Archives

Managing Change as an Inclusive Leader

Learn how inclusive leaders invite and normalize disagreement to better lead and implement change.  Overview Inclusive leadership requires that today’s leaders think about and understand change differently. Change is no longer a once-in-a-while ‘initiative’ that needs managing but is instead a constantly occurring process. And not everyone sits on a level playing field along the way: inclusive leaders must develop a greater awareness of their own blind spots and attend to the process they follow when leading change. Whose perspectives are being sought and heard, and whose aren’t? Who is the change serving, and who is it impacting? How can you invite and productively navigate through disagreement and conflict as change unfolds? Join us online to explore what managing change looks like in today’s higher education context for inclusive leaders. You will come away with: A more contemporary lens on change management. A greater understanding of how your own positionality and power impact the way you lead change. Specific tips and strategies for inviting and normalizing disagreement and conflicting viewpoints during the change process.   Who Should Attend This training is designed to be suitable for higher-ed leaders across all levels and functional areas. Both academic and non-academic leaders are invited […]

Mindful Leadership for Chairs

Practice mindful leadership as a Chair by gaining perspective, making more intentional decisions, and setting clear boundaries with others. Overview When separated from its contemplative framework, mindfulness boils down to three core principles that are essential to effective leadership: gaining perspective, making intentional decisions, and setting clear boundaries with others. Department Chairs need all of these skills to be successful in their roles, yet amid today’s chaotic environment, the space and time to develop them can be hard to come by. Join us for an online training designed to help you lead with a clearer mind and sense of intention. We’ll break the concept of mindful leadership down into practical, approachable terms and offer tools to help you navigate the daily challenges of leading as a Chair, such as: Clarifying issues with your faculty, diffusing emotions around them, and holding the line. Drawing clear boundaries around your role and what is and is not possible. Recognizing complex organizational challenges and putting them into perspective. Understanding the tensions inherent within your decisions.   Who Should Attend This training is intended for any incoming or existing Department Chairs who want to develop a greater sense of control, agency, and personal efficacy in […]

Setting up the Supervisory Relationship: Understanding and Adapting Your Supervisory Style

Build and deepen the supervisory relationship with new and existing staff members. Overview Developing a strong supervisory relationship with each staff member goes a long way in ensuring future success for both the individual and the team. In order to accomplish this, you must understand and be able to articulate your own supervisory style—and learn how to adapt it to the styles and work preferences of your team. Having this shared understanding of styles on both sides will help to anchor the supervisory relationship and fortify it in the face of the challenges that naturally occur in our day-to-day work.   You will leave this two-hour virtual training with a deeper understanding of your preferred supervisory style, of how and why you might adapt it for individual staff members, and how to engage in productive conversations with new or existing direct reports to build a strong supervisory relationship. You will also complete a useful pre-event exercise to better understand yourself as a supervisor to ground the work of the training.   We will explore key questions like the following: How do you identify and articulate your own supervisory style?   How can you come to understand the work styles of your direct reports? […]

Developing an Advancement Intern Program

Create a career pathway for undergraduates, from internship to a position in your advancement shop. Overview Providing a pathway for talent development can help ease the staffing constraints that advancement shops are currently facing. With a shortage of talent available due to competitive salaries and aggressive recruiting, one solution you can implement now is developing an undergraduate internship program for your shop. Your institution likely has many students interested in joining the non-profit sector upon graduation. There’s no better place to introduce them to non-profit operations such as fundraising, donor engagement, and data analytics than in your institutional advancement shop. Introducing interns to this work connects the student intern’s career aspirations to a non-profit culture, while also providing techniques for cultivating relationships and managing projects. Join us for this highly valuable program to learn how Trajan Dubiel, Director of Development, leads and continues to grow the Advance-U Internship Program at Michigan State University. Who Should Attend This program is for advancement leaders who want to develop career pathways for undergraduates interested in joining the non-profit sector. AGENDA July 26, 2022 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Eastern The Cohort Experience Advancement internship programs can look different depending on the needs of […]

Beyond Salary: An Uncommon Strategy to Recruit and Retain Advancement Professionals

Apply a non-traditional recruitment strategy for a high return-on-talent-investment. Overview Good development professionals are hard to find—and even harder to retain. This challenge becomes greater if you’re at a smaller institution with a tighter budget that is competing against larger institutions, as well as the non-profit sector, for top fundraising talent. To improve your results in recruiting and retaining the fundraising talent you want, and, on a budget, you may want to consider a non-traditional strategy and approach to identifying new talent. To retain your new development team members for at least three years, you’ll need to adopt a thoughtful six-month onboarding strategy that inspires ownership, autonomy, and recognition. In order to do this well, you must first lean into these individuals’ specific personality traits, from internal drive to problem-solving, professionalism, and accountability. Join us in this webcast to learn how Nichole Fannin, Executive Director of Development and Annual Giving at the University of West Georgia, leads their department’s efforts in a high return-on-talent-investment for their recruitment and retention efforts. Who Should Attend This webcast is for leaders of development teams, from annual giving to frontline fundraising, who want to improve their recruitment and retainment outcomes to inspire successful and […]

Selecting a Vendor to Augment Your Student Success Efforts

Drive student success by building vendor partnerships for data management. Overview As institutions increasingly use data and technology to drive decision-making, it is important to have ways to efficiently collect, store, and parse that data. But with so much information to store and manage, institutions often need good partners and solutions to aid in managing their data. Many institutions have therefore turned to working with outside software vendors to help manage student retention and engagement. Institutions often have more than one of these outside vendors and work with campus IT professionals to integrate those software tools into their daily work. But how do institutions decide which vendors will help them to be the most successful? Join us for a 90-minute virtual training where you’ll learn the considerations that go into selecting and communicating with a new vendor for student success. Our expert Joseph Connell will discuss what questions you should ask of potential vendors and your on-campus staff to help you decide what the best support looks like for you. You will also learn to create a timeline for onboarding a new vendor for your institution. Once you have selected your vendor, please join us for Onboarding a New Vendor […]

Optimize Your Success as an External Dean

Gain valuable lessons learned and insights from other external deans to help you hit the ground running in your new role.  Overview As an externally appointed dean, you are expected to hit the ground running, making quick and impactful decisions from Day One. Leading through this change can be tricky, as you will often need to navigate conflicting perspectives from the administration and faculty on which direction to go, as you also define your role in shared governance, identify trusted allies, and make decisions even with incomplete information. Join us for a 90-minute discussion that will provide you with insights and lessons learned from other external deans. Our instructor panel includes two different speakers — one who has served in a variety of external leadership roles at multiple institutions — and the other who just completed her first semester as external dean. If you’ve been asking any of the following questions, this training is for you: How do I research and understand the issues, challenges and opportunities within my college? How do I determine my role in shared governance? Who should I trust, and how do I figure that out as early as possible? Where should I invest my time, […]