Pause
THE PAUSE THAT REFRESHES
Prof. Carlos M. Magtolis, Jr.
(Delivered during the Administrators' Retreat.)
How are you doing? Tired after 3-4 weeks of doing our day-to-day work as education managers? Sleepless nights, hard work, hectic schedule – all can make us physically and mentally tired. We also become tired of doing good, because we see how others get ahead in life by cheating!
As deans, department chairs or coordinators, we just can’t stay in the office. We have to walk around. Get a feel of the school. Do classes begin on time? Is it noisy along the corridors? Are the students happy? Are they serious or happy-go-lucky?
In the College of Arts and Sciences, I found very helpful for my work as dean walking around, talking to the students in corridors, around the AS premises. I also visited offices and talked to our colleagues in the faculty and staff. Believe it or not good ideas and brilliant plans can be traced back to table talk. In the little wandering that I have done, I have already seen so many things.
The days of dictator deans or department chairs are gone! But we have to make our presence felt, which we won’t do just by issuing memos and notices, unless we want to be paper deans or chairs. Don’t forget to wander around. Trying hard to be a successful administrator means Management by Wandering Around!
History teaches us that sometimes the wisest and bravest general orders a retreat. A retreat can lead to a better position, a replenishment of supplies and ultimate victory. We also need to retreat. We wise chose time to pause.
One of the hazards of doing our daily tasks as elder is boredom. Sometimes it seems that there is nothing new under the sun – only problems. Day after day we do the same things:
We get up.
We go to work.
We preside or attend meetings
We eat.
We see the same people.
We do the same things.
Whenever the task of leading/shepherding becomes monotonous, it is time to pause, to look inside us as well as around ourselves.
The redeeming love of Jesus Christ has made us a new creation. In Him God has reconciled us to Himself. He has given us a new heart. We are a new people everyday, with a new understanding of the world around us.
Teaching, coordinating, evaluating, supervising, managing and leading take planning and planning calls for knowing where we want to go and how we can get there.
Now, whenever our work takes unexpected turns – when things don’t work out as plan – God is there to help. He goes with us, for He has promised, “I am with you always, to the close of the age.”
