Steve Tippins Ph.D. tells graduate students stuck with a hands-off dissertation chair to stop waiting and send them a draft chapter with a specific deadline instead. Waiting passively costs weeks and money. Making the chair respond to your work, not generate ideas from scratch, shifts the dynamic.
How do I help a hands-off chair help me move forward? First thing you want to do is take the lead. Don't wait for direction. And this can be hard for a number of people to get and figure out how to do because we hold these chairs, these professors, in awe. They have doctorates. Oh my gosh, I can't question them or I can't suggest things. I'll just wait. They'll tell me what the right thing to do is. And unfortunately, when you're waiting, breathe. 4 weeks and just spending money to wait because I, I just can't talk to them because they're special and important. You're special and you're important. By taking the lead, I mean saying, here's my document and I'm hoping to have it reviewed by this date so that we can then move to the next step. This also puts them in a mindset of replying to your ideas instead of waiting for them to generate the ideas. Drop the word help in the comments and I'll send you the link for our free dissertation help community.
