dean jon m. garon nova southeastern university shepard broad … · and competitors to shape our...

Effective Academic

Leadership in the Age of Uncertainty

Dean Jon M. GaronNova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law

Is Change Truly Upon Us?• Perhaps the time has come, when we ought to pause and

inquire whether it will be sufficient to make gradual changes, as heretofore; and whether the whole system is not rather to be broken up, and a better one substituted in its stead.

• From different quarters, we have heard the suggestion, that our colleges must be new‐modelled; that they are not adapted to the spirit and wants of the age; that they will soon be deserted, unless they are better accommodated to the business character of the nation.

– The Yale Report of 1828

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The Challenge

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The only resource in respect to which America can possibly have a competitive advantage is education … provided it can make the knowledge worker productive.

– Peter Drucker, The Effective Executive

The future of our civilization depends on the direction education takes, not just in the distant future, but in the days immediately ahead.

‒ Higher Education for American Democracy, Report of the President’s Commission of Higher Education (1947)

(1) identify the storm overtaking higher education

(2) harness key drivers for creating change

(3) provide concrete survival strategies for deans in the eye of the storm

(4) offer leadership suggestions to increase cohesion and buy-in

Conference Session Learning Goals

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External Drivers for Change

For many companies, their core businesses are being disrupted by globalization, technology shifts, and new competitors.

They must reinvent the company.

Even at healthy companies, business model innovations are essential to retaining their competitive positions.

‒ BusinessWeek (2006)

Peter Drucker identified seven stressors that lead to innovation

Drucker’s seven stressors that lead to innovationDrucker identified external, societal changes as:• Demographic (population changes)• Changes in perception, mood, and meaning• New knowledge, both scientific and

nonscientific

Drucker identified the internal sources as:• The unexpected—the unexpected success, the

unexpected failures, the unexpected outside event

• The incongruity—between reality as it actually is and reality as it “ought to be”

• Innovation based on process need• Changes in industry structure or market

structure that catch everyone unawares

Michael Porter’s five forces that drive industry competition• Threat of new entry by new competitors• Intensity of rivalry among existing competitors• Pressure from substitute products• Bargaining power of buyers• Bargaining power of suppliers

Opportunity Matrix• The greater the startup business can fulfill a

market need among the Drucker stressors while avoiding competition from Porter’s industry competition

• Balanced by the confidence in the tools to exploit the opportunity and limit the competition

External Drivers for Change

Higher Education Threat Matrix• Doctoral Universities: 10% schools support 36% of the enrollment• Associates Colleges: 23% schools support 29% of the enrollment• Liberal Arts Colleges: 22% schools support only 10% of the enrollment• 140 nonprofit or public universities have closed (+1100 for‐profit)

8Source: Carnegie Classification, 2018 Update Facts and Figures

Higher Education Threat Matrix‐ Demographic shifts lowering birth

rates‐ Societal changes impacting speech,

gender, race, religion, and social norms

‐ eLearning, online, flipped, and experiential

‐ Increased expectations to provide medical services, housing, food service, and community resources

‐ Free tuition by major employers‐ Consolidation toward best‐known

brands‐ Increasing costs, regulations, and

compliance

‐ Mismatch between sources of education and enrollment

‐ Increased cost of faculty; reliance on adjuncts and Ph.D. educators

‐ Social media allows students, alumni, and competitors to shape our brand and story

‐ Weakness in employment for Ph.D.,Pharm.D., JD, and other fields

‐ Student preparedness gaps and need for support

‐ Unclear role for artificial intelligence‐ Title IX, Title IV, and other demands

Opportunity and Competition Matrix

Unique Value Propositions

Must Have Experiences

Generic Schools

Low affinity and affiliation

Low Medium

High

Medium

Low

High

Drucker:Opportunities Demographic Perception New Knowledge Unexpected Incongruity Process Need Structural

Change

Protection fromcompetition

Confidence Strength of patent Size of market Capitalization

Porter’s 5 forces New entrants Rivalry’s intensity Substitute

choices Buyers’ power Suppliers’ power

Market Leadership – A Little Revolution• Powerful companies can dominate an industry … until they don’t• Understanding vulnerability is essential to managing change

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Market Leadership – A Little Revolution• Capturing the market• Considered not disruptive, since the service remains the same

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Market Leadership – A Little RevolutionMarket Leadership Rather than Market Disruption• IBM Selectric launched in 1961, immediately exceeding its predicted output by

four times by selling 80,000 units. By 1986, more than 13 million Selectric typewriters had been sold. – While a tremendous hit, the Selectric failed to be a disruptive innovation because it did not

change the way in which typewriters were purchased and sold– Selectric’s use of a “golf‐ball” sphere for the characters made the machine faster and required

less maintenance. The interchangeability of the ball allowed for the user to adopt additional fonts and even mathematical symbols.

– But it was still just a typewriter.– By limiting it to 44 characters instead of 64, it didn’t become ASCII compatible, missing the

entire computer printing market• Swiffer mop is less effective than traditional mops, but extended the market to

people who never actually used their mop (human design issue)• iPod blew past Rio, Sony, and others because functions placed on the computer

through iTunes, simplifying the use and shrinking the form factor– Thin, beautiful, and easier– Marketing budget was 100 times all competitors because it was being used to sell Macs– Zune could not catch up because Microsoft built a device rather than a music ecosystem– Samsung was willing to copy until it could compete

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Case Study relevant to Higher Ed: Customer convenience and value are what matter

Source: https://www.class-central.com/report/moocs-stats-and-trends-2017/14

Case Study: Customer convenience and value are what matter

• Target and Walmart changes …• Walmart’s CEO: “One of the first things I did was made Customer Care

and Customer Experience two direct reports to me,”• Less than nine months after it bought Shipt, Target said it's expanded

same‐day delivery to more than 1,100 stores and expects the service to reach 65% of U.S. households by the upcoming holiday season.

• Like Walmart, it's pitching both curbside grocery and in‐store pickup services. For in‐store pickup, Target said it can process more than 95% of online orders within an hour.

• Alexa, Google Home, Siri have a consequence: Voice means one best answer is going to be more important than it ever has before because you can’t just get a list of 50 or 100 different things through voice.

Source: https://www.class-central.com/report/moocs-stats-and-trends-2017/15

Higher Ed’s Disruptions and Revolutions

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• What business is higher ed operating?– Educating minds– Creating and disseminating research (creating and commercializing

research)– Providing medical services– Giving attendees a place to get away from home– Credentialing and licensing graduates

• Which of the above do our customers purchase– Credentials– Customer service– [Employers want preparedness; but they aren’t actually buying it]

• Higher Ed’s vulnerabilities come from focusing on what we are selling rather than what the market is buying






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Key 1: Disruptors focus on the How. Fundamentals focus on the Why. Keep the fundamentals while reinventing the methods.

18Key Drivers for Harnessing Change

What

How

Why

Key 1: Disruptors focus on the How. Fundamentals focus on the Why. Keep the fundamentals while reinventing the methods.


• Liberal Arts is offering philosophy, literature, and classics as a means to the end• Liberal education goals include critical thinking, effective written and oral

communication, complex problem solving, collaboration, and the intellectual skills of self‐direction, and critical scientific analysis.

• These are the same skills employers want and students need• But liberal arts is dying because the means of teaching these skills is perceived

as being out of touch. • The Taming of the Shrew is a giant #MeToo piece

• And don’t believe the employers. Most still use college rank – or NCAA rank – and class rank rather than learning outcomes to select students. Watch their behavior, not their rhetoric.

• Higher Ed’s vulnerabilities come from focusing on what we are selling rather than what the market is buying

• Is the present solution expensive, slow, complex, or frustrating– Mall parking, check‐out lines, limited stock, weather, hours, etc.

• Does the disruptor have a present use, and if it evolves enough can replace an existing business– Convenience of digital images made for a market despite being a poor

substitute for film• Does the disruptor have a user design benefit – is the

client/student/patient delighted or at least highly intrigued by its potential– iPods for music, Swiffer mops, PCs for spreadsheets, etc.

• Does the disruptor retain the best aspects of the current solution• Is there a market for “good enough” to provide a path to disruption

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Key 2: Disruptors are never perfect, finished, or ready substitutes: they don’t start as solutions for everyone, but they fill someone’s need

Key Drivers for Harnessing Change

Key 3: Disruption requires breathing space


• Create opportunities to experiment, test, and fail• Encourage creativity, not a culture of blame• Limit Officious Meddling

Key 3: Disruption requires breathing space• Encourage skunkworks projects to free the best

people from the constraints of the institutional hierarchy, budget, structure, and roadblocks

• Small, nimble, willing, empowered, and resourced• “Malaysia Airlines, for example, has set up what it

calls “laboratories,” small groups of people brought together on an ad hoc basis to address specific issues—“raising revenues,” for instance.

• “The group stays together for a month or so, until it has fulfilled its agreed‐upon “exit criteria”.”

Source: https://www.economist.com/news/2008/08/25/skunkworks 22

• Key Drivers for Harnessing Change

Key 4: Most disruptors fail; history simply ignores them


Key 4: Most disruptors fail, history simply ignores them• Leadership must understand and appreciate that not

every effort is successful– Every effort has lessons to learn and thoughts upon which to build

– Some failures are contextual (Xerox mouse; Kodak digital photography), so keeping track of efforts is also helpful

• Fail forward, efficiently and quickly• Learn from mistakes, incorporate the lessons• Do not let efforts be translated into roadblocks that a past

failure (or success that was later dropped) precludes making the effort at this time and place

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Key 5: As the incumbents, coopt the disruption of others

• From day one, every entrant faces a tempting choice – Developing completely new products is hard; finding new markets is harder – Harnessing large, existing markets means the most demanding customers – Supporting those customers involves following sustaining, not disruptive strategies– Incumbents have every advantage to sustain; and can adapt internally rather than

externally• Exploit overlapping value networks and choke points to limit the asymmetries of

competitors and discourage external disruptors– Relationships and customer support systems with existing customers, vendors, etc.– Licensure and accreditation– Student pipeline relationships– State and federal regulation

• Identify opportunities for disruption and provide better products and services at those points

Source: Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony, and Erik A. Roth, Seeing What’s Next (2006) 25Key Drivers for Harnessing Change

Key 6: Teams will not Respond with Pure Logic• Confirmation bias ‐ when we tend to only consider what

we have already experienced– “The human understanding, when it has once

adopted an opinion draws all things … to support and agree with it. And though there be a greater number and weight of instances to be found on the other side, yet these it either neglects and despises or … sets aside and rejects in order that by this great and pernicious predetermination, the authority of its former conclusions may remain inviolate” (Francis Bacon 1602)

• Heuristics biases ‐ mental shortcuts we use to simplify decision making– People judge the probability of an event by how

quickly and easily examples of that event come to mind, by how available examples are, rather than by identifying all of the alternatives and working out the real probabilities

• Framing biases ‐ when how we are presented with a problem affects the way we see it– The framing effect can make us respond

differently to identical circumstances by changing the framing of those circumstances, by focusing our attention on particular aspects of the situation

– We are much more likely to choose an option described in positive terms than one described negatively and are more likely to pick an option framed as a success

• Implicit bias – every person reacts to those around us with implicit assumptions about credibility, trustworthiness, threat, and value– Speaker identification impacts acceptance

of argument– Learn to overcome your own biases and to

blunt its impactSource: https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/logical‐and‐critical‐thinking/9/Notes/365666

Key 7: Real disruption has real consequences

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Key 7: Real disruption has real consequences• Blockbuster, Toys‐R‐Us, Radio Shack, Sears

– these could not shift to a new business model– They had leases, employees, and sunk costs they could not shed– Malls across the US are being abandoned as shoppers that once fled the

downtowns are now staying home or going to the corner shopping strip– IBM, Sony, Kodak, Polaroid, Barnes & Noble, Chrysler

• What are the warning signs?– Customer population stagnates or changes– Employee – workforce age increases, hiring becomes difficult, unions

become rigid, new ventures become challenging– Distribution chains – the supply of goods and services alters– Physical assets – wrong locations, mismatch with needed resources

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Key 8: Disruption is inevitable, plan accordingly

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Key 8: Disruption is inevitable, plan accordingly• Management is critical

– Team members must be trained, exposed, or selected with experience in environments with a high degree of uncertainty

– Resourcefully solved problems without spending much money– Shown experience in fending off processes and in harnessing or managing others, in order to get the right things done quickly

• Resources are essential, but cannot distort outcome– Donors are great, but major gifts have thick strings– Grants have equally direct and complex requirements– Tuition has a moral obligation to respect the students’ needs

Source: Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony, and Erik A. Roth, Seeing What’s Next (2006) 30







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Welcome to the Darkside• Understand your own identity

– Coming from faculty, it may feel like you’ve left the values of independence, autonomy, self‐righteousness, and integrity

– Coming from an associate dean position, it may be a bit more of a reward – and a disappointment that this is still middle management in an even more complex and frustrating leadership team

• Retain a path back to the faculty and your scholarship, unless you are finished with that identity• Skills and lessons essential for associate deans and deans

– Your will learn how things really work; you must understand the inner workings– You will meet many people you would never meet otherwise, build working relations with

them– You will have the opportunity to develop your leadership and management skills; learn the

difference and use both carefully– You will become an expert at time management; or become a short‐timer– You will develop great conflict management skills; or become a short‐timer

Source: Tammy Stone and Mary, Coussons-Read, Leading from the Middle: A Case-Study Approach to Academic Leadership for Associate and Assistant Deans32

Note 1: Embrace Who You Are

Survival Strategy Notes

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Wicked Problems

Wicked Problems:

Multifaceted problems with imprecise, hard-to-measure short term consequences, complex unintended consequences, and significant long-term impacts

Note 2: Accept Complexity – Embrace Wicked Problems


Note 2: Accept Complexity ‐ Wicked Problems• Based on the work of Horst Rittel in the 1960s (see Kunz & Rittel, 1970, Rittel and Weber,

1973), Buchanan suggests that most of the problems faced by designers are such wicked problems, defined by Rittel as “a class of social system problems which are ill‐formulated, where the information is confusing, where there are many clients and decision makers with conflicting values, and where the ramifications of the whole system are thoroughly confusing” (in Buchanan, 1995, p.14).

• Buchanan adds, “I would expand that definition to include not only social system problems in isolation, but also the problems associated with the reciprocal effects between social systems and natural systems that provide the basis for their existence. Since the only true constant in natural process is change, social and ecological manifestations of this process are also subject to constant transformation and adaptation.”

• In other words, wicked problems are real world problems that acknowledge the complex interdependence of diverse factors and stakeholders, rather than simplistic, linear cause and effect abstractions that isolate the product of design from its context.

34Source: Daniel Christian Wahl, Facing Complexity: Wicked Design Problems, https://medium.com/age-of-awareness/facing-complexity-wicked-design-problems-ee8c71618966

1. Build a team (Servant Leadership)– Empowering People– Humility and Authenticity – Empathy – Stewardship

2. Accept your position– Understand your boss (Provost) and your boss’ boss (President)– Facilitate as often as manage

3. Use policy as power4. Lead by example5. Be fair6. See yourself through the eyes of others

Source: https://www.ccl.org/blog/6-must-skills-leading-middle/ 35

Note 3: Find Your Place: Deans are Servant Leaders


1. Build a team. Pull associate deans, department chairs, and influencers into a leadership team where you can communicate values, goals, and agendas. Empower and trust this group to further the dean’s agenda through the institution’s informal networks.

2. Understand your boss (Provost) and your boss’ boss. Just as the associate dean must fulfil the agenda of the dean (rather than the faculty), the dean must understand and deliver the agenda of the President and Provost, which means understanding what is driving each of them.

3. Accept your position. Although it creates challenges, get comfortable with the fact that you are in between the faculty and the upper administration. Consider turning your frustration about this, when it occurs, into an opportunity to bridge the two worlds.

4. Facilitate rather than manage. When working with faculty, chairs, and associate deans on a task, do what you can to support them, and expect that they may change or rewrite some of what you put together. Remember that your job is to start the ball rolling, not to get it all the way down the hill.


Note 3: Find Your Place

1. Lead by example. Sometimes you don’t facilitate and instead put projects on your back to deliver and show how operations are done. Same is true for teaching, research, scholarship, service, and development.

2. Be fair. Even though you are straddling the fence between your department and administration, resist the urge to do anything that favors your own unit over others.

3. Use policy as power. You may have ambiguous power to accomplish things, but when it comes to policies you are charged with implementing or enforcing, your power is clear. Use written procedures to back up your decisions and help others understand that decisions you make are driven by policy, not personal whim. Policy is your friend, and it is a great communication tool to clarify muddy issues as they arise.

4. Peter Guy Northhouse: “[S]ervant leaders place followers first, empower them, and help them develop their full personal capacities.” Since this is also the characteristic of good educators, servant leadership should be a natural fit.


Note 3: Find Your Place

Van Dierendonck highlights six key characteristics of a Servant Leader: 1. Empowering and Developing People: Fostering proactive, self‐

confident attitude among followers and gives them a sense of personal power

2. Humility: Ability to put one’s own accomplishment and talents in a proper perspective

3. Authenticity: Expressing oneself in ways that are consistent with inner thought and feeling

4. Interpersonal Acceptance: The ability to understand and experience the feeling of others and where people are coming from

5. Providing Direction: To make work dynamic and “tailor made” (based on followers abilities, needs and input)

6. Stewardship: Willingness to take responsibility for the larger institutions and to go for service instead of control and self‐interest

Source: Encyclopedia of Strategic Leadership and Management at 124. 38

Note 3: Find Your Place: Deans are Servant Leaders

• Systematic Thinking• Communication• Influence• Resiliency• Learning Agility• Self‐Awareness


Note 4: Always be a leader ‐whether from front back, or middle


Decanal Attributes for Effective Academic Leadership1. Thinking and Acting Systemically. This requires seeing the big picture, seeing patterns in relationships and processes, and dealing

with the uncertainties and trade‐offs that are part of the complexities of organizations. Give up the need to constantly please. Trying to please everyone, you may find that you are doing a lot each day, but doubting your ability, impact, and success.

2. Resiliency. “Resiliency is about handling stress, uncertainty and setbacks well — learning to maintain equilibrium under pressure,” Malloy says. “In the Leadership Development Program, we spend a lot of time helping participants find tools for building resiliency for themselves and for others in their organization.”

3. Communication. Communication is a core leadership function, requiring the ability to think with clarity and express ideas and information to a multitude of audiences. Effective communication is also about listening, asking questions, and aligning words and actions. At work, we need to be skilled communicators in countless relationships — at the organizational level, and sometimes on a global scale. Today’s leaders must also learn to handle the rapid flows of information within the organization and among customers, partners, and other stakeholders and influencers.

4. Influence. This means gaining cooperation to get things done. In today’s flattened or matrixed organizations, position or expertise alone doesn’t give you influence. You may be met with resistance or compliance, but what you — and your business — need is commitment. It is important to develop a range of influencing styles to help you get different people with different perspectives on board.

5. Learning Agility. Seek opportunities to learn and learn quickly. To be good at anything requires some knowledge, skills, and technical know‐how. What separates the remarkable from the good is the ability to adjust, adapt, respond, and be resourceful in the face of change and to learn from experience.

6. Self‐Awareness. When you understand your style, motivation, strengths, shortcomings, quirks, and preferences, you are better equipped to make day‐to‐day decisions, as well as to navigate the big picture for yourself and for your organization.

Together, these 6 leadership competencies give leaders a roadmap for navigating the twists, turns, and complexities of life in the middle zone. Source: https://www.ccl.org/blog/6-must-skills-leading-middle/ 40

Note 4: Always be a leader, whether from front back, or middle

• Understand your own balance • Remember your goals and legacy • Maintain integrity (it is universal)

– Treat everyone fairly and equally

– Never play favorites• Stakeholders will have negative

and angry reactions • Despite your best attempts, you

cannot save people from themselves

Source: Tammy Stone and Mary, Coussons-Read, Leading from the Middle: A Case-Study Approach to Academic Leadership for Associate and Assistant Deans 41

Note 5: Stay Balanced


• Understand your balance ‐ figure out the relative importance of your personal and professional commitments now and in the future and act accordingly

• Identify your own goals and legacy – have a purpose and a measurement of your own time as dean; know why you took the job and when it is time to move on

• Integrity is universal; treat everyone fairly and equally and never play favorites• Stakeholders will have negative and angry reactions to decisions, policies, and

procedures; let it go ‐ resist the urge to take their reactions personally• Despite your best attempts, you cannot save people from themselves; you

can help through mentoring and arbitrating disputes but people will be people. This is true of the leadership above and the students and staff below

Source: Tammy Stone and Mary, Coussons-Read, Leading from the Middle: A Case-Study Approach to Academic Leadership for Associate and Assistant Deans 42

Note 5: Stay Balanced


Note 6: Harness Framing Bias for Positive ImpactSet the Tone, Agenda, Goals, and Stakeholders• Set the tone, set the agenda, set the goals, and set the stakeholders• Deans control the framing of most issues

– Describe intended outcomes in positive terms– Use confirmation bias to reinforce what the stakeholders believe and

how those beliefs support the innovations and changes– Enable team members to process bad news in non‐public settings –

don’t announce final decisions to close programs, enact lay‐offs, or heighten tenure standards in large meetings

– Enable team members to address bad news in faculty meetings and other appropriate settings – be ready to discuss – in a pastoral manner as well as a final arbiter ‐ decisions to close programs, enact lay‐offs, or heighten tenure standards in large meetings

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Note 7: Build Using the Cohesive Society (UN Model)• Social Inclusion: Social inclusion refers to

the degree to which all participants can participate on equal footing in the economic, social and political life.

• Social Capital: Social capital refers to trust between people and in institutions and the sense of belonging.

• Social Mobility: Social mobility refers to equality of opportunity to get ahead.

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By adapting the UN Model for a cohesive civil society to that of a college/department, there is a clear roadmap towards success• A cohesive society is one where people are protected against life risks, trust their

neighbors and the institutions of the state and can work towards a better future for themselves and their families.

• Fostering social cohesion is about striving for greater inclusiveness, more participation and creating opportunities for upward mobility. It is the glue that holds society together.

• For the analysis, social cohesion is built around three key values:– Social Inclusion: Social inclusion refers to the degree to which all citizens can

participate on equal footing in the economic, social and political life, including whether people are protected in times of need.

– Social Capital: Social capital refers to trust between people and in institutions and the sense of belonging to a society.

– Social Mobility: Social mobility refers to equality of opportunity to get ahead.

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Note 7: Build Using the Cohesive Society (UN Model)


• Establish a mission• Look for diversity• Practice teamwork• Utilize individual strengths• Communicate effectively• Ask for feedback• Celebrate success

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Note 8: Common Sense Team Approaches Provide Some Limited Guidance


• Establish a mission. The most important factor to determine before selecting members is your team’s mission. Decide the goals of the group and how you will accomplish those goals. Then select team members who will contribute best to the mission.

• Look for diversity. The most successful teams require diversity. Diverse teams have access to many people with varying skills and experiences. A diverse group will be able to pull from all these experiences in order to achieve the mission.

• Practice teamwork. Team‐building exercises are the best way to see how individual members will work together to accomplish a goal. Before your team has to work on important tasks, see how they handle something simple like an ice breaker. Who took the lead? Who worked well together? Use what you observe and apply it to the real mission. Plus, your team members will bond with each other in the process.

• Utilize individual strengths. Determine the strengths of each team member and assign them to specific tasks based on their strengths. Delegating based on strengths is the best way for the group to accomplish its goals. Be clear about what each member is responsible for and hold them accountable.

• Communicate effectively. A team cannot be cohesive if communication is ineffective. Make sure to methods of communication are consistent. Clearly explain the team’s instructions and goals. Make sure all messages are constructed for the benefit of the team.

Source: Heather Huhman, 8 Ways to Build a Cohesive Team, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-huhman/8-ways-to-build-a-cohesiv_b_3390565.html47


• Give feedback. Throughout a project and after a project is complete, you need to give your team feedback. This should be a combination of individual feedback and for the team as a whole. Explain what worked well, what didn’t, and the results of their project. Constructive feedback will make for a more cohesive team during the next project.

• Ask for feedback. Not only should you give your team feedback, but also you should ask them to give it to you. Ask what they thought worked well and not so well. Multiple opinions can really shine a light on flaws in the process. Plus, your team members will feel like their opinion matters when you take it in to account for next time.

• Celebrate success.When your team successfully accomplishes the mission you established at the beginning, it’s important to recognize them for it. Make sure the group knows you appreciate their work and thank them.

• Building a cohesive team is a never‐ending process. With every new project comes different challenges. It is important to consistently make sure your team is working well together and reaching results effectively.

Source: Heather Huhman, 8 Ways to Build a Cohesive Team, https://www.huffingtonpost.com/heather-huhman/8-ways-to-build-a-cohesiv_b_3390565.html48





(4) offer leadership suggestions to increase harmony, cohesion and buy-in


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Chord 1: The Dean’s Leadership Role• Departments might not have changed, but the context has

shifted radically• Leadership in complex systems is embedded in every social

interaction that occurs between the members of the organization

• Defining organization as a network of social interaction unveils a new path to pursue for leadership studies.

• Leadership in complex settings instills and preserves an eligible context for continuous communication.

• Dynamic social interaction fostered by constructive conflict unveils bottom‐up new behavior, i.e. innovation, and renders the organization adaptive.

Source: Ahmet Hakan Yüksel, Innoveadership: Marrying Strategic Leadership with Complexity in Enc. Of Strat. Leadership and Mgmt at 28550

Fostering Harmony

Chord 2: The Dean’s Management Role - Faculty• Faculty are free agents ‐ their choice to stay or leave is independent of the dean• Recognize the Faculty are the Primary Ingredient in the Formulas sold by the

University• Faculty are smart, empirical, researchers who disbelieve faith and passed‐down

wisdom– Be prepared to prove oneself– Accept challenges as opportunities to establish objective basis for innovations– Pilot projects and incremental tests make impossible into inevitable

• Confirmation bias is very strong; Framing is risk‐averse and historical• Faculty outlast deans and department chairs … and they know it• Faculty need the pastoral dean as much as any other group, and often more so.

• Engender trust, compassion, empathy, sympathy, fairness, and consistency• Serve as role model as faculty member, team member, and public advocate

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Fostering Harmony

Chord 3: The Dean’s Pastoral Role• Embrace Pastoral Leadership with quiet, warmth, and support• The pastoral role in the life of the dean is increasingly critical to

leadership– There is more to compassion than compliance with the ADA– Moral leaders of our institutions Understand what is possible,

impactful, and appropriate to say in the public sphere– We are called upon to be the voice of support for students, faculty,

staff, and entire institutions– Our colleges have faced storms, shootings, structural collapse, and

human predators. These are no longer surprises• Being effective in the pastoral role provides legitimacy to the

inspirational role – the future is simply one more storm on the horizon52

Chord 4: The Dean’s Academic Role• Continue to be a member of your own team through teaching

and scholarship– Deanships do not last very long, nor do most vice‐presidencies and

provostships – (Three sealed envelopes – predecessor, leadership/reorganize,

prepare three letters)– The further away from the service we provide, the harder to

maintain empathy and context– Much easier to solve some problems if the dean is also a faculty

member dealing with those issues, particularly the technology changes to teaching

– Students get younger much faster than we age, so staying connected is essential

Source: Audrey Williams June, Ex-Administrators Reveal the Secret That Eased Their Return to the Faculty, https://www.chronicle.com/article/Ex-Administrators-Reveal-the/244372?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en&elqTrackId=73c2fbb4ab64464b8c46452f12298d8f&elq=421a5c34e35e461aaed58d61c63307c6&elqaid=20288&elqat=1&elqCampaignId=9500 53

Chord 5: The Dean’s Business Role• Support the core business of your university and your college• Peter Drucker in Management (1973): “There is only one valid definition of

business purpose: to create a customer. . . . – It is the customer who determines what a business is. – It is the customer alone whose willingness to pay for a good or for a service converts economic

resources into wealth, things into goods. . . . – The customer is the foundation of a business and keeps it in existence.”

• Sustainable companies (seeking long‐term growth) recognize that customers have needs:– Your customers and your services are joined by your employees. – Drucker discusses the challenge to retain knowledge workers– Since Companies rely on infrastructure, they have duties to their communities.

• Listen to your customers – students and their employers ‐ but do not follow‐them– Do we rely on student evaluations? Better to rely on five‐year, post graduate assessments,

employer demands, etc.– Steven Jobs notorious for not relying on customers for new ideas, but still relied on them to

react to assure the “wow” factor was there for major projects

54Fostering Harmony

Chord 6: The Dean’s Public RoleTo Lead the Coming Change, Command the Bully Pulpit• Paint a clear picture of the preferred future• Disruptive Innovation is Essential and inevitable. Runs towards it to

Manage it• Embrace VUCA ‐ Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity• Emphasize external threats and internal rewards• Reinforce the vision of the post‐disrupted future among multiple

audiences, not through direct confrontation (use the bully pulpit) to create a network of stakeholders in agreement– Alumni and Donors– Students– Senior Administration– College Administration– Faculty

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Fostering Harmony

Conclusion1. Disruption is here – demographics, technology, and misalignment

between our colleges and our student demand requires a shake‐up and shake‐out

2. Protect the fundamental values of higher education by embracing experimentation in our methods

3. Focus on the Why and experiment on the What and How4. Lead from the middle; create the right environment: breathing space,

managing bias, many failures, and constant planning5. Prepare for wicked problems, critics, and self‐doubt6. Stay balanced, empathetic, pastoral, and focused on the values of

education and research7. Embrace diversity, team building, and the bully pulpit8. Take a sabbatical before returning to the faculty

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Bibliography• Christensen, Clayton. Improving Higher Education through Disruption. Forum Futures 2002,

(http://www.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ffp0201s.pdf).• Christensen, Clayton M., Sally Aaron, and William Clark. Disruption in Education (2001),

(http://www.educause.edu/content.asp?page_id=666&ID=FFPIU013).• Christensen, Clayton M., The Innovator's Dilemma. HarperBusiness Essentials (1998, 2000).• Dweck, Carol S., Mindset: The New Psychology of Success, Ballantine Books (2007). • Garon, Jon M., Own It – The Law & Business Guide to Launching a New Business through Innovation, Exclusivity and

Relevance, Carolina Academic Press (2007).• Garon, Jon M., Legal Education in Disruption: The Headwinds and Tailwinds of Technology, 45 CONN. L. REV. 1165 (2013).• Garon, Jon M., Mortgaging the Meme: Financing and Managing Disruptive Innovation, 10 NW. J. TECH. & INTEL. PROP. 441

(2012).• Horn, Michael B., and Heather Staker, Blended: Using Disruptive Innovation to Improve Schools, Jossey‐Bass (2014).• Kouzes, James and Posner, Barry, The Leadership Challenge, 6th Ed. (2017)• By Northouse, P. G. Leadership: Theory and practice (Sage 2016). • Van Dierendonck, D., Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 37(4) (2011) at 1228–1261.

doi:10.1177/0149206310380462 • Van Dierendonck, D., & Nuijten, I., The dervant leadership survey: Development and validation of a multidimensional

measure. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(3) (2011) at 249–267.

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