Reframing Academic Leadership. Lee G. Bolman

Part II Reframing Leadership Challenges

      Part II focuses on the big picture: how to understand the basics of academic leadership and respond to the challenges of institutional complexity. Colleges and universities, like all organizations, operate simultaneously on four different levels. They need a solid architecture: an appropriate institutional structure with rules, roles, policies, and procedures that channel resources and human talents into activities that support campus goals. At the same time, they must address the dynamics of human nature and create work environments that facilitate motivation, satisfaction, and productivity. Enduring differences of all kinds lead to incompatible campus priorities, power struggles, and the ongoing need to manage conflict. Finally, every institution needs a culture that aligns with its mission and values and provides the symbolic glue to coordinate the activities of many.

Leading in such a demanding environment is not easy. Effective academic administrators need diverse skills, strategies, and understandings. The next four chapters are written to provide those. Chapter 4, “Building Clarity and Capacity: Leader as Analyst and Architect,” addresses how academic leaders can best structure their work, their institutions, and the processes of change and continuous improvement. Chapter 5, “Respecting and Managing Divergent Agendas: Leader as Compassionate Politician,” encourages leaders to understand and productively manage the political dynamics that are an inevitable feature of academic life. Chapter 6, “Fostering a Caring and Productive Campus: Leader as Servant, Catalyst, and Coach,” discusses what leaders can do to improve the alignment between people and their workplaces. Chapter 7, “Keeping the Faith and Celebrating the Mission: Leader as Prophet and Artist,” explores the power of viewing colleges and universities as theaters and temples that ultimately rely on their leaders’ capacities to build meaning and faith.

      The central idea at the heart of these four chapters is that reframing academic leadership – deliberately choosing to look at leadership challenges through multiple perspectives – is a powerful and essential tool for institutional success. The work of academic leaders is too diverse – and the purposes too important – for simplistic thinking. Reframing becomes possible and powerful when you can bring multiple, coherent ways of understanding the complex realities and requirements of the work. Developing skills and confidence across multiple leadership frames prepares academic administrators for the range of situations they will face.