Faculty and staff consistently report that they rely most on their direct supervisor and department head for information about priorities, change, and direction. When managers fail to communicate strategically, they create an “information vacuum.” That vacuum is quickly filled by rumor, speculation, and uncertainty, which erodes engagement and trust. The article below highlights three essential ingredients of effective communication and offers three practical everyday tips for improvement.
Not every voice in your team gets equal airtime. Valuable ideas or suggestions can remain quiet, even in your most collaborative meetings. In higher education, where innovation, experimentation, and cross-department collaboration drive success, missing these perspectives can lead to missed opportunities for improvement and disengaged employees who don’t feel heard. Explore practical, everyday strategies supervisors can use to bring hidden ideas to the surface, ensure contributions are recognized, and strengthen the connection and commitment of every team member.
You've likely heard the term "psychological safety" used in leadership articles and workshops. Too often, it’s described as a concept, mentioning its importance for collaboration, innovation, team climate, performance, and resilience. The challenge is understanding what it looks like in your daily work.
As a supervisor, how do you create psychological safety on your team? (Hint: It's not about making everyone comfortable or getting them to agree with each other.)
Do you ever hesitate to speak up because you don’t want to upset a good working relationship? In higher education, where collegiality and collaboration are highly valued, many supervisors struggle with the tension between being liked and being respected. It’s a common dilemma, especially for those leading former peers. However, focusing too much on likeability can lead to harsh consequences, from unresolved conflict to diminished team trust.
Whether your summer is packed with student orientations, onboarding, and prepping for fall -- or gives you a rare break to tackle long-delayed projects -- it’s a valuable time to pause, take stock, and make intentional choices as a leader. In this issue of Leadership Insights, you’ll find curated tips and reader favorites to help you recharge, refocus, and lead with purpose.
Managing up is about being thoughtful and strategic in how you work with your supervisor, so that you can get the support you need, share your ideas effectively, and move important work forward. It’s not about managing your manager, it’s about making the relationship work better for both of you.
“They’re great in some areas… it’s just this one thing.” Sound familiar? Many managers struggle to hold people accountable when performance is strong but inconsistent. Whether it’s an employee who drags their feet on less interesting tasks or someone who sticks too closely to what’s comfortable, it’s tempting to let things slide. But over time, this can quietly undermine your team’s success. This article explores why managers hesitate to coach around performance and how to shift from avoidance to effective accountability. Learn how to have the conversations you’ve been putting off, without damaging trust, morale, or your own confidence.
Some employees actively seek out feedback, reflect on it, and grow. Others resist it—either because they lack confidence or because they believe they don’t need to improve. So what's the key to coachability? Getting confidence at the right level. In this article, we explore how confidence and coachability interact, why some employees are in the "I Can’t" (lacking confidence) or the "I Don’t Care" zone (overconfident), and offer practical strategies to guide them into the "Learning" zone, where real growth happens.
Higher education’s relentless pace isn’t slowing down—demands on faculty and staff continue to grow, making it harder to focus and easier to feel drained. When your time and energy are pulled in every direction, how do you regain control and stay engaged? The key isn’t a complete overhaul of your routine but small, intentional shifts that help you prioritize what truly matters.
This month, we present a two-fold approach: first, a mindset shift that refocuses your energy on what you can control, and second, a practical strategy for structuring your week to boost clarity and productivity. By identifying meaningful work and tackling tasks you've been avoiding, these five simple yet powerful actions can help you regain focus, reduce stress, and reignite your motivation.
