Distant Manager Basics - For Directs - Part 2

Faculty Supervisors as Distant Managers

I didn't think I needed to listen to this cast - my boss, a PhD and chair of the academic unit I manage, has an office two doors down from me. I listened to the cast anyways and I'm really glad I did because the more I heard the more I realized that I am really a distant direct.

As an academic with an active research agenda, my boss is rarely in the office. My staff and I have both struggled to get things done with her over email and by phone. When she is in the office she tends to be in meetings and she leaves when those meetings end. This cast opened my eyes to how I need to interact with her. 

I know she's more of a listener than a reader, so moving forward, I'll be using the information in this cast to improve our communication and to minimize the amount of down time my staff and I have when we are waiting on decisions that only she can make. When she's away and phone conversations are more challenging to schedule, I'll use the executive summary/update emails. 

This was a real eye-opener for me. I'm glad I took the time to listen. Thanks Mark and Mike for all that you do!

Distant Manager Basics

I believe this cast reinforces the importance of the 1 on 1 weekly meeting and ensuring that postive feedback is included.  I am just about ready to rolll out web video and plan to use it for the 1 on 1's at least twice per month.  My team is spread out throughout the north east and I am not with them as much as I would like to be, so seeing each other via web will help bridge that gap.  Oh yes, I try to rember that  " slow is fast " with people.  :) Tim

For multiple projects

 If you're on multiple projects, do you recommend sending updates to The Boss (mine magically keeps track of all 27 of us) or to each project manager--or both?