Bridge-Building Leadership

Joining up the university

Richard Sharpe, Managing Director, Elementa Leadership

AUA Yorkshire and North East Conference

November 15th 2013

Elementa Leadership works extensively in UK higher education and believes that HE is

critical to the success of the UK’s growing knowledge and innovation economy and

that it is essential that HE is sustained, protected and encouraged to flourish if the UK

is to achieve it’s economic and societal goals.

About Elementa Leadership

Elementa Leadership is an organisation development

consultancy. It works in partnership with its clients to

develop greater strategic agility. The consultancy was

formed in October 2008 by Richard Sharpe, formerly

Associate Director, Leadership, with The Work Foundation.

Our work is informed by a strong evidence base drawn

from organisational psychology, management theory

and ‘whole systems’ thinking.

We have significant practical international experience

of working at strategic and senior levels, across sectors.

About Elementa Leadership

Elementa Leadership has organised two US study visits for UK HE leaders, as a part of

our ongoing research in to the ‘Agile University’. These have included meetings with

senior leaders and key staff at Columbia, NYU, University of Michigan and Ohio State

University.

Ongoing public sector retrenchment

Changes in funding and policy direction (decreasing government financial

support)

Prospect of institutions being allowed to ‘fail’

Intensification of global and local competition (including the prospect of

private universities and increased competition for international students)

Students as customers? What is the ‘student experience’?

Research, REF & Impact

The impact of technology on teaching & learning (MOOC’s)

Adaptive Challenges that UK HE Faces

Fit between an Organisation and its Environment

Jones, 2004

The ability of the university, as a living human system, to thrive

on and learn from continuous waves of change such that

change becomes a natural and inevitable part of organisational

life and not an isolated and threatening event. The ability to

continually develop new capabilities and improve upon those

that already exist, as a source of sustainable strategic

advantage.

Strategic Agility

Bridges, Connections and Collaboration

An Interconnected Future – The Future of Global HE

Research Partnering around the world’s great problems

Transnational Education Collaboration

British Council, 2013

Partnering with Students

Partnering with the City Region

Interdisciplinary (Collaborative) Research

Building a new Academic / Administrative Interface

What are the blocks to more effective collaborative

cross-boundary working in your University?

Discussion Point

The Seven Key Collaborative Factors

1. The partners have a shared, specific interest of purpose that they are

committed to and can’t achieve (as well) on their own.

2. The partners want to pursue a collaborative solution now and are willing to

contributed something to the effort.

3. The appropriate people are at the table.

4. The partners have an open, credible process.

5. The effort has a passionate champion (or champions), with credibility and

clout.

6. The partners have trusting relationships.

7. The partners use the skills of collaborative leadership.

Linden, 2010

Linden’s Collaboration Framework

Appropriate People

Open Process

Shared Goals

High Priority CHAMPION

Linden, 2010

1. Tolerance for ambiguity is “the ability to accept lack of clarity and ambiguity

and to be able to deal with it constructively”

2. Behavioural flexibility is “the ability to adapt one’s own behaviour to

different requirements and situations”

3. Communicative awareness is “the ability to establish relationships between

linguistic expressions and cultural contents, to identify, and consciously work

with, various communicative conventions of foreign partners, and to modify

correspondingly one’s own linguistics forms of expression”

Leading Across Boundaries –The Intercultural Competence Assessment (INCA)Byram et al, 1997

4. Knowledge discovery is “the ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture

and cultural practices and the ability to act using that knowledge, those

attitudes and those skills under the constraints of real-time communication

and interaction”

5. Respect for otherness is “the readiness to suspend disbelief about other

cultures and belief about one’s own”

6. Empathy is “the ability to intuitively understand what other people think and

how they feel in concrete situations”

Leading Across Boundaries –Intercultural Competence Assessment (INCA)Byram et al, 1997

In the Denial stage, individuals must learn to recognize the existence of cultural

differences.

In the Defence stage, people can diminish their polarized perspectives by emphasizing

“common humanity” and similarities in needs and feelings.

In the Minimization stage, a person needs to develop cultural self-awareness and learn

that even if there are similarities between cultures, there are also a lot of differences.

In the Acceptance stage, individuals must refine their analysis of cultural contrasts,

making cultural differences the focus and practicing cultural frame-of-reference

shifting.

In the Adaptation stage, one must perfect one’s cultural frame-of-reference skills and

increase one’s ability to empathize with others.

Bennett’s Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

Strategies for Working Across Different Cultures

Linden, 2010

Respect difference; don’t allow them to overshadow the commonalities.

Work on relationships; take time to let trust grow.

Become “bilingual”; take time to decode other culture(s).

Do real work together on a common goal.

Co-locate staff from several agencies or units in the same space.

Identify and use the strengths of each organisation.

Make needed systemic changes when trying to alter an organisation's culture

(in order that it can build and sustain collaboration across cultural

boundaries) .

What does a Bridge-Building Leader do?

EMPATHY THROUGH LISTENING

AND CURIOSITY

TRUST THROUGH

HUMILTY AND AUTHENTICTY

COURAGE TO HAVE THE DIALOGUE

CO-CREATES SHARED

PURPOSE AND ‘BUILDS

COMMUNITY’

SEEKS ‘WIN-WIN’ HIGH QUALITY

OUTCOMES

ENGAGES AND INFORMS

STAKEHOLDERS

CREATES A LEGITIMISED ‘ROAD MAP’

VOICE

EQUITY EXCELLENCE

COMMUNITY

A POST-HEROIC LEADERSHIP MODEL

© Elementa Leadership

Achieves deep empathy with and understanding of others’ perspectives and encourages everyone

to do the same

Builds trust by acting authentically with humility- being open and transparent

Courage to actively ‘step in’ to contested ‘sites’ and conflict and engage in dialogue

Co-creates Shared Purpose promoting a sense of ‘voice’, control and influence (more pull less

push) and community. Can handle ambiguity and uncertainty.

Looks for collaborative win/win high quality outcomes and solutions (will not readily accept

mediocrity) to meet shared interests (equity and justice).

Keeps key stakeholders ‘on board’ as ‘champions’ and does not surprise these stakeholders or

‘blindside’ them (Political skill)

Develops a ‘legitimised’ strategic framework (goals, priorities and strategies) and process for

sustainable collaboration and/or partnership – building confidence with successful ‘baby steps’

first

What does a Bridge-Building Leader do?

Think of your University’s best Bridge-Building leaders

Who are they?

and

What do they do that others don’t?

Reflection Point

The Re-Invention of the

Academic / Administrative Interface

(The foundation of the ‘Agile University’)

A Job for Bridge-Builders?

Model One:

Command and Control (Don’t Trust the Academics)

Model Two:

Avoidance / Consulting to the Void (Don’t upset the Academics)

Model Three:

Partnership and Collaboration (Let’s Work Together)

The Current Academic / Administrative Interface

The Provost’s encountered took the academic mission as the core of

their role and orchestrated a range of academic and administrative

staff and services to best support this mission and the academics that

were key to its delivery.

These role holders were all established academics who had at some

point in their careers opted to pursue a managerial route.

There appeared no confusion or lack of clarity in the

academic/administrative interface.

Lesson from the US - Appoint a Provost

The Provost’s appeared to act as ‘bridge-builders’ between the

academic and administrative communities and as a result it appeared

that a productive, solution orientated focus occupied this space.

The Provost’s seemed to find it relatively easy to identify problems

and opportunities and to get the right people around the table to find

appropriate solutions.

Lesson from the US - Appoint a Provost

An Integrated framework for Planning,

Performance and Accountability

A new bridge that will join up the university

Complete our Bridge-Building Leadership Self Assessment Questionnaire

and find out if you are a:

Master Bridge-Builder

Effective Bridge-Builder

Apprentice Bridge-Builder

Bridge Blocker

How effective a Bridge-Builder are you?

Launching December 1st 2013

Email

richard@elementaleadership.co.uk

Web

www.elementaleadership.co.uk