Steve Huff (shuff@vecna.org)
Running a division is a daunting task, especially for an inexperienced manager. Here are a few ideas that worked well for me this year, and more that I wish I'd thought of beforehand or implemented better:
No News is NOT Good News. While it may be tempting to believe that if you haven't heard from a department in a while, that means everything is humming along just fine, chances are just as good that the department head is struggling and doesn't realize that calling for help is an appropriate option; what's more, the negative consequences of the second scenario far outweigh the positive consequences of the first.
As such, unless you have a particularly good reason to believe that a given department doesn't need to be checked on, make sure to get status reports from each department head at regular intervals. During the summer, a monthly checkin may be sufficient (try to stagger the reports opposite DivHead meetings, so that you won't be at a loss for something to say), but in November and definitely in December you'll want to be checking in at least weekly, if not more frequently.
Checkins don't have to be long and laborious; even a quick email or phone call can help keep the lines of communication open.
Also, if you have delegated some departments to an Assistant DivHead, you still may wish to make sure that those department heads are providing timely and useful reports as well.
Make it EASY for staff to communicate. As a corollary to the previous point, the more convenient it is for you and your staff to communicate, the more likely it will be that they will report problems to you in time for you to do something about them, and the more likely it will be that you disseminate to them the information that they need. The mere fact that communication is possible won't be enough once things get hectic, unless you and your staff are particularly disciplined; you need to make it easy.
As such, automate and simplify communication to the best of your abilities.
Just because it's obvious to you doesn't mean it's obvious to your staff. As the DivHead, you (at least in theory) have a wider perspective than that of your department heads, who will be rightfully preoccupied with their own departments. If you see an opportunity for two departments to collaborate or share resources, don't assume that either of the department heads concerned will see the same opportunity. What's more, it may not be sufficient just to suggest that they collaborate; to be safe, bring them together and make sure they start working together (or let them explain to you why not).
At con, do things yourself. Your department heads are likely to be busily working on their own jobs during the convention, and they may not have much mental energy to spare for spur-of-the-moment tasks. While you may feel that you're being pulled in several directions at a time, resist the impulse to delegate everything; if you can solve a department head's problem by, say, calling Housekeeping and asking for some trash bags, just make the call (and then make sure the department head knows to call Housekeeping in the future).
At con, make things easy for yourself. As a corollary to the previous point, don't try to keep all your tasks in your head at once.
Back to the 2007 Fixed Functions Debrief Report