• Drive strategic alignment and execution by keeping your leadership focused on key priorities.
• Enhance the decision making of other senior leaders through engaging in collaborative practices and exploring how to apply them to your institution’s context.
• Build a culture of innovation and agility in the face of emerging trends and challenges.
• Strengthen engagement and communication with and among stakeholders on your campus at all levels.

The Chief of Staff and Chief Strategy Officer roles have evolved significantly in higher ed over the past few years. These leaders are now commonly responsible for big-picture initiatives like guiding strategic planning, stewarding leadership transitions, onboarding new cabinet members, helping the President’s team run smoothly, and making sure senior leaders have the tools and mindset they need to lead effectively. 

To do all this well, it’s important to invest in your own leadership growth. That’s why we’ve designed this hands-on, highly practical workshop designed just for Chiefs of Staff and Chief Strategists in higher ed. You’ll connect with peers who understand your day-to-day; sharpen your skills as a convener, facilitator, and connector; and walk away with fresh ideas to support your team and strengthen your institution. 

At the workshop, we’ll focus on individual leadership, senior team development, and overall talent development.

This program is designed to empower leaders, facilitators, and educators by providing hands-on learning, real-time feedback, and practical action plans. Whether you’re new to design thinking or looking to expand your expertise, this event offers everything you need to lead with confidence.

Senior Team and Overall Talent Development: 

• You’ll learn to build leadership capacity both for where the institution is now and where it needs to move in the future.  
• We’ll help you see how to onboard and develop such visionary leaders.  
• You’ll understand the specific practices and behaviors that define high-performing teams, assess how your senior team aligns with those behaviors, and work to ensure your senior team functions at its highest potential.  

More details about the timing of the days can be found by clicking Learn More and Register, but session descriptions of the two days are below: 

Day One
Theme: Individual Leadership

Future Timeline
The world of higher education is experiencing fundamental change and will likely continue to transform in new and unexpected ways. In this interactive session, we’ll explore the events, trends, and issues that will impact higher ed over the next decade and identify practical strategies essential to developing an anticipatory mindset. Exploring what we unearth, you’ll apply the learning to your specific role and institutional context to develop next steps and implementation strategies.

Understanding Your Leadership Through the Five Paths
Self-awareness is at the heart of effective leadership. This session guides you through the Five Paths to Leadership® Self-Assessment, which allows you to understand your strengths and natural tendencies when it comes to your leadership. The assessment can be helpful in deepening self-awareness as well as adapting your style to meet the needs of others.

Strengthening Your Leadership with the Leader You Serve
In this activity, you’ll apply what you just learned about the Five Paths to reflect on the leadership style of the leader you serve in relation to your own. Where is there natural complementarity? Where do the two of you get stuck or generate friction? What can you do to manage up, communicate effectively, and build trust as a means of strengthening the overall relationship?

Leading Authentically in the Chief of Staff Role
In this session, we’ll have a current chief of staff walk through their experiences with establishing authentic relationships at their institution and evolving as a leader through the chief of staff role. They’ll share strategies and tools to drive change and innovation and develop leaders at all levels of the institution.

Day Two
Theme: Team and Organizational Leadership

“What’s Keeping Chiefs of Staff Up at Night?” Moderated Speaker Panel
To kick off our second day, we’ll assemble our speaker team to engage in a moderated panel discussion framed around the question, “What’s keeping Chiefs of Staff up at night?” We’ll crowdsource topics from the group ahead of time to ensure the conversation is both focused and relevant.

Strategies for Moving the Needle on Culture
A major focus of chiefs of staff or chief strategy officers has been creating a more positive, high-performing culture. In this session, our speaker will share the role that senior team development, effective meeting practices, employee appreciation and communication, and leadership development across the organization have played in transforming culture and driving results.

Building High-Performing Teams
Most teams struggle not because they don’t have the requisite talent but because they don’t focus enough on their group dynamics and process—how they work together. In this session, we’ll examine several often-overlooked strategies that high-performing teams practice to build trust, include all voices, clarify purpose and mission, encourage creative and innovative thinking, and reach decisions effectively. You’ll also have a chance to take our High-Performing Teams Assessment to help you reflect on and diagnose areas of strength and opportunities for growth within the functioning of your current senior team.

Effective Succession Planning
In this session, we’ll revisit our output from the Future Timeline activity and use this to identify which critical leadership skills, qualities, and attributes will be most needed to lead our institutions into the future. We’ll then do some small group work to surface some effective models for leadership development and succession planning to arm you with strategies and ideas you can take back to begin more intentional succession planning at your institution, or to improve what’s already in place.

Academic Impressions conferences provide the opportunity for quality conversations and relationship-building through both formal and informal networking opportunities in an intimate setting. Our in-depth and hands-on approach to learning provides you with actionable takeaways.

Learn More About the Academic Impressions Conference Experience ➞