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Leadership Development Resource Center

Materials for developing and supporting academic leaders

Topic

This resource center shares a collection of leadership development materials, compiled during over 100 research interviews with senior academic leaders, association heads, and directors of on-campus and external programs. The materials—documents, templates, samples, and tools developed at colleges and universities across the country—are organized in two ways: 1) by sub-topic area and 2) according to the role (e.g. chair, dean) that the materials support.

Because creating effective leadership development programming often requires a substantial time investment, this resource center can be used as a starting point, or it can serve to build on existing on-campus programming.

EAB Resources

These resources were compiled through EAB interviews and analysis.

Institution-Provided Resources: Tools for Developing On-Campus Programming and Support

The resources below were provided by research contacts at colleges, universities, and state systems. You can explore resources by topic or by role.

Tools By Topic

Materials in this section are organized by sub-topic to assist members with implementing various components of on-campus leadership development programming.

Action learning projects

Action learning projects are typically included as a component of programs for high-potential leaders. Projects provide participants with “stretch roles,” which allow them to apply their skills to an unfamiliar functional area and/or to build new skills. Project topics often focus on an area of strategic importance, thereby contributing to an institution-wide initiative while also providing a development opportunity for participants. Action learning projects are usually completed in small groups of four to eight participants, facilitating interaction between individuals from various departments and functional areas of the college or university.

Senior administrators are often assigned to action learning groups as “project sponsors,” providing contextual information and guidance on project scope and progress. Some institutions also designate one member of each action learning group as a participant-coach. Participant-coaches create time and space for group members to reflect on the action learning project process, suggest course corrections, and recognize lessons-learned.

Case studies

Case studies or “business cases” are learning tools used to teach analytic skills such as problem-solving and decision-making in particular contexts. Often, case study analysis is not focused on participants reaching a “correct” answer or recognizing clear cause-and-effect relationships; instead, the aim is for participants to explore each situation, hypothesizing various approaches to addressing the issues presented in the case scenario.

Case study exercises can be particularly effective when conducted in small groups of six to ten participants. This setting allows participants to practice skills related to teamwork, communication, and consensus-building, while also honing their analytical skills. Some institutions have had success creating home-grown case studies based on real-life scenarios that campus leaders have faced.

Choosing external partners

External consultants and partner organizations can be useful resources for institutions in developing and delivering on-campus leadership development programming. However, because external partners lack institutional knowledge and context, program leaders should ensure that the topics and skills being taught by external partners align with the objectives of the leadership programming and with institutional goals. Also important is selecting programming that is carefully structured and incorporates adult learning techniques.

Development planning

Development planning is focused on helping employees cultivate strengths and new skills that will be useful in both current and future leadership roles. Fundamentally, development planning involves three steps: 1) identifying development objectives; 2) determining relevant internal or external development opportunities; and 3) reflection on training, progress, and appropriate next steps.

Development planning resources include templates for individual development plans and also tools that assist faculty or staff with their own development planning, such as self-guided questionnaires.

Examples of just-in-time support resources

In addition to a year-long skills-focused curriculum, new chairs can be supported through easy access to policy and procedural information which is available on a “just-in-time” basis—as soon as an issue or question arises. Such support resources can include detailed guidance for frequently asked questions, commonly used communication templates, sample readings, and administrator handbooks.

Example chair handbooks

Labor-saving leadership communication templates, embedded in online administrators’ handbook (Florida State University)

Executive coaching

Different than in decades past, executive coaches are commonly used in the corporate world to support already high-performing leaders and encourage speed-to-readiness in a new role, rather than for remediation purposes. A number of higher education institutions have started offering coaching services as a benefit to senior leaders such as deans. Within higher education, it is critical to “norm” senior leaders to the practice of using executive coaches to support already high-performing staff. One approach that institutions have used to smooth transitions, and to signal that coaching is not solely for remedial use, is to offer “transition coaches” as standard practice when individuals step into a new senior leadership role.

Institutions can further support executive coach use by putting into place a structure which makes it easy for leaders to identify and contract with a local executive coach. Institutions that have worked with executive coaches strongly recommend that coaches have familiarity working in the higher education setting.

Hiring and performance management

Progressive institutions are making additional investments during pre-existing hiring and performance review processes to support academic leaders in their development. These additional efforts assess faculty candidates with potential for future leadership in mind, or provide current leaders with comprehensive feedback from a broad range of stakeholders.

Marketing and program promotion

Email alerts and informational flyers inform and remind the campus community about leadership development opportunities. When such reminders are sent by senior academic affairs officials (e.g. provost or president), in-house leadership programs garner greater credibility with faculty members and potential participants.

Program evaluation

Periodic program evaluations assess the topic relevance and delivery efficacy of leadership development programming. In addition to end-of-year evaluations, post-session evaluations assess particular speakers or exercises.

Sample application forms

Applications screen interested participants for appropriate levels of experience and commitment to development; they also allow program directors to craft a cohort of participants most likely to learn from each other.

The sample applications provided below include varying components, including participant contracts and essay requirements. Some leadership development programs allow for two types of applications: self-nominations and supervisor recommendations. Forms may also state the time commitment required of program participants, and/or require supervisor approval, in order to ensure that participants and their supervisors are aware of program requirements.

Session facilitation

Designing leadership development content that is skills-focused and relevant is necessary, but not sufficient, for providing effective training and support to academic leaders; development must also be skillfully facilitated. Day-long modules should be interactive and broken up into “lecturettes,” with frequent discussion periods that prevent delivery from being overly didactic. Program leaders can help ensure that small group discussion is constructive and aligned with learning objectives by pre-establishing rules and norms.

Tools By Role

Additionally, the above resource center materials have been organized into role-specific categories; members looking to develop specific constituencies within their institution will find this organizational structure useful.

Chairs

Department chairs play a major role in making decisions that ultimately impact whether institutions meet major, longer-term strategic goals; one study concluded that 80 percent of institutional decisions take place at the departmental level.

Despite the number and magnitude of decisions that chairs make on a daily basis, most receive surprisingly little preparation for their new role, when contrasted with the preparation provided to managers with a similar level of responsibility in other sectors. Outside of academia, those in leadership roles typically begin getting supervisory experience early on in their careers; new leaders also receive ongoing, formal support and feedback to assist them in developing as managers. In contrast, faculty often spend decades in academia before becoming chair, and frequently the position is the first time they have assumed major management responsibilities.

While only a small fraction of chairs receive any formal training before moving into their role, progressive institutions provide ongoing development to chairs through a year-long curriculum focused on building management skills, rather than a one-time training at the beginning of the year. Training sessions are most effective when content delivery is grounded in the tenets of adult learning theory; interactive sessions that use case studies and simulations are more likely to have a lasting impact on participants.

Best-practice institutions also make policy and procedural information available to chairs on a “just-in-time” basis, rather than conveying it all at once through a didactic orientation. Online resource portals for chairs—including answers to frequently asked questions, key dates and events, and templates for common correspondence—provide critical information to chairs when they need it, and in a format that is easy to access and navigate.

Session facilitation

Case studies

Program evaluation

Examples of just-in-time support resource

Example chair handbooks

Labor-Saving Leadership Communication Templates, Embedded in Online Administrators’ Handbook (Florida State University)

Development planning

Deans

For a variety of reasons, the leadership development approaches that work best for chairs—such as classroom-based instruction and peer mentoring—are not the best strategies for developing deans. New deans usually step into the role with significant prior academic leadership experience, and thus their strengths and development needs tend to be less uniform than those of new chairs. The dean role can also vary significantly from college to college, even within the same institution. Further, even at a large university, only a few new deans assume leadership each year, which makes developing and sustaining a cohort-based program for new deans logistically untenable. For all of these reasons, deans require development approaches that are more individualized and self-directed.

To provide individualized development support for deans, progressive higher education institutions are making “transition coaches” available to new deans as standard practice. These institutions know that it is critical to educate senior leaders about the practice of using executive coaches to support staff who are already high-performers, and to contract with executive coaches that have significant experience working in the higher education setting.

In the dean role, direct and specific development feedback becomes potentially more important, but also more infrequent and unreliable. By implementing a focused feedback system that allows a range of department stakeholder to submit upward feedback, progressive institutions provide deans with actionable, constructive criticism that is aligned with the dean’s scope of responsibilities and the strategic goals of the college.

Executive coaching

Hiring and performance management

Hi-Potential leaders (Hi-Pos)

Cohort-based programs designed specifically to develop a cadre of faculty and staff leaders at the institution who are ready to move into senior leadership roles are known as high-potential development programs or “Hi-Po” programs. Hi-Po programs are aimed at accelerating the development of a small group of already high-performing leaders; best-practice institutions reserve participation in their Hi-Po program for only the top five to ten percent of the institution’s emerging leaders.

Because the primary purpose of Hi-Po programs is to build the “bench” of leaders who are prepared to assume senior leadership, participant selection for these programs is based both on candidates’ current job performance and their potential for senior leadership. Institutions practiced in administering Hi-Po programs have also found that by allowing candidates to self-nominate they can surface strong candidates who may not be well known to recommenders.

Hi-Po programs can involve multiple components, such as action learning projects, off-campus seminars, and exposure to the institution’s senior leaders. A critical part of any Hi-Po program is the cohort component; regular meetings that bring together the group of eight to fifteen emerging leaders help participants to form ties that will last well beyond the year-long program.

Action learning projects

Case studies

Choosing external partners

Development planning

Marketing and promoting programming

Program evaluation

Session facilitation

Faculty and staff managers

For a variety of reasons, institutions may choose to extend leadership development beyond academic affairs, to include current and emerging leaders from divisions such as student affairs and business affairs. Smaller institutions may need to expand beyond academic affairs to attain the quorum of participants necessary to form yearly cohorts. In other cases, institutions may want to assure that all leaders have basic management training for legal and compliance purposes. Administrators at institutions that are about to embark on major strategic initiative may find that, by extending development programming beyond academic affairs, they are able to get a critical mass of institutional leaders on board with new initiatives.

toctional development can be organized in a modular format, allowing participants to choose the development sessions best suited to their interests and schedule. Alternatively, cohort-based programs assist faculty and staff leaders in developing networks across the institution that help them to work more efficiently and effectively.

Sample application forms

Action learning projects

Case studies

Marketing and promoting programming

Program evaluation

Session facilitation

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