Strategic Initiatives at Columbia University - An Interview

I had the privilege of interviewing Mrs. B, the Director of Strategic Initiatives at the Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. Most recently, she served as the Director of Sponsored Projects at Columbia School of Social Work where she implemented systems and processes to enhance grant submissions, compliance and post award management. Mrs. B has worked within Columbia University for eleven years, though she has only worked at her current position for four months.

My role has been to support proposal development and management of ongoing business operations for faculty research projects. My job is to synthesize information and provide faculty with what they need to know in order to make informed decisions about the administrative, operational and financial issues that impact existing awards and future projects. I serve as a strategic thought partner in order to help facilitate the research and move projects forward.

                                                                                           ~Mrs. B

1.    What type of manager/supervisor do you think you are?

Currently I do not oversee any direct reports, however in previous positions I have overseen staff.  I have an ‘open door’ work style. I prefer my staff to approach me with questions early on and to work together to figure out a solution. I am collaborative and open minded, and solution oriented. I have high expectations of myself and therefore of my staff, but I also am supportive in helping my staff achieve and maintain a high level of performance.

2.    What type of leadership style do you possess?

I am a nurturing leader by nature. I lead by example and like my staff to take initiative and go the extra mile in providing support, and so I try to do the same. I do challenge my staff to think critically and manage their work holistically in order to improve performance and gain efficiency.

3.      How do your subordinates perceive you?

This is a difficult question to answer, but I believe they see me positively, as someone who is easy to work with and supportive, but also a stickler for details.

4.      How many people do you manage?

Currently I do not have a staff, however in my most recent previous position I oversaw two direct reports. Perhaps most challenging, I was required to exercise leadership and achieve deliverables with 39 faculty and 76 research staff without the benefit of direct line supervision. This requires leadership, humility, flexibility, and the ability to prioritize competing needs.

5.      Do you delegate work and if so, how?

Work is delegated within assigned portfolios, where each person on my team handled the projects for a specific faculty member. 

6.      How do you ensure that tasks are carried out to completion?

I use a dashboard to track the status of all open items and their various status updates. I also hold weekly staff meetings and one on one meetings with my direct reports to ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.

7.      How do you recruit people to work for your company?

Columbia has its own online job portal. We also have used online sites such as idealist.org or higheredjobs.com. The best recruitment tool, however, has been word of mouth and utilizing one’s existing networks.

8. Are you more of a hands-on or hands-off manager?

I think I am more of a hands on manager, but not a micro manager. My experience is that if you are too hands off then things get away from you and you miss major mistakes or issues. As a supervisor, I found that I needed to track what my staff was working on at some level in order to provide support and guidance when needed.

9. Do you believe that rewards or punishments are more advantageous for employee motivation?

Feeling supported and heard is important for an employee. Having ongoing performance evaluations and metrics in place to measure performance so it is not a surprise to an employee if they receive constructive or critical feedback is important. Rewards are appreciated and important for employee’s feeling valued and part of a team.

10. What is your view on Unions?

I think Unions provide important protections for workers. I myself am not in a Union, but I appreciate their importance and history.

11. Have you ever been audited?

I manage funding that is granted either by the US federal government or private foundations. These projects are audited annually and are subject to great scrutiny with respect to how the funding is spent and in what time frame. I operate from a baseline of keeping complete records and backup information for a likely audit. This makes for overall better business practices.

12. Who are your competitors?

I do not have any direct competitors, but I would say that Columbia as a whole strives to compete with the top research Universities in the world and I support that process by the work I do in compliance and research development.

13. Who are your stakeholders?

The client base (faculty) are the stakeholders, as well as my fellow colleagues and University staff. We support one another and when project administration and operations are moving smoothly, the research can progress on time and within budget. We all benefit.

14. Who is your client/customer base?

My client customer base is the faculty. I support their administrative, operational, and financial management needs so that they can concentrate on the research. I also support their administrative staff so that they can better support the overall research.

15. How do you cater to them?

I work with them closely as an operations manager for their research. I am accessible via email and in person meetings, and I communicate issues that impact their work clearly and concisely. I also try to identify solutions that make sense for the work within the compliance framework that governs our work.

16. What advice would you give to a person in a leadership position?

My advice would be to be open and supportive of your staff but clear in the level of quality that you expect because that can get away from you. Your staff’s performance reflects on you as a manger, and your behavior and style in the workplace is informative to your staff. It can be a fruitful relationship for both parties.

17. Would you consider yourself proactive or reactive?

I am definitely proactive. Submitting proposals, meeting reporting requirements, and responding to sponsor requests requires you to anticipate upcoming challenges and plan ahead in order to make deadlines. If you are purely reactive, you will miss something.

18. What are some challenges you face as a manager?

One key challenge I face is assuming people are prioritizing the work as required, and that things are moving forward. The solution to this is open communication and training staff so they know what is considered urgent and important, and what steps should be taken to proactively move business along. When dealing with sponsored projects you need to be timely and efficient and communicate with your investigator, otherwise you must absorb the loss, and sometimes it can be a significant financial penalty. 

Columbia University has a diabetes research center as well as a medical center that supports and benefits from the Mailman School of Public Health. One of the cutting-edge activities of the department is using big data and advanced analytical techniques to detect slight changes in population electronic health records. This, along with the annual $600 million in research sponsorships puts Columbia University at the forefront of global research and gives their faculty the opportunity to pursue innovative biomedical and public health investigation and research.