One of the patterns Drs. Brian Arao, Dawn Lee, and I consistently see in our work with senior higher education leaders through Evolve is that as leaders move up, it becomes easy to fall into a more, more, more mentality – know more, do more, stay later, attend more meetings, read more reports, say yes to more requests.
This instinct is understandable. It often comes from deep commitment and years of being rewarded for being responsive, hardworking, and indispensable. But it is not sustainable. It leads to overwhelm, burnout, and ultimately poorer decision-making and diminished leadership effectiveness.
A more generative approach is to recognize the distinct responsibilities and capacities required at different levels of leadership. Doing so allows us to see where our preferences and familiar patterns align with what our roles require and where they do not. Which leadership behaviors that once served us well may now hold us back? And what unfamiliar, uncomfortable capacities does our current role ask us to step into?
Three Levels of Leadership Focus
Below is an oversimplified framework to illustrate the different levels leaders move among. No leader fully inhabits a single role, and no role fits neatly into a single category. Higher education is too complex, too fluid, and too human for that. But these distinctions offer helpful lenses for noticing patterns and misalignments, both within ourselves and within our structures.
Operational Leadership
A focus on functional work and day-to-day execution over the course of the year. The metaphor: a pilot, responsible for safely and skillfully flying the plane with the coordinated support of many others.
Strategic Leadership
A focus on aligning multiple units, priorities, and people toward broader institutional goals. The metaphor: air traffic control, ensuring many moving parts operate together safely and effectively.
Visionary Leadership
A focus on co-creating a shared vision and curating an aligned culture.
The metaphor: a champion explicitly and repeatedly naming the purpose and fostering a culture to keep it alive, aligned, and integrated throughout the organization.
Why These Distinctions Matter
In reality, leadership in higher education is messy. Many leaders have a mix of these different leadership responsibilities due to their own preferences, structural issues, and the misalignment of other leaders. But leaders tell us that seeing these distinctions helps them:
- understand why they feel pulled in competing directions
- recognize when they are over-functioning or under-functioning
- name and navigate structural misalignment rather than internalizing it
- recalibrate expectations with supervisors, teams, and peers
- reclaim clarity, focus, and agency in their roles
As one senior leader recently shared during an Evolve session:
“I wish I had seen this framework 10 years ago.”
Clarify Your Alignment
Supporting leaders through these transitions is at the heart of why we created our four leadership coaching journeys:
- Summit: for those leading at visionary altitude
- Ascent: for leaders whose work centers on strategic alignment
- Base Camp: for leaders with strong operational portfolios
- Elevate: for leaders at all levels committed to being more effective in their equity-centered leadership
Each journey helps leaders let go of what no longer serves them and step into the capacities their current roles and our current contexts demand.
These pathways launch throughout 2026, with Summit beginning in January. Team-based leadership journeys are also available for campus leadership groups.
If you’d like to explore whether one of these might be a good fit for you or your team, let’s connect.
Reflection Questions
- What is your personal preference for where you focus your leadership energy?
- What is the actual primary responsibility of your role right now?
- Where might these be misaligned? Where could they be better aligned?
- What would be the ideal mix of operational, strategic, and visionary focus for your role (not just for your comfort)?
- What familiar patterns might you need to let go of?
- What unfamiliar capacities might you need to courageously embrace?
