I had my shadowing experience spread out on several days, since Dr. Lance felt that would give me the most insight into his different leadership duties and responsibilities as Summer was typically a lean period as far as meetings go.
- The first time was when as part of my experience shadowing Dr. Lance Kennedy-Phillips, I got to attend the Academic Leadership Council to meet with the Koya Leadership partners that Penn State was working with to re-group on what steps needed to be done next. There were several leaders present from across the University – Dr. Barbara Dewey, Dr. Jean Younken, Dr. Susan Welch, Chuck White to name a few. Here are my summarized notes on the meeting, and this could be applicable to pretty much several positions, not just for HR, as was this case:
- Strong communication with the Academic part of Penn state, allowing for robust discussion of issues.
- Would like to be able to have discussions on policies in colleges and units relating to HR, and academic units would like to be consulted on HR policies.
- Collaborative, informative and receptive to Academia, and someone who can follow HR guidelines, but also willing to be able to work around these guidelines.
- Customer service-centric.
- Someone who will bring a partner idea to reality, otherwise, deans have to keep spending too much time overriding HR regulations.
- Rewriting for staff having expertise in immigration issues..
- The person needs to have a heart.
- The issue was more with HR central, not the satellite units.
- The second time was as an interview observer when Dr. Lance reached out to the candidate via Zoom and spoke about the opportunities the candidate could avail of while working in his unit at Penn State. I don’t really have too much to say on this except we decided to go with a different candidate based on the experience and presentation skills.
- The third meeting, exposure-wise, was the one that really got me hooked. It was with a group of people across the University coming together to discuss data, and everything data. In other words, the Data Governance. This is where my passion and work aligned, and it felt great to be able to be a part of this meeting. One of the benefits that came out of it was to be able to serve as a working member on one of the sub-groups (Data Governance Framework) that were formed. I hope to be able to write more about it in the future, but suffices to say that the group has been busy working on several scenarios developed from the pain points that were gathered from surveying several data consumers.
At the end of the shadowing experience, Dr. Lance was generous with his time in sitting down with me to answer some of my (now) standard leadership-based questions. Here are some of his key viewpoints:
On values or beliefs about balancing work and home life and how to integrate these into our corporate culture around the world:
Appropriate amount of work into development of staff, into the projects that are going on, infrastructure. Too much emphasis on one particular item isn’t good; balance it out.
- How have you evolved as a leader in the last five years? What insights have you gained about your talents and strengths?
Making tough decisions is my biggest growth. Decisions about terminating employees.. Being comfortable with the grey. Figuring it out. Was surprised about how uncomfortable I was about ambiguity (side note: turns out I am too, to a certain extent).
- What are the greatest lessons you’ve learned as a leader?
To trust people around you. Trust your gut. Don’t be afraid to take a chance. As a leader, you should make the environment comfortable enough to be okay failing.
Being aware of your limitations, and knowing who to call upon.
- How do you recognize success?
Making progress towards a goal. Sometimes, it’s a matter of having an impact. Do I have people engaged in the process? Are we making progress?
- What was your first recollection of experiencing great leadership?
First job after grad school in Nebraska. We were a team of 5, constantly arguing. Our supervisor had immense patience; allowed us twenty-somethings to have our opinions, gave us the space to grow.
- What do you see as the primary role of the leader?
To make sure members of your team have the resources and tools they need to be successful, to keep team on track. Be flexible. Leaders have to be comfortable with the grey.
- What is the best and worst example of leadership that you have seen lately?
Worst – folks that follow the KITA approach to leadership. Someone that wants to manufacture emergency, heavy-handed approach.
Best – Nick Jones – letting people be heard. Doesn’t shut them down.
- How do you approach complex problems?
Try not to express a quick decision. Make sure we reflect on it; throw an idea out to the team, get their input. Not just the data and political side of the side.
What’s the outcome/goal, and figure out how to get there?
· What is a decision you made that made you a leader?
Early on, Lance knew he wanted to be a leader. Knew he wanted to influence a process. Wanted to be involved on a positive impact.
- How do you define leadership? How would you describe your leadership style?
Servant leadership is very important to Lance. Not always about me, how can I meet the org meet their goals? Charismatic leadership… part of his style has the energy.
- What does “motivation” mean to you?
It means you have passion for something. Make sure you enjoy the work you are doing; having a positive impact.