I just returned from the NASPA AVP Symposium in Denver. While the formal sessions were strong, the real learning for me came from the conversations with participants about their roles, realities, and challenges.
The Challenges of AVPs and Deans
AVPs and Deans are deeply caring leaders navigating complexity in the middle. They lead up, down, and all around. They manage tensions they didn’t create but often inherit responsibility for. They steward change across past, current, and future leadership transitions. They work to build trust, repair trust, and recognize when it has been lost. They move from relying on their expertise in a functional area to developing leadership capacities to lead leaders, translate executive vision, and support those responsible for execution.
Differing Leadership Capacities
My colleague Dawn Lee and I facilitated a session focused on leadership capacity at different levels. We explored the temptation of more, more, more, and how unsustainable that becomes. Instead, we invited participants to engage leadership capacities with greater awareness and intention, rather than defaulting to what feels familiar or what previously earned praise.
One theme that surfaced repeatedly was how hard it is to let go of skills that once made us successful. When leaders continue to operate primarily from those capacities, they often slip into micromanaging the level below them while neglecting the strategic leadership their role now requires. Strategic leadership is about integration (putting the puzzle pieces together or conducting the orchestra), not doing more of the work oneself.
We also unpacked the distinctions between operational, strategic, and visionary leadership and explored the promotion paradox. AVP and Dean roles are especially complex, and nuance is required. While they are primarily strategic, they may need to step into operational leadership during vacancies or moments of instability, and occasionally into visionary leadership to complement or support executive leadership above them.
The Transformational Power of Deepening Personal Foundations
One of my key takeaways from the conference was this: while leadership skills and competencies were discussed extensively, the transformational role of personal foundations was largely absent. In our Evolve leadership coaching journeys across levels (VPs, AVPs, Directors, or senior equity leaders), we always begin with Personal Foundations. When leaders deepen their foundations, they become more centered in their values, grounded in their purpose, and rooted in self-awareness and self-management. That groundedness is what allows leaders to navigate storms rather than be consumed by them.
Ascent is our Evolve offering designed specifically for leaders at this strategic level. Our next Evolve leadership coaching journey launches in April. If you’d like to join a free Discovery Session to learn more about Ascent and our other offerings, reply to this email, and I’d be happy to add you.
