There is a persistent illusion in higher education professional development: that a well-designed coaching program, once launched after a standard RFP process and the selection of vendors, simply runs by itself: coaches get paired with participants; assessments get administered, sessions get scheduled and held… and somewhere along the way, leaders are expected to emerge, transformed […]
Tag: institutional culture
The Competent Outsider: Bridging Institutional Silos and Driving Strategic Alignment in Higher Education
What puzzles me to no end is how many higher education leaders still view and treat their institutions as mechanical systems that can be overhauled with a new strategic plan handed down from the President’s office or “fixed” by replacing a proverbial squeaky wheel in the form of an employee who won’t fall in line. […]
The Integrated Megaphone: Reframing College Athletics as a Campus Leadership Laboratory
As coaches and leadership advisors to colleges and universities, we often see academic institutions struggling with deep administrative silos where leaders work in parallel rather than together and at times even negate each other’s efforts. One crucial player in bundling strategic initiatives, as I discovered in my conversation with Tanya Vogel, former athletic director and […]
Big Lives on Small Stages: Rethinking Leadership Coaching at Small Colleges
I have long argued that our institutions of higher learning are far more than simple mechanisms with replaceable parts – and not one is exactly the same. These complex adaptive human ecosystems also differ significantly by institutional type and determine where every interaction carries extra weight. When I wanted to explore this dynamic during a […]
Coaches as Translators: Why Higher Education Coaching Demands an Institutional Dialect
I have spent a significant portion of my career exploring the unique and often puzzling ecosystem of university administration. When I spoke with James Walton, President of Collaborative Brain Trust, on my podcast, Coaching in Higher Education, our conversation quickly took a fascinating turn toward the business side of our field and a truth that […]
Let’s Talk about Silos
Silos are everywhere in higher education – and not just out in bucolic pastures in the Great American Heartland. I have always believed that disciplinary and functional silos are, ultimately, the bane of every institution’s existence and a major contributor to its possible or eventual downfall. Why? Because they both represent and are sustained by […]