As the director of admissions for the Wayne State University Graduate School, Sherry Quinn is known mostly for her work processing applications to the 240 graduate programs of 11 schools and colleges. And with more applications coming in each year, the job is a busy one. Quinn and her application team (comprised of two (2) direct reports) processed more than 15,000 applications during the 2023-24 academic year, the most in her time at Wayne State, and are currently on track to outpace that record since they’ve already processed more than 17,000 applications for the fall 2024 term alone.

But the part of Quinn’s job that goes largely unnoticed is her ability to lead successful teams in a hybrid working environment. That changed in April when Quinn spoke at the NAGAP Graduate Enrollment Management Summit in Louisville, Kentucky. With nearly 900 attendees, the annual summit is the premier event for graduate enrollment professionals and one that Quinn has attended since 2006 when she started working in higher education.

Leading hybrid teams

When the initial call for speakers came out in the fall of 2023, Quinn saw that NAGAP wanted sessions on a topic she knew well: leadership. Officially listed under the category “Career, Staff, and Personal Development,” she decided to submit her own session.

“I read a lot of articles on the challenges of remote work, which has increased in the wake of the pandemic. Companies were also requiring employees to return to the office five days per week after having successfully worked 100% remote for almost two years. I had never had an issue with employees working fully remote or hybrid, so I wondered why this was causing such an issue,” Quinn said.

With an opportunity to share her management experiences, Quinn submitted a proposal to speak at the NAGAP Summit for the first time.

Once NAGAP accepted her proposal to speak, Quinn attended the summit as not only an attendee, but a speaker as well. Her session, titled “Leading Hybrid Teams with Confidence: Yes, You Can!” featured lessons learned from more than 20 years leading teams in both the corporate, municipal, and higher education sectors.

Understanding that trust was the dominant reason against remote and hybrid work arrangements, Quinn focused on the themes of communication, knowing your personnel, and understanding your strategic direction. Communication has always been one of Quinn’s strengths, as she received her master's degree in organizational communication and public relations from Wayne State. After a stint in the corporate world, she worked for the City of Detroit as the Deputy Director of the Historical Department under Mayor Dennis Archer. In that role, she oversaw operations for the City’s history museums, historical sites, and projects, managing their respective teams.

In 2006, Quinn began working in higher education and participating in NAGAP events. She joined the Graduate School as the director of admissions in 2018, but within two years her team had to move to fully remote operations when the Covid pandemic hit. Thanks to Quinn’s management experience and strong communication skills, her team continued to work well together. Today, the admissions team maintains a hybrid schedule while processing thousands of graduate student applications each year.

Despite the busy schedule and workload, Quinn still finds time to pay it forward to the next generation of leaders. She participates in Wayne Women LEAD’s Next Level Career Conversations program mentoring women who work at Wayne State with leadership aspirations.

Advice for leading hybrid teams

When it comes to leadership advice, Quinn is quick to reiterate that communication is critical to any working relationship with employees. But she also offers five overarching points:

• Understand strategic goals and manage for outcomes.
• Recognize the skills, abilities, and motivations of those who work for you.
• Don’t always be front and center; seek contributions from your team members.
• Ask employees what they need from you.
• Don’t wait until the performance review to give feedback.

Interested in learning more about Sherry Quinn’s session? Email her at ai6644@wayne.edu.

Written by Nick Mattar