Doldrums of associate professorhood, how do I get out of the funk?

[emprof]

Hey OP,

We're at a similar point - I'm also recently tenured, a woman, and interested in leadership positions. I found that having a few senior mentors outside my department has really helped me find key opportunities at the College level that signal 'leadership potential' and let me stretch my wings a little. I've also found it helpful to look at committee assignments in the department to gauge what's possible - do yours shift every year in response to dept need/individual preference, or do individual people 'own' a seat on a certain committee until retirement? Are there ad-hoc committees that are re-constituted every year that you could stand for?

I also echo earlier advice about making sure you're in a position to get credit for the work you're doing. The only times I risked rudeness as an untenured prof was to snub service roles that were a lot of grind for little credit, like taking meeting minutes or running 'feel-good' committees that aren't ultimately valued (if someone suggests you re-write a mission statement, run screaming).

[Cheerful]

Finally I have to say that the path into administration is not always through intensive service work.  Administrators seem to fall into their positions from a number of odd angles, among which personal connections are very prominent.  If you can find a glitzy initiative to associate yourself with (new program development, interdisciplinary grant, etc.), that is likely to serve you better than any number of hours on standing committees.

+1  It's not what you know, it's who you know.  Be seen by the big wigs.  Identify their agendas and get associated with items on those agendas (if you actually support that stuff).  If you're on Twitter, re-tweet the big wigs' "witty" Tweets.  Praise the big wigs in politically-smart ways that aren't transparent in terms of your ultimate personal goals.

[mahagonny]

When a high performer is encouraged to use "team talk", it's often because moderate and low performers are worried that they look bad in comparison or will be expected to do more themselves. If that's the case, you can either shrink down into the crowd or keep standing out above the crowd.

That's the essence of how unions operate; they dislike things like merit bonusses or anything which acknowledges that some people are much more productive than others.

'Productive at what?' should be the question. Threads like these always contain emphasis on politics, getting on the good side of colleagues and the art of getting noticed. The person who 'stands out of the crowd' is a mixture of merit and showmanship.
(I know you like italics.)

[fizzycist]

Finally I have to say that the path into administration is not always through intensive service work.  Administrators seem to fall into their positions from a number of odd angles, among which personal connections are very prominent.  If you can find a glitzy initiative to associate yourself with (new program development, interdisciplinary grant, etc.), that is likely to serve you better than any number of hours on standing committees.

+1  It's not what you know, it's who you know.  Be seen by the big wigs.  Identify their agendas and get associated with items on those agendas (if you actually support that stuff).  If you're on Twitter, re-tweet the big wigs' "witty" Tweets.  Praise the big wigs in politically-smart ways that aren't transparent in terms of your ultimate personal goals.

Damn, that sounds awful. I thought one of the benefits of being a tenured faculty is you don't have to suck up to senior ppl anymore. Guess it never ends if you want to keep moving up the ranks. I mean, these days i couldn't bring myself to pander even if I wanted something more...but even if I could: why does that sound attractive?

[mahagonny]

Finally I have to say that the path into administration is not always through intensive service work.  Administrators seem to fall into their positions from a number of odd angles, among which personal connections are very prominent.  If you can find a glitzy initiative to associate yourself with (new program development, interdisciplinary grant, etc.), that is likely to serve you better than any number of hours on standing committees.

+1  It's not what you know, it's who you know.  Be seen by the big wigs.  Identify their agendas and get associated with items on those agendas (if you actually support that stuff).  If you're on Twitter, re-tweet the big wigs' "witty" Tweets.  Praise the big wigs in politically-smart ways that aren't transparent in terms of your ultimate personal goals.

Damn, that sounds awful. I thought one of the benefits of being a tenured faculty is you don't have to suck up to senior ppl anymore. Guess it never ends if you want to keep moving up the ranks. I mean, these days i couldn't bring myself to pander even if I wanted something more...but even if I could: why does that sound attractive?

It sounds attractive to people who think a certain way so, increasingly, the tenure track self selects for those people. The non-tenure 'track' is getting that way too.

[polly_mer]

Don't suck up for the sake of sucking up; that's just miserable and often doesn't work all that well in terms of getting the influence to do the work.

Instead, be strategic about where your interests live and who is doing the work or can assign that work.  Then, be sure you're in the relevant discussions.

For example, I love to know how organizations work and ways to make them more efficient.  At Super Dinky, I went from being the duly assigned department rep on the assessment committee to chairing the committee to chairing the accreditation task force to having an institutional researcher/director of assessment position created for me.  People knew that was my interest and I was doing a good job at every level with ideas on how to improve.

In my current job, I've volunteered for a lot of work related to recruiting from a wider pool of applicants and helping with assimilation of new people for retention.  My work in assimilation through regular social activities, seminars, and workshops has gotten attention at high levels.  I've been invited to high-level strategy meetings for that work.  I've been invited to apply for management jobs because of my evident interest in helping staff succeed.

Being in the discussions on the relevant topics means people will think of you as assignments and opportunities come up.  It's also easier to enthusiastically share good ideas in areas where you have interests and are therefore keeping up with the literature.

[Dismal]

I can't imagine one tenured person writing an email to another about their overuse of the word "I" in an email exchange.  Now the OP knows that communicating more than the minimum to the chair is unnecessary.  Sounds like good advice from others about seeking opportunities at the U or cross-disciplinary initiatives.

[AJ_Katz]

This department head sounds visionless and also insecure. I can recognize this pattern since we had someone like this. These people are also usually biased in decision making. Our's had a habit of giving positions to people who are low or medium producers and keeping away anyone who had new ideas (and dared to share them publicly) away from leadership roles. Multiple very strong people ended up seeking and getting external offers as a result. OP, hang in there and keep doing what you are doing now.

Yes, this department head has a tendency to recruit and hire people he knows and has commented negatively on people who "jump jobs", especially among administrators.  He also trashed on a woman executive who left our university because, just before she was out the door, she implemented salary raises for women at the university that, in his words, "couldn't be undone".  ::facepalm::

I can't imagine one tenured person writing an email to another about their overuse of the word "I" in an email exchange.  Now the OP knows that communicating more than the minimum to the chair is unnecessary. 

I couldn't believe it either.  He even went through highlighted every place where "I" was used in my email.  I know he meant well, but clearly he lacks the self-awareness to realize how that comes across.  (I hate using the label "mansplaining", but it sure did make me wonder if he would have ever sent that kind of email to a male colleague.)

It sounds like the tricky situation of having a supervisor whose direction needs to be accommodated, but whose advice is not necessarily what you should follow if you want to meet your own goals. You will have to find that balance.

Yes, it is definitely a narrow line.  Initially, I trusted him and thought he was someone who would be able to guide me in acquiring the appropriate professional skills/experiences over time.  I've come to the conclusion that he is not that type of person. 

I think you may be going about things in too rational a manner.  Academia is more like the mafia than most of us wish.  Making your intentions known straightforwardly may not always be the best way to realize them.

Your current chair is not interested in ramping up your service commitments, for whatever reason.  So you had a conversation with that person's mentor, and voila: committee chair position you had been coveting.  So there's a lesson.  Then you got elected to a university-wide committee, and emailed the chair reporting that as a big win for all.  The response sounds like it was churlish.  There's another lesson.

Finally I have to say that the path into administration is not always through intensive service work.  Administrators seem to fall into their positions from a number of odd angles, among which personal connections are very prominent.  If you can find a glitzy initiative to associate yourself with (new program development, interdisciplinary grant, etc.), that is likely to serve you better than any number of hours on standing committees.

Indeed, these have been lessons learned.  The reasons I made my intentions known was because one of the senior administrators had lunch with me and said that I should point-blank ask the department head for the committee chair role.  So, overall, the major lesson I've learned is that my department head is not in touch with professional development of faculty and he's not someone I can trust.

The funk is normal. Give yourself a little time to dial it down. It took me more than a year to get out of the associate professor doldrums. Trust me. You will feel invigorated when you make your comeback and the invigoration will be contagious. That takes me to my next point. The best leaders invigorate and elevate the performance of everyone around them, not because of some pedantic management process or other Leadership School nonsense, but partly because the leader is respected and the others around the leader simply feel a reason to elevate their efforts. This begins with you having energy and getting out of the doldrums and being excited about coming to work.

Good to know this is normal and that the spark will return.  A colleague at another university suggested I make a list of short- and long-term goals towards getting to full professor, so I think I will do that.  I also agree that simply disengaging from my service efforts out of frustration is not a good solution.  Perhaps in writing out my goals, I can also identify ways in which I hope to contribute at the department / university level. 

Thanks to everyone else who has also chimed in, even if I did not respond individually.