Leading in Times of Transition and Change

An important aspect of my job is recognizing shared problems and bringing people together to solve them.

One shared challenge I consistently see that needs the collective wisdom and effort of people across higher education is leadership transitions. We need a strategy guide or playbook for institutions going through a leadership transition that will help campuses maintain momentum or, at the very least, not lose progress in the inevitable reorganization and reorientation that comes with a new president or chancellor.

What should boards focus on to ensure the campus doesn't just hit the pause button while they wait for a new leader to set a different vision?
How do we provide cover and maintain momentum for important internal student success initiatives that are halfway to their goal?
How do we establish an institutional long view for student success improvement that doesn’t get caught in the swirl of changing administrative priorities?

Transition is an inevitability and it’s happening more frequently throughout higher education. Rather than treating transition as an isolated experience facing individual institutions, we should see them as shared challenges in need of a shared solution, harnessing lessons learned across the sector. We should invite expertise across leadership, governance, boards, innovation, and student success to join forces and craft a compendium of knowledge that supports institutions navigating transitions. And once we develop a university leadership transition strategy (including case studies of what not to do and examples of excellence), we should create similar guidance for other administrative roles, because transition throughout the university can too often be an obstacle to innovation.

Transition is a normal part of higher education. It's time we recognize the collective need for a more strategic approach to something that impacts every institution. If we work together, we stand a far better chance of seamlessly navigating leadership changes and delivering on the promise of higher education for all our students.