, but I am stopping for the day."  This comment helped me immeasurably.  What a good thought that I could choose to stop and then start another day or week fresh and ready to go.  From then on, I tried hard to consciously agree to stop working when I was tired and to recognize I could do my best work when I allowed myself some rest and relaxation.

So, what are some things you can do when you recognize you aren't going to get it all done?
  • Revise your priorities and schedule some tasks into the next day or next week.
  • Use your defensive calendaring to set aside time to get caught up.
  • Look for things that you don't really have to do and give them up.
  • Depending on your job requirements and your family obligations, you might want to fit some work time into your evening or weekend.  But don't overdo this;  remember how important that rest and relaxation time can be.
Last week I promised a cool prize for the best response to my post, and I got a great response from Mandie Johnson, so she'll get the prize on Monday.  Now I'm rethinking how to encourage responses.  Should I offer a prize to everyone who posts?  Or should I just be happy that some of you seem to be reading this?