As part of a recent development intervention with academic leaders, I was provided with a head of school job description. The role was described as a “pivotal leadership position”. An extensive list of bullet points followed which outlined the purpose of the role and the key responsibilities. It asked, amongst other things, that the head of school “set and deliver the strategic vision for the school aligned with college and university goals”, “ensure high-quality teaching, research, and student experience”, “lead and motivate staff to foster a culture of excellence and accountability” and “effectively manage the school’s academic, financial, and physical resources”. In short, ‘a key strategic leader’.
This blog draws on my conversations with heads of school, reflecting on their own experiences and how they can be best supported to ensure success.
A unique leadership position
I have long advocated that the head of school role is critical to successful strategy implementation and that empowering heads of school is a strategic imperative for universities navigating complexity. Heads of school are uniquely positioned as drivers of change, ensuring that the university’s broader goals, such as enhancing research excellence, delivering an exceptional student experience, and promoting global and local engagement, are realised. Their influence extends across academic and administrative spheres, from fostering a culture of academic excellence to managing resources and motivating teams to deliver their best. It is this unique position which makes supporting, nurturing, and developing heads of school a critical part of organisational success – and, in my view, a strategic risk for institutions that overlook this.
Balancing competing priorities
I have seen first-hand how the demands of the head of school role have increased significantly over the past few years. On a daily basis heads of school are asked to balance competing priorities, deliver against performance indicators in a context of diminishing resources, and focus on efficiency and effectiveness – all whilst sustaining their own research. I have recently worked with heads of school who feel disempowered and lacking in necessary role clarity, exacerbated by executive teams who want to retain a sense of control in a period of significant uncertainty. In my experience, this only serves to produce reactive forms of leadership, focused on “putting out fires” and “attending to the next crisis”, rather than advancing strategies for sustainable success.
Strategic leader or process administrator?
One head of school I recently spoke to suggested they felt increasingly treated like a “process administrator” rather than a strategic leader. Another leader talked of a growing feeling of “isolation” and “burnout” in the role. The challenges of the role are clear to see, but being a head of school should not be seen as an “unenviable task”. I have seen that those universities who have supported and enabled heads of school to lead as empowered strategic leaders have been better able to adapt to complexity. These heads of school have helped to develop more innovative and energised schools that take an entrepreneurial approach to presenting issues and perhaps, most importantly, are better able to support the well-being of staff and students.
Four key areas for focus
I believe there needs to be a renewed focus on heads of school as strategic leaders. From my experience, there are four key aspects for universities to consider:
1. Support the role transition
Some universities appear to be adopting a sink or swim approach to heads of school new in post. More than one head of school has told me they were effectively “left to get on with it”, whilst another called the early period in the role “disorientating”. There needs to be a more consistent approach across the sector, acknowledging the challenge of stepping into an academic leadership role often “after being a colleague and peer”. An onboarding process including mentoring carried out by leaders with previous experience in head of school roles (“to better understand what the role actually is”), together with more effective leadership shadowing and handover prior to taking up the role (“to understand how things actually get done”), can set new heads up for success.
2. Provide tailored leadership development
Some heads of school have told me that they have “never had any formal leadership development” before taking the role. Heads of school are pivotal to the delivery of successful university strategy, and should be supported as such. Leadership development should be located in the context of the strategic environment the institution is operating within and framed around the ‘real-world’ challenges faced by heads of school. A key part, in my experience, is enabling heads of school to learn from each other as a leadership learning community, sharing leadership experiences (“it’s reassuring to know it’s not just me with these challenges”), reflecting on ‘what has worked well’ and ‘what hasn’t’, and providing critical friend support. Importantly, leadership development should be seen an ongoing process, building the confidence of heads of school to thrive, rather than just survive, in the role.
3. Create the right authorising environment
This starts with the executive team enabling leadership to be truly enacted at all levels. The best performing heads of school feel trusted to act. They are given space to think and act strategically, supported to craft a vision for the school and enabled to follow this through. A vital aspect of this is open two-way communication between heads of school, college/faculty deans, and university senior leadership to ensure that the blocks and barriers that might constrain effective strategy execution are identified and acted upon at an early stage. Where this works well, there is less talk about “them and us”, and “managing up and down” becomes less stressful. With the right authorising environment, heads of school talk of the role being one where “you can make a difference”.
4. Develop a capacity for change
The university should be configured around the head of school as a critical change agent. University systems and processes (including finance and HR) should enable productive ways of working – not get in the way of change and improvement. Too often, I have heard heads of school talk of being “overwhelmed by bureaucracy” and frustrated by the time taken to navigate “redundant systems and processes”. This can leave heads of school unsure “what they can and can’t do” or unclear “who has the authority to make certain decisions”. In my experience, this lack of organisational change readiness often slows or discourages change efforts altogether. Supporting heads of school as change agents should be a key principle embedded into university culture, enabling these leaders to get things done efficiently and effectively.
Universities that empower and enable their heads of school as strategic leaders and key change agents will be best positioned to thrive in a context of emerging new realities. The question for universities is not whether they can afford to support these leaders in a period of significant change, but whether they can afford not to.
by Richard Sharpe, Principal Consultant and Managing Director, Elementa Leadership