Academic leaders aren’t being prepared for the leadership part of their jobs.
Leading faculty is challenging. We’ve all heard the “herding cats” line, and it’s funny because there’s truth in it. Faculty operate a lot like independent contractors. But there’s enormous upside when academic leadership is done well, and real cost when it isn’t. Good leadership shapes culture, drives change and transformation, and can improve how well we serve students and communities.
The path up in academia usually begins with a strong scholar with good teaching evaluations and a reputation as a congenial colleague getting asked to chair a department. Chair leads to program director. Program director leads to associate dean, often after some pleading that it’s ‘just a short stint.’ Associate dean leads to dean. Dean leads to associate or vice provost, and eventually provost.
These are clearly smart, capable, and talented people. But every step up moves them further away from their scholarly expertise and deeper into leadership, where they are, frankly, underprepared. Institutions do not prepare them for the challenges of leadership roles and assume that being an excellent academic will make them excellent academic leaders. It doesn’t work that way. We can do better.
Higher education underestimates how hard leading faculty actually is. It underestimates the impact of good leadership on an institution’s strategy and success. And it undervalues leadership itself as a distinct set of mindsets, skills, and competencies worth developing.
If you’re an academic leader ready to build that second expertise, we’d like to help. At Evolve, we work with higher education leaders to build the capacity and capabilities to lead effectively, efficiently, and sustainably. If you’d like to evolve your academic leadership, join us for our next Evolve leadership coaching journey.
