Leadership Reconsidered:



Leadership Reconsidered:

Engaging Higher Education in Social Change

Executive Summary

Several years ago, the W. K. Kellogg Foundation convened a panel of outstanding educators and practitioners under the direction of Alexander and Helen Astin to look at the environment for leadership in higher education, with a particular concern for how colleges and universities could more fully engage and better serve society through conscious attempts to model new forms of leadership. "Leadership Reconsidered" reflects a broad cross section of perspectives from within the academic community and also represents the work of the Kellogg Foundation, which has been a long-time advocate for the role of higher education in promoting social change. The James MacGregor Burns Academy of Leadership at the University of Maryland has produced this executive summary and other materials designed to present the report to the widest possible audience.

Chapter 1

Higher Education and the Need for Change

What can be done about the poor quality of leadership that currently characterizes much of American society? A dozen prominent scholars and practitioners on the issues of higher education and leadership have come to the conclusion that higher education institutions must share some of the responsibility for the problem and need to make dramatic changes -- in curricula, teaching practices, reward system, governance process, and institutional practices, values, and beliefs -- to contribute to the solution.

In Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education in Social Change, a 100-page monograph published by the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the scholars contend that higher education institutions can produce future generations of more effective leaders by:

• intentionally encouraging the development of leadership in all students,

• seizing on opportunities to model effective leadership,

• replacing hierarchical, individualistic, and competitive styles with collegial and collaborative ones, and

• reaffirming campus connections to the community and to the common good.

Chapter 2

Principles of Transformative Leadership

Who is a leader? "A leader," the report states, "can be anyone -- regardless of formal position -- who serves as an effective social change agent. In this sense, every faculty and staff member, not to mention every student, is a potential leader."

What is quality leadership? Leadership Reconsidered stakes out new territory by suggesting ten qualities -- five group traits and five individual ones -- that define effective leadership. They are:

Group Individual

collaboration self-knowledge

shared purpose authenticity/integrity

disagreement with respect commitment

division of labor empathy/understanding of others

a learning environment competence

Leadership to what end? The report's authors agree that quality leadership will work "to enhance equity, social justice, and the quality of life; to expand access and opportunity; to encourage respect for difference and diversity; to strengthen democracy, civic life, and civic responsibility; and to promote cultural enrichment, creative expression, intellectual honesty, the advancement of knowledge, and personal freedom coupled with social responsibility."

Chapter 3

Students Have the Power to Lead

Why teach leadership? According to the report, all college students need leadership development because "leadership is no longer the province of the few, the privileged, or even the merely ambitious," and "leadership skills are needed in virtually all areas of adult life." In addition, the report states that leadership development can enrich the undergraduate experience, give students a greater sense of control over their lives, and prepare them to live and work in society.

A key principle in this chapter: Any student, regardless of position or formal organizational affiliation or title, can learn to exercise leadership and make significant changes in the institutional culture on campus.

Preparation for leadership takes place in the classroom -- when students see themselves as learners and teachers, work in groups or teams, and are actively involved in discovery -- and outside the classroom -- in athletics, student government, ethnic student organizations, subject matter clubs, volunteer activities, and so on. To be effective leaders, students must bring the core principles of quality leadership (see Chapter 2) to their decision making and interaction with others.

When students exercise campus leadership, they "become more deeply involved in and committed to shaping the educational experience -- for themselves and for others" and are more likely to exercise leadership in their lives beyond college.

Chapter 4

The Leadership Role of Faculty

College and university faculty play key roles in shaping future leaders. In addition, they have the opportunity to provide leadership in their field of scholarship, in campus life, and in the larger society.

By incorporating and modeling the ten traits of effective leadership (see Chapter 2) -- by, for example, team teaching or developing interdisciplinary curricula -- faculty members can help create a culture of collaboration, not competition. If they approach peer review, for example, with self-knowledge and authenticity instead of defensiveness, they can create a more productive environment. If they teach students, for example, with a respect for disagreement, that behavior can become the norm for others.

To help create community, faculty must keep certain typical attributes in check -- namely, an excessive need for autonomy, an excessively strong allegiance to their discipline, and a belief that only top-level administrators can initiate change. Getting beyond those barriers allows faculty to "begin the process of creating an institution that models the just, civil society in which we all want to live."

Chapter 5

The Leadership Role of Student Affairs Professionals

Student affairs professionals have a history of success in preparing students for civic and community life, but, the report states, "their own full potential as institutional leaders has yet to be realized."

To maximize their leadership potential, student affairs staff need to meet student needs with careful attention to values such as empathy, competence, patience, and self-awareness. They need to allow students to make their own mistakes, so they can learn from them, and encourage students to take on major campus leadership roles. Like students and faculty, student affairs professionals need to recognize that they can exercise leadership, regardless of their job title or status within the institution.

The report notes "several very promising trends that offer tremendous opportunities for student affairs professionals to practice leadership and to develop their leadership potential for the overall benefit of the institution." These include: service learning, leadership development programs, community service activities, living/learning communities, campus retention initiatives, efforts by universities to become more student centered, the growing emphasis on civic responsibility, and orientation courses for freshmen.

Chapter 6

College Presidents as Leaders of Institutional Change

Leadership Reconsidered implores college presidents -- and vice presidents, deans, and provosts -- to incorporate and model the ten traits of quality leadership in all aspects of their work. Specifically, college presidents must model collaboration by continually forming leadership groups -- committees, cabinets, and ad hoc groups -- that facilitate decision making.

"If the president is able to model the principles of transformative leadership in her dealings with her cabinet and if she openly advocates that cabinet members do the same with their immediate colleagues," the report states, "she could well create a ripple effect that can transform the culture of an entire institution.

Chapter 7

We Have the Power and the Opportunity to Transform Our Institutions

"This book," write the scholars, "is intended to serve both as an invitation and as a stimulus. Our hope is that it will help us to think and converse more deeply about the challenges of leadership and about how our academic behavior is forcefully shaped by our beliefs and expectations."

The authors note that the higher education environment, unlike, say, a business environment, has special attributes that facilitate change, including:

• individual autonomy and academic freedom,

• an atmosphere that welcomes and expects critical thinking,

• "new starts" presented by new semesters and administrative leadership transitions,

• celebrations -- convocations, retreats, award ceremonies, graduations, etc. -- that provide the time and opportunity to focus on shared purpose and collaborative work, and

• mission statements that provide "a kind of conceptual launching pad to initiate change."

The major obstacle to change within higher education is not, as many might presume, a lack of resources, the report notes, "but rather our own limiting beliefs about ourselves, our colleagues, and our institutions."

Leadership Reconsidered leaves readers with several tips on exercising transformative leadership and practical suggestions for starting the conversation about change.

"In sum," the scholars write, "each one of us has the power and the opportunity to begin the conversation and to set the process in motion, and each of us can identify peers and colleagues who can participate in collective work around the practice of transformative leadership."

For additional information or to order copies of Leadership Reconsidered, go to academy.umd.edu or call 301/405-6100.

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