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[sassafrass]

Folks,

A way back in the winter, I mentioned that I was approached to head up a research centre (RC) upon the retirement of its crazy and unloved director.

Several of you provided well wishes and tips on whether I should take the job. I've now taken the job and one of larryc's and porcupine's warnings has actually come to pass:

quote:
make sure the crazy lady is gone, not hanging on in any sort of emeritus or advisory role

and

make sure you know where the crazy person will go after retiring. There are ways of handling annoying retired professors, but they are time-consuming and you will need all your energy to run the RC if you take it on

quote\

Well, the crazy director is retiring in Sept but not without first creating a god-awful stink about it. I haven't really been included in the loop on this mess because I think my HoD wants to protect me from it. Long story short: director doesn't want to retire but she's 65 and it's university policy that she must. According to the university legal team, the age discrimination legislation from EU does not compel an employer to keep someone on after 65. I don't know about this...this is just the backdrop to the bigger problem.

Because the former director is angry about retiring she hasn't done any of her work or any of the transitional work with me. Recruitment for new students is a shambles, reporting of grades to the Board of Examiners is muddled and worst of all, communication with a key funder of the RC has been compromised. Clearly, the former director tried/is trying to sabotage the RC.

I took over responsibilities for the RC last week.

At one of several clean-up meetings to update our funder, the funder and I get into a bit of a tussle. This guy was (rightly) spoiling for a fight anyway because his organisation has been badly treated. However, he took it out on me by calling into question my experience and credentials. After STFU for an uncomfortable 30 mins I couldn't take it any longer and took issue with what he was saying. I got pretty emotional because the personal attack was totally unexpected. Words were exchanged and a shaky relationship is now badly damaged.
 
My HoD was at this meeting and backs me 100%. He told me he thought the guy was out of line and he shouldn't have taken his frustrations out on me. I am, of course, angry with myself for not handling the situation better. The funder has been sorta placated and the org is locked into a 5-year funding deal so they can't walk away. That's not really the issue for me.

What do I do? The RC is wrecked. I'm being blamed for things I've inherited. I'm trying to sort out the problems but they will take awhile. How do I recover? Can I recover?  Or do I just run for hills?

Please be brutally honest: there ain't nothing you guys can say that I haven't already considered! I guess I just need to see this stuff in black and white and on a screen.

[secretweapon]

Woah, Sassafrass!  That's horrible.  You can do this, though; that's why they hired you. 

Quick, who can you count on for help?  Your HoD - who else?  Are there assistant directors?  What about the support staff?   Assuming that you are not also crazy (and I assume you are not), they should be loving you and thrilled that you have arrived.  I'm sure there are a few people there who have been unfairly burdened with work as a result of your predecessor's actions, and they will be happy to be recognised.  Tell those people how grateful you are for their hard work, and make them feel that they are part of a new RC.

Can you call a meeting of everyone, or at least send a round-up email (excluding Crazy Ex-Director, of course), and set the record straight?  Be very clear about what you are planning, and address the fact that there have been problems:  "I do recognise that this RC has been going through a time of transition and that we still have a lot to do to prepare for this academic year.  However, I'm excited to lead this team and I know we are all committed to blah..." - or something more eloquent and diplomatic. 

As for the funder, don't be too hard on yourself.  Perhaps you (and/or HoD) could write him a letter saying that you were disappointed with the outcome of the meeting, but that you are sure that funder will reap benefits of your new restructuring and research plans.  This is another guy who should see you as a godsend, not an obstacle.

The other thing you can do is make yourself visible as the head of this RC - introduce speakers at seminars with a plug for your new research plans, get your events announced on the uni website, meet senior administrators, etc.  Everyone must know that Crazy Lady is powerless and that you are in charge. 

[expatinuk]

Seriously... stop... take a DEEP BREATH.... and just approach this one day at a time.

[scotia]

Don't expect too much too soon. You may find that people are deeply distrusting at first, which has nothing to do with you and everything to do with what has gone before. The best department head I ever worked for had previously taken on a bitterly divided department and his first priority was to rebuild the trust of staff, because he knew that without this he could not bring about change. He did not hold lots of meetings or announce great initiatives - he walked around the place and met people in corridors and in coffee bar, introduced free tea and biscuits at 10 am on Thursday, chatted with people in their offices and listened to what the staff hoped for in their work environment. He learned who were the people who pitched in to help, who could be relied on not to be present and who the bullies were. Then he started a few small scale initiatives with a high probability of success so that he could demonstrate that change was possible and could make the place better. In doing so he sidelined a few people but he won a lot of friends. One of the clever things he did was to choose a very wise PA who was not seen as being aligned with any of the factions and who was capable of lifting him when he was down and kicking him into action when he thought about just giving up (I know this because he retired today and paid a glowing tribute to the PA at his retirement lunch).

With regard to the the representative from the funder - he will need to eat his words if you can demonstrate success, even if it is initially on a small scale. This is obviously a badly damaged relationship and the funder probably feels the need to be a little forceful just in case you turn out to be as mad as your predecessor (not that you are, of course, but from their perspective this center is a bit of a disaster and they don't need some 'young whippersnapper' messing it up even further). In their shoes, if you can offer hope by demonstrating even small improvements in the first few months I would be delighted.

Good luck sassafrass. It may not be easy, but if you can turn this around it will be an enormous feather in your cap. You cannot resolve everythingn overnight, but you can do it.

[larryc]

Don't expect too much too soon.

Yes. All the good things in the world happen slowly and incrementally, the only rapid change is when something explodes and kills people. You have been hired to rebuild, a brick a day.

Do what any politician does on taking office. Say that as you have taken power you are shocked at what a mess you inherited and that rebuilding will be a slow process. But you have hit the ground running and are rebuilding X and Y. (Don't give any timetables yet if you can help it!)

It sounds like your HoD is in your corner, be sure to keep him there with frequent updates and reassurances. As to the funder--pretend the conflict never happened. Keep him in the loop as you rebuild and let him know about every accomplishment.

[qrypt]

You can take a bit of comfort in the fact that the former director has been misbehaving so obviously.  The point is, the retirement age issue is very much in play - there is a case that has been fast-tracked to the European Court of Justice, so that it can be decided at that level whether the UK default retirement age is consistent with the age discrimination law.  I suspect that the Brits will lose on this one and the idea of a retirement age will go. 

In any event, it sounds like the former director is not actually trying to contest her fate in this regard - and she has probably shot herself in the foot with regard to any future attempt to restore/preserve her position.  Of course, you should be keeping good notes on her misbehavior, in case she gets any bright ideas. 

[sandgrounder]

I feel for you. I'm just unearthing a whole load of buried bodies in a new school role and that's horrid enough, so please keep telling yourself that it's not you personally, crazy lady would have done this to Mother Teresa if she was taking over.

How about leaving the disgruntled funder to calm down for a couple of weeks so that all of you have time to let the dust settle. I would perhaps consider though sending out letters / e-mails to students, staff and external contacts annoucing you're in post, are looking forward to working with them and apologising in advance for any problems that arise due to the transition if you haven't already. You might be well-served to include a wholly insincere paragraph of compliments about your predecessor's work so that she's no cause to carp.

I'd have thought your two immediate priorities are sorting out the exam results and getting the new students sorted before complaints arrive. Ask the HoD who they reckon is the most competent administrator in your team (academic or administrator), buy him/her a coffee and ask for their advice on the best way forward. An insider is more likely to know than you a) where the bodies are buried and b) how you can sort things out with the least degree of upset and without upsetting people any more than is strictly necessary. From bitter experience, if you begin by simply trying to sort out each individual problem case that arrives in your e-mail in-box, you can make things worse as you don't realise the extent of the problem until it's too late.

Good luck!

[august_leo]

Wow, hang in there. (we know) You can do it.

One idea I had was to ask people in the RC what they wish would be improved and take their suggestions seriously (when possible). This might show them that you want to improve things and respect their opinions.

I am new to the UK so I am wondering if you can get Research Students to help with some of the exam issues. In grad school I would have jumped at the chance to add a line to my CV as an "examination coordinator" or something.

[porcupine]

sassafrass, I am so sorry - what a nasty situation. You're right, the retiring nutjob of supreme craziness is sabotaging the RC. All too believable, alas.

However: the RC is not wrecked! Far from it - it's starting a new and exciting chapter in its history, and it's lucky to have you at its helm.

I don't think you handled the meeting with the funder badly - even if you're dissatisfied with how it went, don't beat yourself up about it. Move on by distracting the funder at the first opportunity with some really good news about the RC (preferably something you can clearly take credit for!). Feed them something nice at the same time, perhaps (really great food seems to work wonders at those kinds of meetings - perhaps a 'we'd like you to come meet our newly affiliated students, all destined to be bright shining stars in their field' invitation?).

The one shining beacon of hope is that your HoD backed you up. Clearly, you have a gem here! Make sure you keep the HoD on side as things proceed. Find out what the HoD wants to see happen and how the RC can benefit his plans for the department, and show him you're doing this with regular, positive updates.

At this point, you need to be actively distancing yourself from the crazy retiree, while not actually badmouthing her to anyone - remember, she was at the institution for a long time and even if universally hated, significant time served still counts as a meaningful contribution to most people. Don't make her an ongoing issue - simply let her fade away. Make sure she is completely out of the loop from this point on, and focus on sorting out the immediate problems - there may not be perfect solutions, given the state she's left the place in, but having the decks cleared by any/all means by the start of term is what you need.

Get some graduate students or senior undergrads on team, if you have any you're in charge of, or that you can borrow to help you out. Feed them regularly, listen to what they want, and make sure they know they have earned CV points and your appreciation. Also, start advertising to potential students, to get more of them recruited - other students can help with this, as can the HoD. The new students are your lifeblood.

I second all the advice about positive publicity. Meet people in charge of things like email/web stuff, administrators, and so on. Make sure everyone is now associating you, the dynamic and eminently sane new director, with a newly invigorated RC. Most importantly, ask people to help you achieve your goal - they will enjoy being part of things, and you will get the assistance you need.

And good luck! Let us know how it's going.