meeting with HoD

[Disacappointment]

i ve got a meeting with my HoD coming up, which I asked for.

I have been not so happy in my role for a while, mostly due to a toxic work environment which he is well aware of, but has never tried to resolve.

We also have abysmal admin support and crazy workloads - which i guess is true sector wide. The opportunities, internally, are limited and there are also strong clique. Our financial autonomy is shrinking fast, and i need to beg for very basic items such as key lab repairs or PCs for postdocs.

Despite the environement, i ve done quite well on the research and teaching fronts, and was promoted to prof not long ago. I was offered a position elsewhere last year which i explored seriously but eventually turned down for personal / family reasons. My HoD is unaware. I am still keeping an eye on the market, and have another industry interview lined up soon.

A friend recently told me that I am not happy because i am not committing, and that I should settle and make the best of a not so bad situation. I am not sure I am able to do this though, and booked that meeting to have a last attempt at effecting some change.

My issue is, i am not sure how to tackle that meeting: I don t want to be that problem person, and like finding solutions, but i am allow aware that the HoD has been extremely unresponsive to previous similar meetings. Ideally, I want a happier more productive working life spending my time and energy on activities where i can add value.

If anyone has seen a successful outcome to this type of convos, how did you approach them?

I had to do a similar-ish sort of meeting about 6 months ago with my Dean - I hadn't been considered for a senior key role they knew I was interested in, and extremely well-qualified for (I'd done it before elsewhere & was recruited to my current place on the strength of that). Instead they approached someone who had no experience and had actively avoided doing similar roles in the past.

They offered me feedback, although I knew the actual reason for not considering me was unsayable (to do with wanting to be seen to promote minorities etc), and they gave me a fairly limp reason.

My response was to simply to ask the question "Well, what do you see as my future role in Faculty ?" and remain silent. My Dean presumably knew my CV (although every actual indication was that they didn't!) & should have known I"m a big grant getter, extremely productive , a great collaborator, etc etc.

I put the ball in my line manager's court basically. It's interesting to see how they respond (usually a stutter).

Or you could ask, calmly and logically "What would keep me here?"

I'm still licking my wounds - it's hard when you contribute but appear to be taken for granted. For various reasons, I'm not sure I want to move, but if I get my next grant (which will be a substantial one) I might think about that again.

Oh, and frankly I don't think much of your friend's advice (sorry). Are they an academic? I think we invest so much more than the 9 to 5 in our jobs, that we do need more than simply things ticking over. "Settling" isn't really something in most academics' nature.

I’d suggest that you need to go in with some positive proposals rather than concerns/problems. And try and think about it from your Head’s perspective. For example, things like the reduced financial autonomy are probably because, like all universities, your organisation is facing an increasingly challenging financial position, rather than because your Head is mean.

So given that you’re in a very senior position as a Professor what can you do to help? Can you propose external bids for funding? New ways of working / collaborating with colleagues that would bring positive change?

Aim to show how valuable you can be in future and see what comes from that.

thanks both

I led on the REF return and environment activities for my UoA, put in 2 impact cases for it, brought in 4 big grants in the last 18 months, and sit on ethics and EDI committee, plus am a PGR convenor. I also teach a 30 credits module.

I ve always been a solution person. I m not sure if it has paid off. I don t think I can do more - but I can certainely do less.

My friend is an academic and has moved around a lot, with little satisfaction and a lot of bitterness - i guess his perspective is that it s not greener elsewhere. His advice may very well be off - I don t think he s happy at all.

I think i ll frankly ask the question about what can keep me here. I d love to know what are my options - another 20+ years of the same old, with my crazy colleagues, is a very depressing thought...

Good luck then 👍

if it's anything like past conversations, it will be all talk, no action or commitment

I agree with pp about going in there with specific ideas. Heads of departments and deans don't have much leverage in terms of major leadership positions, significant investment in research facilities, IT provision policies etc.