I came to the department in the morning and saw posters announcing a conversation club a new colleague decided to start. She never talked to me about it, never sought permission or approval. She decided this by herself, created the posters, printed them out and hung them up, and I never knew about any of it.
I’m so happy.
I don’t want to hurt the posters or I’d be pressing them to my chest and crying tears of joy.
This is what I want colleagues at all levels – from Full Professors to lab workers – to do. Take charge, be in control of your own professional lives, and stop treating me like your mommy. My job is to organize the working conditions. I make sure you have a job and that your working conditions are as good as I can make them. Beyond that, it’s all up to you.
I spend the first month of each new academic year, repeating on a loop, “I don’t know how you should teach this topic / structure your course / respond to student concerns / organize the syllabus / conduct the proficiency test, etc. I trust your judgment completely and will defend your decisions at any point if it becomes necessary.” Eventually, people clock on to the fact that I’m serious and stop asking permission to breathe. But then over the summer they forget about it and I have to retrain everybody.
Clarissa's Blog 