Course Category: Short Lessons & Quizzes

Leadership Learning Plan- Supervision in Higher Education

Leadership Learning Plan Supervision in Higher Education This learning plan brings together the four areas of supervision we are most often asked about: getting started, conflict & communication, delegation, and performance appraisals. Getting Started (~2 hours) If you need comprehensive frameworks for supervision, start here.  Webcast Recording: Effective Supervision in Higher Education The supervisory model reviewed here will help you develop the capacity of your direct reports, boost the trust in your supervisory relationships, and ensure you have established an effective supervisory structure. Short Lesson: Coaching in Supervision If you are spending too much time overseeing your direct reports, this short lesson will help you build their capacity so you can spend less time directing their work. Additional Readings This curated list of books, articles, and online resources will expand your own understanding of supervision and can be a meaningful addition to your supervisor training program. Communication & Conflict Management (~2 hours) If you feel like you need to be more effective when discussing tough issues, check out the following resources. Activity: Active Listening and Framing Exercises Active listening and effective framing can help to ensure difficult conversations remain productive. Practice these valuable skills by working through the various scenarios presented […]

An Introduction to Planned Giving

The donors being cultivated by your institution likely don’t categorize their giving as either a major or a planned gift, and yet, advancement shops in higher education often draw a distinct line between the two types of giving. Ultimately donors just want to determine the most advantageous way to support your institution, and a strong partnership between major gift officers and planned giving officers can help make that a reality. This short lesson will help you educate and empower your major gift officers to recognize planned giving opportunities and broach the subject with their donors. New planned giving officers will also benefit from reviewing these resources.

Diverse Hiring in Higher Education: Resources for Search Committees

Finding the correct candidates for academic and administrative positions is a critical task for colleges and universities. However, you may be asked to serve on or even lead search committees without receiving training on the process, which can allow for things like campus culture, implicit biases, and outdated hiring practices to impact the search process and limit the diversity of the candidate pool. From crafting impactful hiring advertisements to documenting the cultural fit of your candidates, the following 5 resources will support your search committee as it prepares for an upcoming talent search.

Understanding and Addressing Microaggressions

Microaggressions don’t necessarily reflect bad intent but can still be very damaging. Therefore, it is important to proactively identify and address microaggressions within your department and your institution before they become a problem. Learning to properly spot and address these statements can improve your campus climate while reducing absenteeism, turnover, and employee complaints. This toolkit provides a foundational understanding of microaggressions and how to combat them. The first lesson will define microaggressions and bring awareness to how prevalent they are in our daily conversations. The second lesson will build on that understanding and explain why microaggressions happen, consciously and unconsciously. The final lesson will provide guidance and tools to help you address microaggressions when they occur.

How Ready Are You to Implement Your Strategic Plan?

It can be argued that developing strategic plans is an easier feat than pulling off a successful implementation. But, that doesn’t have to be the case. We’ve created this informal assessment to help you gain a better understanding of your institution’s readiness for strategic implementation by helping you identify strengths and potential pitfalls. This informal assessment is organized around 6 key areas of implementation: Alignment, Decision Making, Organizational Discipline, Collaboration, Culture, and Engagement and Inclusion.

Evaluating the Strengths and Weaknesses of Your Team

After assembling a team of intelligent and motivated individuals at your institution, you might be wondering how to evaluate their effectiveness. After all, even the strongest and most productive teams can benefit from understanding where they are excelling and where they could use some additional work. We want to make that task easier for your by helping you informally review the strengths and weaknesses of your team. The following 5 lessons will review some best practices around team building.

Meetings Success Kit (Departmental License)

We’ve all suffered through bad meetings. Given how much time we spend with our colleagues, this pain has real consequences for our teams and institutions. The stock advice around “making an agenda” and “drafting action items” will only do so much to make meetings more effective. Our Meeting Success Kit will help your organization start focusing on the less obvious components of meetings that can significantly shift how people engage and how they build agreement. As higher education continues to face significant and fundamental challenges, you must be able to convene and engage diverse stakeholders on key topics in order to meet your goals.