Academic Leadership in a Time of Change

Gretchen M. Bataille

The Emeritus College is a wonderful source of information on the ongoing work of our colleagues, and I marvel at the accomplishments that are communicated to the rest of us. When I saw the invitation to contribute to Emeritus Voices, my first thought was that I don’t have a recent major publication and certainly don’t have a witty anecdote to contribute. But I realized that I have had a window into the changes in higher education during the past nine years that provided observations about how college and university leaders have had to change their approach to leadership. These changes accelerated with the recent pandemic and have been exacerbated by the ongoing politicization of higher education.

Since I retired from the American Council on Education in 2013, I have consulted with presidents and chancellors as they transitioned into new positions, desired to make mid-course corrections or were establishing new leadership teams. I established GMB Consulting Group, LLC and also joined ROI Consulting Group, LLC. as a strategic partner. Since that time, I have worked with both public and private institutions as well as multiple state systems. In every case, leaders addressed the most recent crisis or responded to political, financial or personnel changes, and they were looking to the outside for insights, guidance and support. Initially, the issues were those that would be familiar to anyone with experience in higher education, but almost everything changed two years ago. Today, leaders are confronting crises that are not of their own making and sometimes create new crises when they

try to respond to change.

Today, responses to COVID dominate conversations on campus, even as student support, teaching, research, fundraising and maintaining facilities still have to be addressed. At the same time, politics has become even more intrusive on campuses, whether the issues are vaccination mandates, racial conflict, attacks on the curriculum or issues of identity and inclusion. Until the past two years, leaders had the luxury of taking time to address campus issues, to consult widely and to engage in meaningful conversations with the campus community and external constituents. But in the past two years, leaders needed to ramp up quickly in environments where often no one was on campus and only Zoom could connect them visually with their colleagues.

What I have learned over these years is that higher education continues to evolve and change, but that some basic principles undergirding our institutions remain constant. There is certainly more change and turbulence today than in those halcyon days of the past. Peter Drucker was ahead of all of us when he said, “A time of turbulence is a dangerous time, but its greatest danger is a temptation to deny reality,” There are unprecedented challenges facing university leaders today and the successful leaders have recognized that yesterday’s logic and, in fact, yesterday’s policies, practices and assumptions simply don’t fit today’s social, political or technology environment.

This has been obvious in responses to COVID-19. Campuses quickly pivoted to delivering courses online, commencements have become virtual, and administrators work remotely and use Zoom effectively to communicate, despite burgeoning “Zoom fatigue.” The higher education press is full of stories of heroism in the face of epidemic-size outbreaks, political challenges to mask mandates and the realities of the costs of addressing a changing environment. Most university leaders expected that 2022 would bring some relief, but instead all are facing new challenges, and campuses now see more exhaustion and uncertainty.

Academic leaders are pondering if they can be creative enough to reframe leadership in ways that will guide their institutions into the next “normal.” Can they address current-day issues and at the same time insist that their leadership teams focus on strategic growth opportunities in this disruptive environment? What new or underutilized leadership skills will be required? What “sacred cows” will be sacrificed on the altar of COVID-19? How will leaders address diversity, inclusion and equity to ensure faculty, staff and students all have the same opportunities for success?

Leaders and their teams now define leadership differently, using terms such as “agility,” “adaptability,” and “system thinking.” Campuses are considering what the physical space means in this environment. Campus planners are considering the benefits of an alternative model to working in office structures, and instead are incorporating working remotely with repurposing of office space. Leaders are asking what the new model of philanthropy and development will be without the hugs, skyboxes and perks that donors have come to expect. Leadership teams must also role-model skills and behaviors that signal that the next normal will not be the last new normal, but a journey towards challenges barely discernable on the horizon.

What must stay the same amidst these changes? Every campus has experienced the influence of technology, and that isn’t about to change. Movement to action is much quicker, however, because there is not time to weigh all the pros and cons of a new LMS system or to ponder whether or not to deliver a town hall on Zoom. In fact, using technology to mentor new faculty and to support students is becoming even more critical as the face-to-face opportunities diminish.

Relationships must be maintained even though stopping by an office for coffee is often no longer possible for a new president’s or a new administrator’s “meet and greet” and tours become virtual. Prospective students tour campuses online rather than visiting the Union, classrooms and residence halls. Staff are less likely to speak up about their distress on Zoom calls. Understanding who is worried about testing positive and which faculty and staff are reluctant to come onto campuses that have moved to in-person modes has become a part of every leader’s new knowledge base.

What I have observed is that new presidents, as well as those who have successfully navigated their institutional environments for many years, now will need to see the opportunities rather than the threats in the current situation. They will need to be all right with what they don’t know, and they will have to rely on others for many key decisions about technology, health risks, diversity initiatives and process improvement. They will also need to be effective at both building a strong team, now often remotely, and developing team skills for collaboration and cross-divisional tasks. What is happening on campuses now is a reframing and reimagining of leadership styles, structures, and practices.

The new year must be one of overcoming pandemic fatigue and rebuilding within universities and colleges. Academic leaders must figure out where the campus is on the journey from heroic to disillusioned and must be able to recognize the ongoing signs of stress among faculty, staff and students. Work boundaries need to be determined. Work from home is often 24/7, leading to more frustration, fatigue and domestic problems. Campuses need to establish a realistic framework for the future and determine which organizational structures need to change in order to accommodate a workspace that changes from week to week. Reimagining faculty and staff work is critical, and events need to include spontaneous happenings rather than always being transactional. Employee and student groups will always need to be engaged, but that engagement is changing and decisions often need to be made without the consultation that representative groups would prefer, so all groups need to be empowered as much as possible. Overall, university leaders need to rethink every aspect of campus life, determining the hybrid model that is needed to carry on the work of the university. In response to the current environment and the challenges it produces, leaders have new pressures to respond within a compressed timeframe for change. In an almost static environment of the past, leaders had to push to initiate action. Today, these leaders have been pushed into a highly reactive mode.

What I see for the future is that all leaders must continue to model best practices, to learn from one another and to always demonstrate a focus on care and well-being for everyone in the university community. Universities have to move from ten-year strategic plans to 90-day planning. To do any less is to shortchange the students who depend on our colleges and universities and our faculty and staff to create an environment for the academic, social and emotional growth we have come to expect from our universities.