Drafting Your Operator’s Manual as a College President
When you become a college president, people watch closely, listen carefully, and try to discern who you are as a leader. Your colleagues—particularly those who...
When you become a college president, people watch closely, listen carefully, and try to discern who you are as a leader. Your colleagues—particularly those who will work most closely with you—seek to understand what you value, how you make decisions, how you handle disagreement, and where the invisible lines are drawn. They want to know what earns trust and confidence, and what puts credibility at risk.
This natural sense-making process, while understandable, consumes time and emotional energy. It can slow decision-making, limit candor, and heighten anxiety at precisely the moment when the institution most needs clarity, stability, and momentum. One of the most important early responsibilities of a new president is to shorten this period of uncertainty—to reduce guesswork and create shared understanding so the leadership team can focus on institutional priorities rather than personal interpretation.
A practical and effective way to do this is to write and share a Personal Leadership Operating Manual. In one or two pages, this document offers your senior team a clear, candid guide to how you lead, what you expect, and how you operate—both in routine circumstances and under pressure. It is not intended to be static. Over time, it can and should be refined as you grow in the role, as institutional conditions change, and as new leaders join the team. At its core, the manual is an act of transparency, and transparency is foundational to trust.
It’s not just new leaders who need a manual. If you’re an established president who lacks a user’s guide, there’s no time like the present. And you need not be a president—anyone in a leadership role can create and share one with colleagues and their own direct reports. After I have shared my manual with my team, it wasn’t uncommon for some of them to do their own and share it with their reports. As this is a personal decision, and some may not be comfortable with it for themselves, I have never required this as a professional obligation.
The following ten elements are included in my own Personal Leadership Operating Manual, which I have used throughout my 16 years as a university president.
Leadership Principles: Articulate three to five principles that consistently guide your leadership. These should be simple, durable, and visible in your actions. For example, one of my principles emphasizes building and sustaining relationships, while another centers on advancing the university’s overall goals above divisional or individual interests.
Communication Style: Describe how you communicate and make decisions. This may include how you process information, the role of the executive team in shaping decisions, and how final decisions are communicated. You may note that you think best through dialogue rather than written briefs, or that you value direct, candid feedback—even when it is uncomfortable. Equally important is offering guidance on when and how others should involve you in decisions. Clarity here reduces frustration and prevents unnecessary escalation.
Personal Cadence and Communication on Urgent Matters: Clarify how and when you work most effectively. You might note, for example, that early mornings are reserved for strategic work, while afternoons are more flexible for meetings. You should also specify preferred channels for urgent communication versus routine updates. These norms help your team steward your time appropriately while ensuring that critical issues surface quickly.
Motivators and Stressors: Identify what energizes you as president and what tends to create stress. You may be motivated by cross-divisional collaboration or visible progress toward long-term institutional goals. Stressors might include last-minute crises that could have been anticipated or meetings without clear purpose. Sharing these insights allows your team to work in ways that support your effectiveness.
Crisis Management and High-Stress Situations: Explain how you typically respond under pressure. Some presidents become quieter and more analytical; others, myself included, become more directive. You might acknowledge that during high-stress moments you ask more questions, narrow options quickly, or push for timely decisions. This context helps your team interpret your behavior accurately rather than personally.
Team Norms and Executive Leadership Culture: Define expectations for how the senior leadership team will operate together. This may include norms around respectful disagreement, confidentiality, follow-through, and collective accountability. For example, you may state that robust debate is expected in the room, but once a decision is made, the team presents a unified message. You may also address how you expect the executive team, collectively, to represent the institution to the broader campus community.
Fundamental Expectations: Outline the non-negotiable expectations you have for your direct reports. These might include preparation, responsiveness, ownership of outcomes, alignment with institutional priorities, and follow-through. You may also emphasize that decisions should be made at the lowest appropriate level, reinforcing both empowerment and accountability. Clarity in expectations promotes consistency and fairness.
Immediate Red Flags: Be explicit about behaviors that will quickly erode trust. These may include withholding bad news, disrespecting colleagues, breaching confidentiality, or undermining decisions outside the room. Naming these early helps prevent avoidable missteps and protects the integrity of the leadership team.
Annual and Long-Term Goals: Share a concise set of annual and longer-term goals you hold as president that extend beyond formal strategic planning documents. In your first year, these may include deepening your understanding of particular institutional areas or improving transparency in budgeting or decision-making processes. These goals signal where you are personally investing attention and energy.
Values Outside the Presidency: Briefly acknowledge what matters to you beyond your role as president. This may include family, faith, community engagement, or personal well-being. Naming these values humanizes you, sets healthy boundaries, and signals to your team that sustainability matters.
Conclusion: Review, Revise
Once your Personal Leadership Operating Manual is drafted, share it with those who report directly to you and invite candid feedback on its clarity and usefulness. They know you best and can identify gaps, inconsistencies, or areas requiring refinement. After incorporating feedback, share the manual in a group setting, followed by individual conversations. This process is both a powerful team-building exercise and an early investment in trust.
While much of the document will remain stable over time—apart from goals—it is valuable to revisit it annually as a tool for reflection and self-assessment. Periodic updates may reflect changes in institutional context, lessons learned, or insights gained through 360-degree evaluations or other feedback mechanisms.
In closing, a Personal Leadership Operating Manual is not about control or rigidity. It is about clarity, humility, and respect for the leaders you ask to serve alongside you. By articulating how you think, decide, and respond, you reduce unnecessary friction, strengthen accountability, and accelerate trust. At a moment when institutions require steady leadership, shared purpose, and sustained momentum, this level of transparency can help transform a group of accomplished individuals into a cohesive and effective presidential leadership team.
