As a Senior Learning and Development Manager at Academic Impressions, Jess leads AI’s strategy and content development for our inclusive leadership and women’s leadership programs, creating engaging learning experiences for faculty and staff to expand their self-awareness, work effectively and mindfully with others, build high-performing teams, and collaboratively lead strategic initiatives. Prior to joining Academic Impressions full-time, Jess served as a subject matter expert and educator for Academic Impressions while serving in her role as the Assistant Dean of Students and Title IX Deputy Coordinator at Loyola University Chicago. She has worked in a variety of capacities within higher education, including student success, conflict resolution, student conduct, Title IX, and gender equity. Jess holds a BA from John Carroll University and an MA from the University of Cincinnati. She holds a certificate in Women in Leadership from Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead Executive Education Program and has completed Chicago’s Center for Conflict Resolution 40-hour Mediation Skills Training.
Over the years, I have had the opportunity to work with over 100 senior teams and cabinets in higher education. Overall, the experience has been quite positive due to the intelligence, dedication, aspirations, and integrity of those veteran leaders. Unfortunately, about 10% of teams I have worked with just never performed well, despite great effort and talent. This article is an attempt to conduct a “post mortem” on the teams that just didn’t make it. These mistakes go beyond some of the essential elements of stellar team performance, such as having a shared purpose, holding each other accountable, open and trusted communication, and high levels of trust. All these are very important, but the absence of these was not responsible for these talented teams’ failures. The following five “mistakes” may sound like common sense, but they are often overlooked when leaders at colleges and universities are building their teams. For a limited time only: We have opened up our leadership content to registered users. Please login or create a free account to read the full paper. 1. The team leader falls prey to the “comfortable cloning” syndrome. “Comfortable cloning” describes our natural tendency to seek out other team members who are similar to us or who […]
Greg Giesen provides both professional development and OD consulting services for faculty and staff. With a Master’s degree in Personnel Services and Counseling from Miami University, Greg brings over twenty-five years of experience in corporate consulting, training, facilitation, and conflict mediation. In addition, Greg is an adjunct graduate professor at DU’s University College, The Center for Professional Development, and Academic Impressions. He is the author of three books on Creating Authenticity, including his latest, Mondays At 3: A Story for Managers Learning to Lead. Greg also speaks around the country on authentic leadership and facilitates his award-winning program, Leading From Within.
As Chief of Staff, you are often faced with implementing changes and initiatives set by the President, Board, and Executive Cabinet. Your role can be challenging especially when it comes to conflicting or disconnected initiatives. As those around you express concerns and ask questions regarding changes, it is your job to address them while also advancing the mission of the University and the goals of the Board and President. Join us for this hour-long virtual session to learn practical negotiation and communication strategies you can utilize to help implement the initiatives of your Board and President. You will leave this training feeling more confident to successfully collaborate with and support them.
In higher education, as in other sectors, managers tend to prioritize individual talent over team chemistry. This is a mistake. Consider a sports team. The individual talent of the star players isn’t enough to ensure victories for the team. The best players have to do more than just score points, block shots, or play great defense. If you watch any sport and you listen to the announcers, you’ll find a recurring concept discussed. The very best players are judged not by their individual abilities, talent, or statistics, but by how much better they make their teammates. The best quarterbacks make their receivers, running backs, and even offensive linemen better. The best safeties make their defensive compatriots better. The best point guards make their teammates better. The mark of the truly great player is that she makes her teammates better. In your office, at your college, or at your university, this means your “star players” have to do more than get along with their colleagues; they should also positively affect their abilities and attitudes. They have to lift the productivity and effectiveness of the entire team. When you realize this, it has practical implications for who you promote (and why), for how you approach […]
Most recently, Dr. Souza was the Faculty Associate for Inclusive Excellence for Humboldt State University and a Fulbright scholar at the University of the West Indies in Barbados. She is a consultant on communication and pedagogy, and she has published in such areas as difficult dialogues in the classroom, addressing microaggressions with micro-resistance, communication climate, instructional communication, and intercultural conflict. Her current research is on difficult dialogues, participation, and stereotype threat in the college classroom
This learning plan offers a mix of webcast recordings, short lessons, job aids, and other learning materials that will help you improve your supervisory practices, whether you are a brand new supervisor looking to learn the ropes or a veteran with more specific goals in mind. This plan brings together the four areas of supervision we are most often asked about: getting started, conflict & communication, delegation, and performance appraisals.
Your team is growing more diverse every day; this includes across different generations from across generations. Each generation has its own preferences and values that motivate them, and it’s important to understand those differences in order to build a cohesive and resilient workplace culture that maximizes individual and team performance and minimizes conflict. With almost a quarter of the labor force set to retire in the next decade, it’s crucial to recognize the contributions of all generations of workers. Join us online to learn: Research that highlights the benefits of addressing the needs of your different generations. Strategies for how to motivate and coach your age-diverse team, so that they feel engaged in their work and have the tools to better understand and collaborate creatively and productively with each other. How to respond to and address interpersonal conflict that may arise within your team with an awareness and respect for the different generations. You’ll walk away with greater confidence in knowing how to communicate and engage across generational differences.
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:
ON-CAMPUS WORKSHOP Leading and Influencing as a Department Chair Designed for institutions that are looking to invest in the development and success of their department chairs as leaders and managers. This workshop is a great fit if you want a leadership program: that’s highly practical and skills-based troubleshoot scenarios that department chairs will face during their tenure provides practical advice and skills that every department chair needs develop tools and tactics to help your department chairs be successful in their duties sharpen the skills needed to both manage and lead an academic department to improve the strategic vision of your academic department and faculty colleagues targeted at aspiring, new, and experienced department chairs Get More Information for Your Campus Complete the form below and an Academic Impressions Program Manager will follow up with you to discuss the on-campus workshop and options for your campus. Notice: JavaScript is required for this content. No Fields Found. Which Format Is Right for Me? Don’t take it from us – See it for yourself. Trying to decide whether an On-Campus Workshop is right for your team before committing? Come to one of our conferences to see for yourself how we are different and […]
