In the university world, is there a trade-off between academic excellence and effective management? It often seems that pedagogical innovation and creativity, interdisciplinary and social impactful research, are stifled by university micromanagement and the demands for financial efficiency, league table performance and the requirements of academic promotion. This presentation to upcoming academic middle managers encourages them to embrace disruptive change and diversity and offers some lessons from 20 bruising years in university leadership.

1. Professor Nigel Healey
29 March 2019
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Keys to maintaining the balance between academic
excellence and effective management

2. ‘Balance’
implies a
trade-off
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3. What is the trade-off?
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Academic excellence Effective management
Inspiring, innovative pedagogy The timetable is the timetable
Imaginative curriculum design Stick to the quality manual
Curiosity-driven research Publish in Q1 discipline-based journals
Research with social impact See above
Change the world Focus on your KPIs
The world is your laboratory Clock in, clock out

4. What is
‘effective
management’?
• ‘Effective management’
is not about making
people do what they
don’t want to do
• ‘Effective management’
is about empowering
people to do:
• What our
stakeholders need
• What they thought
they could not do
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5. There is no
trade-off
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Academic excellence Effective management
Inspiring, innovative
pedagogy
Support new approaches
Imaginative
curriculum design
Celebrate imagination
Curiosity-driven
research
Embrace
interdisciplinarity
Research with social
impact
Reward research which
makes a difference
Change the world Create a culture which
challenges the status quo
The world is your
laboratory
Facilitate flexible working

6. How do you
empower people to
do what they
thought they could
not do?
• Set expectations
• Provide a
supportive
environment
• Incentivise the
right behaviour
• Reward success
• Celebrate
success

7. How do you empower
people to do what they
thought they could not do?
• Make people
accountable for failure
• Operate a transparent
and fair performance
management system
• Intervene early to help
those failing
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8. FNU Report Card
What we should do What we currently do
Set expectations Induction
Provide a supportive environment High teaching loads
Incentivize the right behaviour Promotions and performance management
Reward success Promotion and performance-based pay
Celebrate success Teaching and research awards
Make people accountable for failure Performance management (formal &
informal)
Operate a transparent and fair
performance management system
Performance management (formal)
Intervene early to help those failing Performance management (informal)
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9. The role of
academic
managers
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Parent: set boundaries
Mentor: support and guide
Role model: model the right
behaviours
Coach: inspire
Captain: lead the team
Protector: defend the weak

10. Lessons of effective
management: some Dos
• Do be yourself
• Do be honest and fair
• Do be consistent and
focused
• Do be humble
• Do put yourselves in
someone else’s shoes
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11. Lessons of
effective
management:
some Don’ts
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Be a fakeDon’t
Have favouritesDon’t
Think being consistent means
never changing your mind
Don’t
Mistake being humble with
not being persistent
Don’t
Start believing you are special
or better than others
Don’t

12. Challenges of academic line
management
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Retiree Bully Moaner
Taker Failure Snowflake
Procrastinator Visionary Misfit

13. What are your
challenges and
obstacles as an
academic
manager?
What are your biggest
frustrations?
What are your biggest
weaknesses?
What do want to achieve
an academic manager?
How can FNU help you?

14. Everyone’s
favourite
HOS
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