MEMBER EXCLUSIVE
Self-Awareness as Your Superpower: A Certificate Program for Department Chairs
Did You Know? Growing in self-awareness is one of the best ways you can strengthen your relationships with others.
THIS COURSE IS RETIRED
Overview
Self-awareness lies at the heart of effective leadership. A self-aware department chair understands why they lead the way they do because they study their attitudes, behaviors, and motives. However, the most effective department chairs also practice “other-awareness,” which means that they study the impact of their attitudes, behaviors, and motives on others. And this can be your superpower, because it increases your effectiveness in developing meaningful relationships with your stakeholders, including your dean, faculty, staff, and students.
Join us for a four-week certificate program designed to help you to build your self-awareness superpower. Throughout the course, you’ll explore:
- What self-awareness is, and why it’s important to spend time evaluating and understanding your leadership style.
- What your leadership style looks like in both normal and stressful situations, as well as how you can adapt your style to meet the needs of different people and circumstances.
- The inherent balancing acts of being a department chair and leader in higher ed, and how you can choose how you “show up” in your own leadership.
As a culminating activity, you will create a personalized definition of leadership—something that communicates and celebrates who you are as leader—and you’ll discuss with your peers how you can apply it to a current leadership challenge you’re facing now.
Watch the Trailer
Who Will Benefit
We welcome all current or aspiring department chairs and program directors to participate in this course. If you’re looking to gain confidence in your ability to be an authentic and effective leader, this program is for you!
How it Works
Get a weekly email with on-demand videos and activities that can be completed on your lunch break or over the course of the week.
Attend two live sessions to apply your learning and engage in dialogue with peers from around the country. These sessions will be recorded and available on-demand for those who can’t attend live.
Earn an Academic Impressions Digital Badge. To learn more about our digital badges, click here.
Certificate Program Curriculum
Week 1: Develop Your Leadership Superpower: A Focus on Self-Awareness
Format: On-demand videos and self-guided activities | Approximate Time Commitment: 2 hours
You’ll begin the course by exploring four common archetypes of self-awareness, and you’ll use this framework to reflect on how you approach your own self-awareness—as well as ways you can deepen your practice of self-awareness.
Recommended Schedule
Monday – 25 minutes (On-Demand)
Watch:
- Welcome and Course Objectives
- Why is Self-Awareness a Superpower?
Complete activities
Monday – 25 minutes (On-Demand)
Watch:
- The Four Self-Awareness Archetypes
Complete activities
Monday – 25 minutes (On-Demand)
Watch:
- How to Develop Your Self-Awareness Superpower
Complete activities
Week 2 – Understand Your Leadership Style: The Five Paths to Leadership℠ Self-Assessment
Format: On-demand videos, self-guided activities, and live discussion | Approximate Time Commitment: 4 hours
This week’s emphasis is on understanding your leadership strengths and gaps via Academic Impressions’ Five Paths to Leadership℠ Self-Assessment. Its purpose is to help you to understand how your natural leadership style shows up in both normal and stressful situations, and how you can adapt your leadership approach to different situations and people as needed, thus enhancing your leadership effectiveness.
Recommended Schedule
Monday
Complete the Five Paths Self-Assessment
Watch:
- Introduction
- Overview of the Model
Tuesday
Watch:
- The Critical Thinker
- The Relator
- The Visionary
- The Warrior
- The Sage
Wednesday
Watch:
- Making Meaning of Your Scores
- Jeanne Shares Her Results
Thursday (Live Session)
Attend:
- Live Session – Making Sense of Your Assessment Results
Friday
Watch:
- Sharing the Model with Others
- Using the Five Paths Assessment as Department Chair
Complete Activities
Week 3 – Embrace Your Leadership: The Balancing Acts of Academic Leadership
Format: On-demand videos and self-guided activities | Approximate Time Commitment: Approximately 2 hours
Leadership requires you to constantly evaluate and decide between a series of trade-offs. How you choose your position is largely dependent on your natural leadership style and how well you understand the impact of your leadership on others. This week, you’ll be introduced to the “balancing act” or “seesaw” as a framing device that will help you to navigate these inherent trade-offs.
Recommended Schedule
Monday
Watch:
- Academia’s Anti-Leadership Culture
- The Balancing Acts Model
Complete Activities
Tuesday
Watch:
- Seesaw 1: Leadership Role
Complete Activities
Wednesday
Watch:
- Seesaw 2: Management Style
Complete Activities
Thursday (Live Session)
Watch:
- Seesaw 3: Leadership Comfort Zone
Complete Activities
Friday
Watch:
- Applying the Seesaws
Complete Activities
Week 4 – Define and Refine Your Leadership Style: Revisiting Self-Awareness
Format: On-demand videos, self-guided activities, and live discussion | Approximate Time Commitment: 3-4 hours
You’ll bring together everything you’ve learned and create a personal definition of leadership that reflects your understanding of your leadership and how it impacts others. Through discussion with your peers, you’ll also identify the ways you can apply it to a current leadership challenge to help you to determine the best way to move forward.
Recommended Schedule
Monday
Watch:
- Embracing Your Leadership
Begin working on your Personal Definition of Leadership
Tuesday – Wednesday
Refine your Personal Definition of Leadership
Thursday (Live Session)
Attend:
- Live Session – Embracing Your Leadership
Get in Touch With Us
Contact your partner success manager for help.
