One of the questions that you’ve asked me to address is over-delegation. As we strive to empower our people, how do we avoid giving people more responsibility than they are ready for? As attributed to Mother Teresa, “God will never give me more than I can handle. I just wish he didn’t trust me so much.” We want our people to grow by continually challenging them. When we delegate, we must delegate with support. Support includes resources like training, authority, and coaching. We also need to watch closely and not let them fail.
Years ago, there was a bright young woman in my company who was doing a phenomenal job as an admin. She was very proactive, planning ahead, and fixing issues for her team before they arose. We thought she’d make a great PM. We trained her and gave her a project to get started. She struggled and the project got out of control. Luckily her manager recognized her struggles before things got too bad. We adjusted, the project succeeded and she was happy.
When you decide to delegate, make sure you anticipate what your team member will need. Give them that support but keep an eye on the situation. When you want to delegate, make sure the first time is a success. As people grow, they can then handle failure and learn from it. It is hard for a person to be self-confident when they stub their toe during their first try.
NYU Abu Dhabi
NYU AD is restructuring their technology teams to be more efficient and effective. All technology will report to a Senior Director of IT who will report to the NYU AD CABO with a dotted line to me. Previously, research and classroom technology reported up through the Provost. Their structure will now more closely align with NYU IT, keeping a strong relationship with members of my leadership team. Most notable will be the creation of a user success team similar to the NYU IT team. They have announced the top-level structure and will spend the next few months working collaboratively to determine the detailed structure. Their target is September 1st.
Cybersecurity
Nobody wants to cause NYU or its community harm. Unfortunately, when computers are not patched they increase the risk that NYU or one of its community members will suffer. To use a house analogy, all the Ring cameras and fancy gadgets don’t help if we leave the doors open. Installing the security stack, patching systems, and rebooting to install the patches is closing and locking the door. That won’t completely protect us, but we can’t be effective until the doors are locked.