My Little Experiment: Thinking Like the ‘Dean’
Okay, let me tell you what I got up to recently. It all started with this project, a real team effort, or supposed to be. But things were just… messy. People pulling in different directions, ideas getting lost, you know the drill. It felt like we were all just spinning our wheels. Nobody was really steering the ship.
I kept thinking, we need someone like a ‘dean’. Not literally, of course. But that idea stuck in my head. Like the dean of Parsons, someone who oversees all this creative energy, gives it shape, you know? Someone who sets a direction but lets people do their thing. I figured, maybe I could try to bring a bit of that vibe to our little group. Just as an experiment, see what happens.
So, here’s what I did, step-by-step:
- First, I just watched. Seriously. I spent a couple of days paying close attention to how everyone worked, who talked to who, where the sparks were, and where things just fizzled out. Tried to understand the undercurrents.
- Then, I started talking. One-on-one mostly. Not like a boss, more like, “Hey, what are you excited about?” or “What’s bugging you with this project?”. Just trying to get a feel for individual perspectives. Found out a lot this way. People had ideas they weren’t sharing in the main group.
- Tried to connect the dots. Heard Person A was struggling with something Person B had already figured out. Made the introduction. Simple stuff, but it wasn’t happening on its own. Started pointing out shared goals people didn’t realize they had.
- Set up small, focused chats. Not big boring meetings. More like, “Okay, let’s just you, me, and Sarah hash out this one specific thing for 20 minutes.” Kept it tight. This seemed to work better than throwing everyone into a room.
- Attempted the ‘vision’ thing. This was the hardest part. Tried to summarize what I thought we were really trying to achieve, based on all those chats. Put it out there, like, “Does this sound right?”. Got some pushback, which was good! Meant people were thinking. We tweaked it together.
What Actually Happened
Was I suddenly the Dean of Parsons? Hell no. It wasn’t some magic fix. It was actually kind of exhausting. You’re trying to balance egos, make sure quieter people get heard, deal with disagreements. Sometimes it felt like I was just adding another layer of complexity.
The biggest challenge? Getting buy-in without having any actual authority. I wasn’t the boss. I was just a guy on the team trying something. Some folks were receptive, others were kinda like, “Who put you in charge?”. Fair enough.
But you know what? Things did get a little better. Communication improved slightly. We killed off a couple of bad ideas earlier than we might have otherwise. The project still had its bumps, but it felt a bit more… coherent? Maybe? It’s hard to measure.
My main takeaway wasn’t about becoming some grand leader. It was more about realizing that sometimes, just trying to connect the dots and gently nudge things can make a difference, even if it’s small. It’s messy work. Much messier than just having a fancy title like ‘dean’. It’s about the daily grind of listening, talking, and sometimes just getting out of the way. Learned a lot doing it, though. Wouldn’t trade that messy experience.
