Managing Difficult Faculty and Staff
Upcoming Dates
March 12 – 13, 2026 | Baltimore, MD
July 9 – 10, 2026 | Orlando, FL
Grow your skillset in managing the difficult people who can make leadership so hard.
What You'll Gain
- A proven, four-step model to engage, set expectations, address non-compliance, and protect your team dynamics.
- Time to practice addressing challenging behaviors you’ve identified.
- Insights from leaders on how to handle perceived barriers related to unions and tenure.
- An intervention plan to move forward with your difficult employee.
Overview
Join us for a hands-on workshop on managing challenging team behaviors with the EM & EM model. You’ll learn four structured steps to engage, set expectations, address non-compliance, and protect team dynamics. Tailored for the complexities of higher ed—tenure, unions, and leadership layers—this session offers practical strategies for real-world challenges.
Bring your toughest cases and practice essential conversations with peers. Leave with a customized intervention plan and the confidence to handle difficult discussions with ease.
Learn the EM & EM Model
Jeanne Hey’s EM & EM model has helped hundreds of higher education professionals to manage difficult members of their teams. We’ll cover her scaffolded model, taking you from engagement to minimization. Through time to reflect on your own situation and role-plays involving common cases, you’ll master:
- Engagement – in this first step, you’ll learn how to clearly articulate the problem your difficult person faces, actively listen, acknowledge other perspectives, set standards and expectations for behavioral change, and schedule a follow-up with continued support.
- Management – should engagement not resolve your situation, you’ll strategize how to rearticulate the problem with a stronger emphasis on expectations, building upon the methods employed during engagement.
- Enforcement – if engagement and management fail to address performance or conduct, the final chance for behavior change is enforcement. This requires you to establish expectations and consequences for non-compliance, involving Human Resources if needed. You’ll learn how to develop a behavior modification plan, facilitate a formal meeting to address your concerns, and document the process.
- Minimization – the final step in the model is minimization, only to be used in situations where you cannot take effective disciplinary action. You’ll learn how to minimize or remove the impact of the negative conduct in question on others, and when it may be appropriate to do so.
Who Should Attend
This program is aimed at supervisors, managers, and leaders from all levels in higher education, including but not limited to associate directors, directors, department chairs, deans, associate deans, vice presidents, and associate vice presidents.
No matter where you work on campus, if you’re looking for new strategies to help you gain confidence in communicating with your most challenging team members, this workshop is for you.
How You’ll Use This to Move Work Forward
- Deans & Department Chairs – Manage faculty who are neglecting teaching or service, or who are disrupting meetings, with proven techniques in redirecting behavior.
- Divisional Leaders & Program Directors – Create a culture of addressing difficult behavior in your program or division.
- Faculty & Staff – Gain strategies to supervise your employees more effectively by balancing empathy and authority.
- Senior Leaders & HR Professionals – Learn from the model to build training programs on your campus around addressing difficult behaviors.
Bring a team! Register 3 or more people and save more than $1,000! Discounts will be automatically applied at checkout.
Past Attendee Breakdown
What makes our events different?
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 ➞
Grow Leadership. Maximize Your Budget.
Empower your team with professional development that pays off. Our Workshop Group Packs help you build leadership capacity while saving money. Discounts are automatically applied at checkout.
What Our Attendees Are Saying
Pricing
March 12 - 13, 2026 | Baltimore, MD
- Member Price: $2,245/person
- Non-Member Price: $2,495/person
- Team Discount: $2,000/person (for 3 or more)
Additional optional add-ons are available at checkout
July 9 - 10, 2026 | Orlando, FL
- Member Price: $2,245/person
- Non-Member Price: $2,495/person
- Team Discount: $2,000/person (for 3 or more)
Additional optional add-ons are available at checkout
Questions About the Event?
Rabia Khan Harvey, M.Ed., MSHR
Senior Learning & Development Manager, Academic Impressions
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