Managing Hope...
As anyone who has a supervisory role these days knows (and yes, I know about academics and herding cats)… it’s tough out there. People are upset and there is a tangible sense of frustration and angst about personal and work lives and many are looking for scapegoats. At the local university/school level we’ve retreated from forward looking initiatives and seem to be trying to build the walls higher… defending our academic turf, screaming about budget cuts … some are still in denial while others are preparing to throw the weak to the wolves… “better them than me or mine” is certainly a rallying cry for some… maybe this sounds like everyday life in academe but I contend we are reaching new levels of incivility for all kinds of external and internal reasons. Our electronic discussion lists seem to hold more rancor than I can recall.
That said, there are no easy answers and unless you have your head in the sand you know there will be at least 2-3 years more years of very tough times before states start to see some economic relief (and I may be optimistic in this projection) and this will test our communities in a number of ways.
What can we do? Well, pointing fingers doesn’t help… and while running five miles or screaming in the shower might be physically and psychologically helpful it doesn’t do much for me (I don’t think I could make the five miles!) or I would think… for most of my colleagues. So, what do we need? A big raise… well, that would be helpful but unless I’ve read the tea leaves wrong we are not going to be in “the big raise game” for some time.
Maybe it’s really about looking ahead and sharing a positive vision for the future… I guess some would call this “managing hope”. The research in this area clearly shows that hope is not a random feeling and that we can and do seek to manage feelings of hope and optimism. There is related research that shows that optimism can have real positive effects. While I guess there are eternal pessimists (some would say this is a common faculty trait) I do think that academic administrators need to point to a bright future, not in some glowing unreasonable way but with obtainable but challenging goals and objectives. This future (I guess this is “the vision thing”) must be inspirational and engaging… as I look around at our current situation I can’t help but be inspired by my colleagues and their work ethic, they have individual goals and as a group we need to have a positive and overarching goal to work toward. Some of my colleagues will suggest that I need to stop dreaming and look at the realities of our situation… funny thing… I think this is exactly the time we need to dream more… or is it the caffeine? I really need that sixth cup of coffee
That said, there are no easy answers and unless you have your head in the sand you know there will be at least 2-3 years more years of very tough times before states start to see some economic relief (and I may be optimistic in this projection) and this will test our communities in a number of ways.
What can we do? Well, pointing fingers doesn’t help… and while running five miles or screaming in the shower might be physically and psychologically helpful it doesn’t do much for me (I don’t think I could make the five miles!) or I would think… for most of my colleagues. So, what do we need? A big raise… well, that would be helpful but unless I’ve read the tea leaves wrong we are not going to be in “the big raise game” for some time.
Maybe it’s really about looking ahead and sharing a positive vision for the future… I guess some would call this “managing hope”. The research in this area clearly shows that hope is not a random feeling and that we can and do seek to manage feelings of hope and optimism. There is related research that shows that optimism can have real positive effects. While I guess there are eternal pessimists (some would say this is a common faculty trait) I do think that academic administrators need to point to a bright future, not in some glowing unreasonable way but with obtainable but challenging goals and objectives. This future (I guess this is “the vision thing”) must be inspirational and engaging… as I look around at our current situation I can’t help but be inspired by my colleagues and their work ethic, they have individual goals and as a group we need to have a positive and overarching goal to work toward. Some of my colleagues will suggest that I need to stop dreaming and look at the realities of our situation… funny thing… I think this is exactly the time we need to dream more… or is it the caffeine? I really need that sixth cup of coffee
posted by hsypher at 12:13 PM
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