Navigating academic politics as a middle-level manager

Graduants at Kisii University during a past graduation ceremony. [File, Standard]

“The first thing you would need to learn is to manage the memo,” my senior colleague, who had been among the school’s founding deans advised. “Do not make the mistake I did. Be very careful not to write memos to your colleagues when things heat up.”

I had just received the potentially depressing news that I had been appointed head of department. It was too late to turn back. They say, it is advisable to avoid an administrative appointment than to reject one that has been confirmed. The optics of turning down an appointment often haunts later. My options were limited, and the avuncular professor thought it wise to give me counsel on how to navigate academic politics.