New-Recording-27

Madison Winslow interviews Yvette Luteres from Los Angeles Pacific University about her transition from an administrative support role to a leadership position. Yvette describes how she took on more responsibility over the span of 12 years and eventually became the director of administration and facilities. She also discusses the importance of asking for what you're worth and being your own advocate. Yvette credits mentors and strong female leaders as key influences in her development. She emphasizes the significance of servant leadership and aligning tasks with the organization's goals. Yvette advises aspiring executives to watch successful leaders, pursue further education, and continue to develop themselves. Overall, her greatest takeaway from the transition is the importance of believing in oneself and stepping into leadership roles, even when feeling like an imposter. Welcome everyone, my name is Madison Winslow and I'm recording today with Yvette Luteres from Los Angeles Pacific University for my Digital Media Strategic Leadership Communication Project for Org 680. Hi Yvette, how are you doing today? Hi, I'm doing well, thank you. Thank you for taking the time to meet with me for this podcast, I really appreciate it. My pleasure. Now, let's get right into it. Can you please describe the position you are in, your transition and the position you are in now? Yes. So, originally when I joined Los Angeles Pacific University, I was in an administrative support role. And so, what that meant is I supported the entire university, so administratively as an admin assistant. My background was more extensive where I had executive assistant, office manager, and property manager experience. So, when I came to Los Angeles Pacific University, they needed administrative support. So, I started in that capacity and just owned the job, really. So, from there, I transitioned into a senior administrative assistant, which just gave me increased responsibility. And from there, I went to an office manager. The large or bigger transition was into a director. So, it was director of administration and facilities. And so, it was pretty seamless because the role increased and the responsibility increased, but the title never changed. So, that's where the big transition took place into directorship that became a senior leadership position. And over the span of how many years was this transition? This was over the span of about 12 years. 12 years. So, basically, you started taking on more responsibility and over time, you received the title to reflect the responsibility. Correct. And was there a defining moment when you knew you were ready to transition into a leadership position? There wasn't anything that really sticks out to say defining moment. It was a gradual transition where the responsibility, I just took on more responsibility and took care of what needed to be handled for that role. I'm going to head to this file. Were there any conversations that you needed to have to encourage this transition or how did it come about? Absolutely. Absolutely. There were. So, I was part of a focus group that had females. And so, the question in this focus group was why males seemed to excel or have, you know, they were more engaged at work. And so, the synopsis, basically, of that meeting was that women didn't ask for what they thought they were worth. So, it really got me thinking and just started to provoke more thought to say, it's so true. Now, we don't always know the variance in pay scale, right, for males and females. Right. But it really was thought provoking and caused you to stop for a moment and think. And I was doing more work and I hadn't asked for what I was worth or what I thought I was worth. So. And how did you bring about that conversation? You really have to be strategic in writing down what your job role really looks like and what you've been doing. So, you can compare those two and have some ammunition, right, to go in and ask for what you think you're worth. And so, that's what I did. That's very impressive. And was there any training and development that you received throughout this transition? Through the transition, I mean, there's always been, like, global leadership summit or managers that have been great mentors or managers, wonderful managers that I've just watched and observed and learned from. So, that's really key. But you learn what to do, what you can do better, and what you should do. So, that's huge in having good leadership. And was there a specific person that you looked to for mentorship or development? Or could be a few different people? Right. There were a few throughout. I'm trying to think of my now boss, who is a CFO. While I didn't work under her span of care, I did watch her closely and I liked the way she operated and sort of adopted some of the things she did, especially in caring for people because that's huge. And as a woman in leadership, was it helpful to have her example to learn from? Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. Because a woman of strength, you see all the things that women are and what they're expected to be. And women just operate differently generally, let me say, multitasking, seeing the things that are deficient, and stepping in. But sometimes that means we bring on more responsibility on ourselves, so we have to be ready for that as well. And sometimes it means that we don't step in for ourselves. We just do it, but we don't go to bat for ourselves. That's exactly what that means, right? And then, now that you're in the position that you're in, are there ways that you're still working on developing yourself? Yeah, absolutely. I continue to look to mentors, continue to look to strong female leaders, even male leaders. And especially as we're in a Christian environment, that spiritual fit is really important as well. And I continue to look to our spiritual, our leaders for their spirituality as well. And during your transition, looking back, what was the greatest challenge you faced? Probably myself. Because there tends to be this part of an individual that you feel like you're an imposter, like you don't belong. But your track record has shown that you do. The work that you've done, the dedication that you've put, that you've shown. The fact that you can do the job and you've received the promotion says something. So that little voice always sneaks in. So you can be your worst enemy sometimes, right? So we have to step into it. And even if it's scary, we do it. We do it afraid. But we do it. I love that. We do it afraid. And here you are now, with the position, with the promotion. And reflecting back, is there anything you would have done differently? Probably ask for what I was worth before. Because I did go on a long time. And really, I thought, well, the Lord knows what I'm doing and He'll bless me. And He has in different ways. But stepping up and speaking up for yourself, being your own advocate sometimes, is what's really needed. So you just need to prove that what you're doing is above your regular job responsibilities and role. So that, I mean, you could be told no, that you're not going to get a promotion. And that's okay. But at least you have to take that chance and ask for what you're worth. I'm going to look at my other questions. We're on seven minutes. I mean, I'm going to go to my original one. Okay. I have a question. Leave that in there. Okay. What are some of the key differences that you've observed in your managerial position and the leadership position that you're in now? The key differences are the responsibility you take as a senior leader and having more responsibility in, like, diversity amongst your team, input in decision-making in larger collaborative projects that you really have to step up out of your comfort zone and engage in a different way. And would you say there's a greater sense of ownership in this position versus being in a lower-level position where you have a team around you but as an executive? Personally, to me, I feel the same sense of ownership because it's who I am and the ownership I've taken on behalf of LAPU, right? So when I came in, I came in to assist the executive assistant who was still part of Azusa Pacific University, right? So that left me just in charge to really engage and embrace what was here and what was developing, especially as a developing business since we were growing this business from about 35 employees to what we are now at 120-ish. And how do you align your tasks and your team objectives with the organization's goal and mission? Well... Can I ask a different question? I wasn't ready for that. I just needed more time. Yeah. Foundational question. How do you define strategic leadership? Strategic leadership would be really making sure that everything aligns with the university's vision and mission. And really looking to the future, right? And lining up everything that is going to help the university move forward towards our goals. So we have annual goals, right? So those, we have to make sure that all of our stretch goals maybe for each individual, that everything aligns with the university to see on a broader scale what's going to benefit the university in the end. And how we can play a role in the president's goal and vision for the university as well. And if there was any advice that you could give to someone who's looking to develop into an executive position, what would you tell them? Definitely watch your leaders closely. Higher ed, I mean for us, working on your master's degree is one huge way you get to see, you get to experience more insights and learn more into strategic leadership and what that means for the university. But continuing to develop yourself with, you know, following successful leaders. Definitely reading about leadership. Making sure you're knowledgeable. I think that's what I would do. I love that. And since we are at a Christian organization, how does that aspect play into your leadership and how you view leadership? Well, it's huge. For me personally, I really believe that servant leadership is a key and very important because when you serve with people and you work beside them, because there's definitely, I mean, the president who's not going to be doing the same task that I am. But being in the trenches with your staff. Sometimes you develop relationships and it's out of relationships that people do things. And so being a servant leader is first and foremost. And so that's also a spiritual, you know, character, you know, to serve others. And that's what we're called to do. And so spiritually, I feel like that's first and foremost for however I operate, wherever I operate. I think that's key to me. We're trying to get to 15 minutes, right? Yeah, it's supposed to be 15 to 20 minutes. What has been your greatest takeaway throughout your whole transition looking back 12 years ago when you started to now? Now. My biggest takeaway. We should pause. I'm going to re-record.