Leading through disruption and uncertainty doesn’t mean clinging to the status quo or better managing problems; it means moving through fear with clarity, courage, and creativity. The work ahead is transformational, not incremental.
Higher education leaders might be feeling uncertain, overwhelmed, and even under attack. They might feel a deep calling for transformation from business as usual within them, yet may find it easier and safer to make small changes. Here are five different kinds of change to be aware of to inform how your change leadership.
Transformation
Transformation is a significant positive change that cannot be undone. It reshapes the system, shifts the mindset, and creates a new way of being.
Metaphor: A caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
Progress
Progress is a positive change.
Metaphor: A meadow coming back to life after a fire.
Change or Status Quo
These are neutral. Change that is neither progress or regress is neutral. It may feel like movement, but it maintains familiar rhythms and structures. A status quo that is neither good or bad is a lack of change that is neutral.
Metaphor: Day turns into night
Regression
Regression is a negative change.
Metaphor: An animal is wounded.
Decay
Decay is a significant negative change that cannot be undone.
Metaphor: A tree falls in the forest
What does this moment call for?
Movement leader, Grace Lee Boggs, would often ask, “What time is it on the clock of the world?” What does this moment call for when we see from the widest possible perspective?
I recently read in Dr. Kathleen Fitzgerald’s book Leading Generously, this quote from John Kotter that most organizations are “overmanaged and under-led.”
As leaders, we’re not just here to react to or manage change, we are needed to lead it. To name it. To guide others through it.
Leading through disruption and uncertainty doesn’t mean clinging to the familiar or doing more of the same. It means stepping forward—with clarity, courage, and creativity—into the work of transformation.
What kind of change are you facing? And what kind of leadership is needed now?
