Building an In-House Leadership Development Program in Higher Education

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:  

From Data to Design: Implications for Your Leadership Programs
Academic Impressions conducts the most wide-ranging survey of leadership and professional development in higher education and has longitudinal data that spans a decade. To open our program, we’ll share what we’ve learned about the impact of investments in leadership on faculty and staff job satisfaction, burnout, attrition risk, and more. The data can be used to both build a case for support and inform specific programmatic decisions.

Establishing a Framework and Roadmap
Regardless of whether you are designing a one-off program or multiple cohort-based programs, your approach to developing leadership needs to be rooted in a deep understanding of what leadership is and how it is learned. We’ll share the Academic Impressions model for leadership development and how you can incorporate it into your work.

Exploring Multiple Models and Approaches to Leadership
There are so many ways to build the capacity of leaders on campus, and your approach will vary depending on whether you’re just starting out or expanding on an established, cohort-based program. In this session, we’ll walk you through various decision points, including:

• Whom the program is meant to serve (faculty, staff, students, mixed?).
• The level of the program (for new and aspiring leaders, mid-level, advanced).
• The outcomes you hope to achieve.
• Where the program should live on campus.
• Whose support and sponsorship you need (and how to get it).
• Various funding approaches.
• Who should deliver the program (internal vs. external experts).
• Considerations around project-based learning.
• The pros and cons of 360s.
• How to incorporate coaching and mentoring.
• And more.

Building a Future Leadership Model
Higher education is changing dramatically, and the skills required to lead in the future may differ from the skills prized by current leaders. In this session, we’ll engage in a horizon-thinking exercise and lead you through a separate exercise to prioritize a set of leadership concepts and skills that should be included in your program. Both exercises are easily replicated on your campus so large groups of stakeholders can help you to shape your leadership program.

Developing Self-Awareness
The foundation of effective leadership is self-awareness, so you have to decide how you’ll want to help participants learn about themselves. We’ll explore multiple leadership diagnostics, as well as other critical elements of self-awareness (values identification, intersectionality, helping participants define their own leadership style, etc.)  You’ll also get a chance to experience our acclaimed self-assessment tool—The Five Paths to Leadership℠—which has been used by tens of thousands of faculty and staff in higher education. Its unique characteristics are the way it frames the need for dynamic and adaptive leadership, its highly intuitive nature and its ability to show how a leader’s style changes under stress.

Designing Engaging Learning Experiences
Too often, leadership programs are driven by topics or who has expertise on campus. Less attention is paid to using frameworks to support the learning journey, build community and ensure the learning is engaging so that it cements both practical takeaways and meaningful relationships. We’ll explore this topic through an interactive exercise in which we model what each of us desires the most from these experiences.

Case Studies: Best Practice Programs
In each case study, we’ll examine a program that is currently up and running and how it models best practice. We’ll explore how the program originated, its goals, its curriculum, and elements of the program you may wish to adopt.

Application Time
Throughout the two days, we’ll have time for you to reflect on what you could apply to your own institution. We’ll provide a roadmap for you to begin planning your next steps, as well as dedicated and structured time to share best practices of what you’ve learned with fellow attendees. You’ll also have a chance to ask any burning questions in small groups so you have a clear idea of how to proceed.