Category: Work life
May 17th, 2011 by matthias
It’s been six months now – decision making in higher education organizations takes a long time – and the results are in: It’s a mixed experience. On the one hand the freedom to work where I wanted was enjoyable and being involved helped me be less remote from my team. It made me much less territorial (but I wasn’t very much to start with) – yet it confused some coworkers, who may have thought I wasn’t willing to work from my little pseudo desk in the main office. And as a matter of fact – it was often bothersome. On the other hand to run a department you sometimes need time to think and make decisions – that was almost impossible. I was certainly more accessible to staff and students – yet I was much more involved in issues I shouldn’t have been involved in. I strongly believe in delegation – but when you’re right there, being ‘hands on’ turns quickly into micro management. The lesson is: I like working flexibly – I write this while I’m on a train – yet for a stationary department in an institution which doesn’t define itself as such, a desk and an office are the way to go. I shall greatly appreciate it when our office is redeveloped and I get time to think – in my own office.
Posted in Work life
December 15th, 2010 by matthias
To cut it short – I haven’t got an office anymore. Well, technically I have a small desk in the main office where my team sits, but this tends to be busy and doesn’t really enable the privacy needed for many of my meetings. To put it into context: in the eternal churn of organisational restructuring, departments are moving and I’ve lost my office. Temporarily of course, and plans are already being drawn to alleviate the situation. It’s the fourth move in (exactly) two years, and so I’ve decided to embark on an experiment – kitted out with a laptop and a work iPhone, I’m now roaming the corridors, moving from my small desk to any other place that will have me. Minimalist that I am, I find this quite an interesting experience, having reduced my worldly work belongings to two crates (which were packed within 10min). While it’s obviously annoying to have no space ‘of my own’ in which to meet people, the flexibility is fascinating – being able to hide and work undisturbed in a crowd of students in the refectory or brasserie. Of course, technical problems amount (I’m so far unconnected to our office printer, wireless cover is patchy and a botched phone reroute has disconnected my extension), but the overall experience is inspiring. This will inform the discussion for our office redesign as well as my impulse to reduce the amount of paper I need even further. Learning experiences? Letting go of everyday frustrations, being visible to people you normally don’t meet and somehow trying to understand the essence of my work while living without the standard privileges. Overall good stuff so far – I’ll keep you posted if this will last.
Posted in Work life
November 26th, 2010 by matthias
This is a very short one (I’m hopefully getting better at this ‘one paragraph only’ rule): I’ve just discovered www.academia.edu through an excellent article by Sarah Cunnane in the THE on social media. It’s aimed at academics and researchers, and has apparently become one of the sector’s largest. Never heard of it – certainly learnt that today; and I will certainly learn more about it very soon. I’m very keen on pushing forward social media usage at Regent’s College, and this seems like yet another cool tool.
Posted in Education & Employability, Work life
October 6th, 2010 by matthias
I’ve wondered why I haven’t been posting anything in a long while, and now I know: there is nothing much to be learnt from attending meetings. And I have been in them pretty constantly all day. I can’t say they don’t work (if properly conducted) and they can move things along, but in terms of a learning experience (see blog title), I’m drawing blanks. So just for your entertainment, here are two Guardian articles on meetings:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/apr/23/meetings-work-boring-stressful-unproductive
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/apr/23/meetings-how-to-make-them-good
Wait, was there something to be learnt after all…?
Posted in Work life