UC Irvine Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Paula Smith sits down with ADU’s Tai M. Brown at the 2024 NACDA Convention for a discussion about implementing a “democratic” leadership style, workforce management and succession planning and cross-campus collaboration. Smith: “I’m more of a democratic approach to my leadership… full senior staff and community participation in how we run our division. My background and orientation has been more servant-leader. I like to demonstrate to my staff that I’m capable of doing odd jobs around our department and hopefully that inspires them.” Smith, who has spent 17 years with the Anteaters and served as interim AD twice before taking on the role permanently, shifts her department’s focus away from stacking up championships and instead strives to ensure that Athletics is “an integral part of campus,” with the ultimate purpose of creating engagement, belonging, spirit and pride for the university: “We have to provide that element.”
Smith and Brown also discuss succession planning and workforce management, as the Anteaters have several senior staff members with decades of experience at the institution. Through her “democratic” leadership style, Smith taps into the wisdom of those team members to develop professional development plans and collaborate on preparing younger staff for leadership opportunities.
The conversation is indexed below for efficient viewing (click the time stamp to jump to a specific question/topic).
