Monday 30th April 2012 - Eight years on the Executive

I have just reached a particular milestone.  I have just completed eight years as a PVC.  It was on 1 May 2004 that I first attended a meeting of the Senior Management Group (as it then was) and took over most of the functions of the PVC Learning and Teaching. I had been scheduled to take up the role on 1 August, but my predecessor (Phil Jones, now VC at Hallam) had just been appointed to the Deputy VC role at Durham and the then Vice-Chancellor (Bob Boucher) did not feel it was a good idea to retain him on the executive group, or in major decision-making roles.  I was therefore thrust into office three months early.  Phil took me out to lunch to talk through diary commitments, and the Vice-Chancellor took a few minutes to give me the flavour of how he ran SMG - and that was it.  I received no further training for the role, and it wasn't until a year later when I went on a week's course run by the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education that I really got the feel of the potential for taking a leader role and how one might go about it.

This reflection is of relevance because later this week I will be going along to share my views on leadership and leadership challenges with a group of senior colleagues from across the university, from professional services as well as from academic departments, who are taking part in the Sheffield Leader 4 scheme - specifically designed to start the development of the skills to take up head of department or other leadership roles in the future.  From work with previous cohorts on this programme, I recognise that they will be better placed for the sort of new role I took on in May 2004 than I was at the time.

Over the last day or two I have mentioned my anniversary to a number of people.  Their reactions have varied: 'you must have been very naughty to get such a life sentence', 'is it really that long ago: it seems like only yesterday,' 'when are you stopping?'  Many of these comments have been tinged with a certain surprise that anyone should want to do the job so long. (It may also. of course, be that various people want to hint that I've been doing it too long and OUGHT to go!)  The job is seen as burdensome and trying.  Despite this blog I've been writing for over two years now I guess many people still don't fully comprehend all the activities involved in the role - but more especially all the exciting, moving, humbling and satisfying experiences it brings.  I have done things, met people, been to places over the last 8 years that I would never have dreamed of before I became a PVC. 

And there are occasions when I feel that some of the things I have tried to push forward have actually made a beneficial difference.  And in many ways that's what the payoff for taking on a leadership role should be, at least in my opinion.