A Crucial Relationship: The Faculty Manager and the Online Educator

The assignment is made: “XXX, your faculty manager is YYYY. “ From this seemingly simple connection can come a wide range of emotions from the faculty member during this relationship—joy, relief, worry, excitement, despair, apprehension, calm, enthusiasm, and confidence. While the faculty manager will be responsible for some of these, it is the faculty member who can ultimately decide which emotions will be experienced. Simple guidelines will keep the positive ones out front, while reducing—never fully eliminating—any negative emotions:

• Listen and read carefully to all expectations and responsibilities of you—and keep them in a file on your computer. This is perhaps the umbrella rule of developing a solid relationship with your FM/S. It is important you are known as someone who can be depended upon, someone who “follows the rules,” someone who does not have to be told twice what to do or what not to do. Each time a dictum, a responsibility, a policy comes down be sure it is copied and pasted and/or saved into a master file on the computer, but also create individual folders for quick references, such as, “Plagiarism,” “Discussion,” “Deadlines to Meet,” et cetera. And be sure to keep these updated! The more “in your face” of these you have the more certain you can be of not straying from what is expected of you.

• Never assume or presume—always ask for clarification and guidance. Things will come up—note the plural “things”!—that may not have been covered in guidance you were given, may appear in a “gray” area where your approach could be uncertain, or simply need some further explanation. Never guess in your actions, but rather—after checking all info you might have on the subject, and determining it is still unclear—immediately reach out to your FM/S. One responsibility this person has is to make sure you do not make errors, that your decisions and actions fall within school policy/within your FM/S’s policy—and thus getting the correct info “from the horse’s mouth” will keep you in good stead.

• Keep e-mail correspondence in the original chain if following up. It may seem quite easy, quite expedient to quickly send a new e-mail to your FM/S on a subject that has previously been discussed via e-mail. But to save time for the FM/S (you are not the only faculty member with whom the FM/S is corresponding) and to show you are well- organized, respond within the latest email in that chain on the subject between you and your FM/S. And there is a bonus for you: all e-mail exchanges on the subject will be in one neat little package of one e-mail, so easy for you to check—and to save when the matter is closed.

• Copy your FM/S on all relevant and important e-mail correspondence with students and others. Your FM/S might have certain rules about copying e-mails to him or her, and certainly you are expected to follow these. But beyond this the “unexpecteds” might come up with students involving such items as plagiarism, class participation, students’ personal problems, and a complaint about another student; these are serious, and the FM/S must “be kept in the loop” on such matters. Also: if you are involved in other activities, such as mentoring a new faculty member or participating in a schoolwide program, it would also be wise to copy your FM/S in such correspondence: that person should be in the know about all your activities relating to the school.

• Make note of any meeting times and deadlines—and use reminder software so you do not miss any. Teaching online will often require you attend departmental or school-wide online meetings; professional development presentations may necessitate you being present; mandated professional development courses might be offered; and there will be a plethora of class deadlines for you to meet. It is, of course, de rigueur that none of these dates be missed. In addition to old-fashioned jotting-it-down- on-a-calendar or using a smartphone to remind, here’s a great piece of reminder software (it’s free!) I use to help in this area: memotome.com.

• Always be open for extra duties, classes, and tasks that may come your way. Once hired, you want to show yourself as one not merely interested in getting a paycheck because you are teaching X classes, but rather someone who is a teacher in every sense of the word—and this translates into using your knowledge, enthusiasm, and motivation to help out beyond your classes. Let your FM/S know you are open for other assignments and involvements, and when the call goes out for volunteers to do this or that do “raise your hand”! Just two words of caution: (1) Do not take on more than you can thoroughly do without having a negative impact on your teaching load; and (2) Be sure you fully immerse yourself in the extra assignment or project; your 100% involvement will help the school and the students, while showing the

  FM/S you can be counted on for such extra items.

• Carefully read over and/or listen to all evaluations given to you by your FM/S—discuss areas that need improvement or you believe require more information. Evaluations are often feared by online faculty, because no matter their best efforts the FM/S may see one or more areas that need improvement and/or one class may not have had the best passing rate. Yet the evaluation should be looked at as guidance—and when one or more weak areas are pointed out, discuss these with your FM/S. Ask for input; while you may have an idea of how to improve the underperforming items, the FM/S can give you solid suggestions—and make sure you implement them. Of course, ask for clarification on any item you do not fully understand or with which you do not agree—and keep your strong points strong from class to class!

• Never “suck up” or go beyond the boundaries your FM/S has established between the two of you. It is always nice when a boss is pleased by our performance—this often translates into job security, and perhaps a promotion. But what one should never do is give perfunctory or “just because” praise or adulations and not brag about oneself (unless it has some positive effect on your teaching at the school—and then it’s not bragging!)—a FM/S will quickly realize this. Also, pay attention to the tone of, information offered, and material given by the FM/S; while you may establish a really nice relationship, there will be boundaries you do not want to cross. The FM/S is, ultimately, the person to whom you report—not your best bud with whom you are going to shoot darts and have a drink!

• If you make a mistake or forget to do an assigned task, immediately own up to it. We all make mistakes—it’s called “being human,” and everyone does it, no matter how careful one might be. In the online teaching environment every word becomes important, each action we take is scrutinized. But something will eventually go awry, despite your best efforts: a missed deadline, wrong info given to a class, a “kaflooey” direction given to a student. When this happens—and you are cognizant of the oversight—immediately inform your FM/S. The best defense is a good offense, so to speak, and the translation of this is simple: you look human but also professional when reporting your error; if you do not, and your FM/S finds out about it, you give the impression of being unprofessional, lacking confidence, and not being dependable. None of these negatives have to occur if you (1) report your mistake right away, and (2) do not do it again!

The FM/S-educator relationship is crucial and even more crucial when all parties are part of an online university. In most cases, the FM/S’s never meet face-to-face, thus the most critical component of the relationship is communication. A manager is only as effective as his or her employees, regardless of industry— whether part-time or full-time, newly hired, or long-time employee.

On my team, all instructors must be treated well … with respect, sincerity, and with trust. This has been my personal “M.O.,” whether managing faculty on a ground campus environment and now within the online campus environment. We want our instructors to be successful as instructors; thus, mentoring and development takes precedence. Over the years, I have understood more and more how a successful FM/S-educator relationship should occur. This does not happen overnight; it happens over time and with solid practice while experiencing good outcomes and, at times, painful outcomes.

Components of a successful faculty manager/ supervisor-educator relationship:

• Communication is a minimum expectation. Neither the instructor nor the FM/S can be silent. Instructors are encouraged to ask questions. A response from the FM/S (no matter how small) to each instructor inquiry shows that the FM/S is listening and responsive to the instructor’s concerns and needs. As is often the case, the question and response is something that can and should be shared with all faculty members. Key to this communication is for the FM/S to provide consistent messaging in a timely manner.

• Transparency is critical. Providing just the right amount of information for the instructors to complete their responsibilities and meet institution expectations is important. This ensures that the faculty members are given an opportunity to be successful within the classroom and, as is often the case, to reach above and beyond what would be considered “minimum expectations.” The goal for all is the success of the student; by being transparent, all parties will be able to reach for the common goals.

• Asking for input is an indication of trust. Faculty members are hired for their expertise. To show that this expertise is valued, as often as possible faculty should be asked to collaborate on projects, engage in presentations, review and update course materials, and, additionally, be asked for their input related to course content and best practices. Asking for input within the realm of allfaculty meeting allows for faculty peers to consider a new best practice, comment and provide feedback to their peers, and to encourage collaboration amongst the instructors.

• Tooting our own horns feels good! Whenever the opportunity arises, send kudos to instructors in a public forum. At monthly all-faculty meetings we kick off with faculty recognition by sharing student comments from end-of-course surveys, feedback from student success advisors, and recognizing instructors who are presenting at in-service sessions. We are proud of our fantastic team and this pride is shared with all instructors. In addition to making the individual instructor feel good, it encourages other instructors to think, “How can I be recognized?”

As a faculty manager/supervisor, I like to consider our instructors to be team members and not necessarily “working for me.” It is important to have a collaborative environment while providing the necessary support and development to keep both the faculty manager/ supervisor and the educators satisfied. We want our faculty to feel an intrinsic motivation to continue working for the institution and to feel respected and satisfied with the support provided by the faculty manager/supervisor.

Remember: Robin worked for Batman, Scotty worked for Captain Kirk, Chester worked for Marshal Dillon, Barney Fife worked for Sheriff Andy Taylor, Andrea Sachs worked for Miranda Priestly—and what great professional relationships they developed!