I know it
has been quite some time since I have put fingers to keyboard on this blog, so
this might be a little rough – so bear with me.
We have been experiencing a lot of transition at my institution over the
past few months and a flurry of thoughts and ideas have been filling my
head. Today is day one of the tenure of
our new Vice President for Student Life.
All of this transition as the University is knee-deep in budget
reallocation discussions. To say the
least, things have been less than stable as of late. Being the eternal optimist I’m excited for
what the future holds, but that is not to say it has not been a trying time,
nor will it cease being taxing as we continue to move forward.
All of this
transition has led to discussions around the office and amongst colleagues as
to how to manage morale. These
discussions have me thinking – who is the Chief Morale Officer (CMO) for the
office, division, University? Think
about it, businesses, including universities, spend a lot of time and energy
determining levels of executive leadership.
Here are a few common examples of executive leadership*:
Chief
Executive Officer (CEO) is a
top-ranking corporate position, responsible for overseeing operations. Often
the company's president, the CEO reports to the chairman of the board and board
members.
Chief
Visionary Officer (CVO) is
a new title being used in corporations to differentiate the holder from other
corporate executives…the CVO is expected to have a broad and comprehensive
knowledge of all matters related to the business of the organization, as well
as the vision required to steer its course into the future.
Chief
Financial Officer (CFO) is a
corporate title for the person responsible for managing the company's financial
operations. In many companies, the CFO is also the treasurer.
Chief
Information Officer (CIO) is a
job title commonly given to the person in an enterprise responsible for the
information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals.
And that is
just a sampling of the titles that exist. Most titles describe an essential function
within a business or the university. So the
question that is asked is; what level of investment are we putting into classifying morale as an essential function. I have colleagues who would challenge this
notion. They
might argue that morale is someone’s personal feeling so therefore each person
should be their own CMO. I can’t argue
with that, as I do believe there needs to be some self-ownership over how you
feel. However, it is important that
someone within the executive structure focuses on creating an
environment that supports high morale.
They can’t create high morale for staff, or complete a task that makes it happen, but a lot
can be said for creating an environment and space that promotes it.
Through all
of this transition I know there is a lot of out of my control. As the Executive Director I will called upon
to help navigate and manage my area through this transition. Expectations will be high and nerves will be
a bit raw. but I realize and validate that now, probably more than ever, I work
to add the title of CMO to my resume.
* all executive leadership definitions
were pulled from http://searchcio.techtarget.com
on 8/1/2013
