Dear AskMefi...

April 22, 2012 11:03 AM

Need advice on a high level meeting.

I am a functionary at a university. I will be entering a meeting where the chancellor will be present but no upper level administration from my university. How do I politely express that the university president (who reports to the chancellor) is not the best leadership for the university and through an accumulation of events is heading towards a vote of no-confidence? I do not want to turn the meeting into an itemized list of grievances but express concern for the course the university is taking under the president's leadership. Is there particular phrasing that would serve the purpose?

posted by anonymous to work & money (7 answers total)

A little bit more information and context might be helpful. Who else will be present at this meeting? Is it just the two of you? What is the nature of your position at the University? Are you faculty? A union rep? A member of the administration? A trustee? And finally, what is the purpose of the meeting? Are you proposing to bring this matter up as an add-on to the agenda or is this meeting already focused on the job performance of the President?
posted by Seymour Zamboni at 11:14 AM on April 22, 2012

I agree that more context/information is needed. Is this a meeting in which the chancellor expects you to raise these issues? Or will raising these issues appear out of context and surprising to this chancellor? If the chancellor expects that these issues will be raised, then raise them, stick to the facts, and don't make it personal. If the chancellor does not expect this kind of thing to be discussed in the meeting, likely you ought not raise them.

Issues about the competency of personnel, especially highly placed personnel, and especially those highly placed personnel who are higher than you on the food chain, need to be broached with care and political awareness.
posted by dfriedman at 11:17 AM on April 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

In my (non-academic) experience this will depend on the purpose of the meeting and what the senior person knows already.

If the chancellor has concerns about the president and wants your confirmation / feedback: They will find a way to ask you or get your opinion. In that case the senior person would expect you to be a bit reticent about opening up about your boss, so they will almost certainly treat something like "I do have some concerns about the course the university is taking" as a pretty strong statement.

If the chancellor doesn't bring it up there are two possibilities. First, they have concerns about the president and know enough to not need your confirmation, no need to bring it up in that case. Second, the chancellor has no idea: You're taking a pretty big chance by raising the issues. If it's anything other than a one-on-one meeting I wouldn't be the first to bring it up, if it's a one on one meeting you can try to get the conversation to that area but you'll have to play it by ear.
posted by true at 11:25 AM on April 22, 2012 [1 favorite]

Report the events rather than deliver your opinion. Take yourself completely out of the equation, and be a vessel for what you have seen and heard. There are heaps of risk involved in this situation as has been noted.

You could get all Bo Xilai on it, and do some back room dealings and try and play a game it doesn't sound like you are ready for. Great reward if it works. If it doesn't, well, please have a read about Bo Xilai.

If you can go neutral in tone and colour to start, that is a safe place. Think like a journalist. It has been said..., Several people are saying,, As you may have heard, and then deliver your report.

If he asks you for your opinion on the matter, speak with plausible deniability. I am obviously not the leader of the university, however, I have noticed that our position in the rankings has been suffering. I am not privy to the cause, however if it is leadership-related, the sooner one were to act, the less damage may be done.
posted by nickrussell at 11:41 AM on April 22, 2012 [2 favorites]

Yes, it really depends. This sounds like a highly political meeting, so I recommend you tread cautiously and prioritize creating a good relationship with the Chancellor over any information sharing. Build a friendly rapport, and as you have a conversation, keep that friendliness as your top priority. Politics is relationships.

Your goal for the early portion of the meeting should be to establish that friendly rapport via chit chat. Congratulate the Chancellor on her husband's appointment to the State Commission. Ask if they'll now be spending more time in Topeka and if she's looking forward to it. You love Topeka and miss the restaurants downtown. Etc.

Then, follow her lead about the topics of discussion and how the conversation progresses. I would try to draw out the Chancellor's opinions before you express any of your own. Try not to be the first to express an opinion. Try even to mirror the Chancellor's emotional state if possible (happy, concerned, angry).

Then, assuming the conversation does turn toward the President's performance, one tactic you might try is to share supporting details rather than conclusions, and to use neutral or complimentary phrasing.

"The President's attention to detail is stunning. President has quite devoted herself to understanding our website analytics. It is notable how much time she spends working with our web technicians." If said with a suitable cheerful tone of voice, on the surface, this is a statement of fact or giving credit where credit is due. The Chancellor could take this as a positive statement if she is a big fan of the President. If the Chancellor is open to hearing criticism, this statement provides detail that could help her conclude that the President is micromanaging staff and mismanaging her time.

"The President is quite a progressive thinker and has catalyzed quite a bit of discussion about the direction of the university with her innovative proposal to ____. The faculty is abuzz with debate about the idea. On average, I get three phone calls a day from different faculty members." The Chancellor could either reply with "yes, it really takes a strong leader to manage a transition like this," or "really? and what are they saying to you when they call?" or "yes, the Regents are up in arms as well. This is NOT the right direction for the university."

That's how I'd handle direct questions, particularly if you don't yet know where the Chancellor is coming from. If none of what you want to discuss is coming to the surface, you could bring it up like "I wanted to ask you a question. I am hearing some faculty members raise about how this proposal could ____. How do you think we should address or respond to these expressions of concern?"
posted by salvia at 12:12 PM on April 22, 2012

I actually disagree with salvia. I think a somewhat more direct and honest approach is better. If these concerns about the president are truly widespread, then it shouldn't be too hard to share that information without coming across as callous or political.

After you've established a rapport with the chancellor...

"I hate to sour the mode, but there's something delicate I would like to bring up..."

[await response]

"When I mentioned to a few of my colleagues that I was attending this meeting, they took it as an opportunity to express some concerns they've been harboring..."

[await response]

"They're worried about the new admissions policy, the way the administration is relying on adjuncts to fill open positions, and the athletic department's recent budget developments. Several faculty have mentioned they're losing confidence that the current administration can turn things around."

If the chancellor pushes you for more information, rely on fact reporting and unbiased observations: Student protests have been increasing, the History Department brought up and questioned the new tenure policy in their faculty meeting, donations from regular donors have been down, etc.
posted by GnomeChompsky at 12:35 PM on April 22, 2012

This is a fool's errand. If there is a serious problem, chancellor has already heard about it, so there is no point in bringing it up - unless you have been expressly asked. If chancellor has not heard of it, then the problem is probably not meaningful in his eyes, and you will be seen as a whiner, if not worse. If what you want is to make a sea change in the organization and turn the status quo into a problem, then you alone are not going to be effective. You need to get together with the other people who agree with you and work collectively and present your grievance as a group.
posted by yarly at 6:07 PM on April 22, 2012 [4 favorites]