By Paul Hamilton
October 13, 2026
Leading Before You Have All the Answers
What building an in-house housekeeping operation taught me about leadership
One of the inevitabilities of working in higher education is that eventually you will be asked to lead something you have never done before.
Sometimes it is a new program. Sometimes it is a crisis. Sometimes it is a new facility or a new responsibility that suddenly finds its way onto your plate. Regardless of how it happens, there comes a moment when you realize there is no training manual, no workshop, and no graduate course that prepared you for what comes next.
One such occasion for me came when our contracted custodial vendor gave us a thirty-day notice that our contract would be terminated and our department began the process of building an in-house, self-operation custodial program.
Like many housing professionals, my career path included residence life, student development, conduct, crisis response, facilities coordination, budgeting, supervision, and a variety of other areas that typically fall under the umbrella of housing administration. What it did not include was custodial management. I had never built a housekeeping program. I had never developed cleaning standards. I had never managed inventories of chemicals and equipment. I had never developed staffing models for a custodial operation.
Yet there I was, responsible for helping lead the effort.
At first, I approached the challenge the way many leaders do. I assumed I needed to become the expert as quickly as possible.
The more I worked through the project, however, the more I realized I was asking the wrong question.
The question was not:
"How quickly can I become a housekeeping expert?"
The better question was:
"How do we build a system that allows those with knowledge and expertise in this area, and those who will join our program in the future, to succeed?"
That shift in perspective changed everything.
Instead of trying to personally answer every question, I started focusing on understanding the larger system. What outcomes were we trying to achieve? What did our students need? What did our staff need? What standards did we want to establish? What structures needed to exist so that the operation could continue to improve long after the initial startup phase?
Some of the best answers did not come from me.
They came from frontline employees who understood the realities of the work. They came from colleagues who asked questions I had not considered. They came from peer institutions willing to share ideas and experience. They came from mistakes, adjustments, and lessons learned along the way.
As I reflect on the experience, one lesson stands out above all others:
Leadership is not always about expertise. Sometimes leadership is about creating the conditions for expertise to develop.
In higher education, we frequently find ourselves leading initiatives outside of our original training. A residence life professional may suddenly be overseeing facilities projects. A conduct officer may find themselves managing assessment efforts. A housing administrator may become responsible for dining, conferences, technology, or, in my case, housekeeping.
The instinct is often to believe that effective leadership requires immediate mastery.
I no longer think that is true (until the next time when I forget I don’t have to have all the answers, lol).
Effective leadership certainly requires learning. It requires accountability. It requires asking good questions and making informed decisions. But it also requires the humility to acknowledge what you do not know and the willingness to learn alongside others.
In some ways, the most valuable thing I learned from this project had very little to do with housekeeping.
I learned that building something new is rarely an individual accomplishment. It is a collective effort. Progress happens when people contribute different perspectives, experiences, and expertise toward a shared goal.
I also learned that systems matter.
Many organizational challenges are not the result of people failing. More often, they are the result of unclear expectations, inconsistent processes, or structures that do not support success. When we invest time in developing clear processes, defining standards, and equipping people with the right tools, we create an environment where success becomes far more likely.
At some point in your career, you will be asked to lead something that falls outside your previous experience. When that happens, remember that you do not have to begin with all the answers.
Start by learning.
Listen carefully.
Ask questions.
Focus on people.
Build systems that support success.
And trust that expertise can grow over time.
Looking back, I would never claim that I knew everything I needed to know when this project began. In many ways (ok, more like every way), I am still learning. But that may be the most important lesson of all.
When we were given the opportunity and challenge of building an in-house, self-op, housekeeping operation, I discovered that leadership is not about standing at the front with all the answers. It is about helping a team move forward together when no one has a complete map.
And sometimes that is exactly where the best learning begins.
Paul Hamilton
Director of Housing & Residential Programs at Angelo State University
