In a few days I will have the opportunity to address all of my staff for the very first time. None of them have any significant history with me, and many (if not all) of them have significantly more years of work experience than me. So, what am I supposed to say, without knowing any of them and without having a good understanding of the situation at my new organization?
The opportunity to make a first impression led me down the road of taking a deeper look at why I was brought on board. How am I expected to add value to the organization? Fortunately, my new boss was kind enough to remind me of my key areas of responsibility, which includes educational technology, information technology and business intelligence (a.k.a. institutional research). For each area, my job is to understand, develop and communicate my boss's (and his boss's) vision to my staff and then help them take steps to realize that vision together. The understanding, developing and communicating of a vision will be pretty easy, since I can do that mostly on my own. The real challenge will be how to collaborate with my staff to actually execute a plan to achieve that vision.
In order to collaborate, I feel like I must have the respect of my staff. And herein lies the real problem on my mind: What can I say that will not make me look like an arrogant, self-absorbed ass? What can I say that will still be believable and exciting to people I've never worked with before?
I could talk about my past experience, but that would seem self-absorbed. I could talk about the vision, but I don't really know what that is yet. I guess all I'm left with is talking about my philosophy and expectations, with an emphasis on my own eagerness to learn from everyone and a concession that I am not and will never be perfect. As for adding value to the organization and my staff, the proof will be in my actions, not in my words.
