What is the necessary shift for leaders in the higher education sector and why is it so critical? Where can leaders start to make the shift?
Welcome to the grey zone
While the future has never been fixed, technological advancement is radically transforming every single aspect of human life across all categories of human organisation and society. The HE sector is not immune to such change, and I believe we find ourselves in another historical grey zone moment. Why? Because the depth and breadth of what Ronald Heifetz calls “adaptive challenges” are real and are reshaping the sector on a global scale.
What is the real work of leadership in the grey zone?
A very different landscape is emerging for the sector and the greyness of this new terrain casts a fog, making it difficult to see what is really there. According to a recent research report by Korn Ferry, this moment requires a different type of leadership, not because it is a new season, but because it is a new world.
Ever since the industrial revolution, how we view the world, what we value, and how we educate has centred on purposeful efficiency. As a result, prevailing attention has pointed to a fixing remit of leadership - whether it is strategy, culture or funding, much of the work of leaders involves fixing the status quo. This utilitarian pragmatism has created a challenge for how leaders view creativity and imagination.
The pressures for leaders are real and important. But the challenges emerging in this grey zone are adaptive – in other words, not easily solved, and perhaps not even fixable. The answer, therefore, cannot be leaders who only know how to fix, armed with the relevant fixing tools, fixing skills and fixing experience. It must be work that learns to shape the future and releases human possibility.
A new proposition
Inspired by the globally-renowned artist Makoto Fujimura, a more generative lens through which to consider the work of leadership is proposed – making. As Gianpiero Petriglieri, Associate Professor at INSTEAD points out, leadership is not just about making plans and devising ways to reach goals. But rather, the work of leadership has to do with bringing something to life and then keeping it alive.
What is the terminus quo?
For many leaders in the sector right now, the level and pace of change in the grey zone is bringing with it overwhelm.
As part of the Steering Group who created the Advance HE Framework for Leading in Higher Education for the sector, together we explored how leaders in higher education can respond to the complexity, constraints and advancements of this time. In many ways, the framework provides a terminus quo – a starting point for institutions, whether it is leadership development, career planning or organisational development.
Leader-shifts
I have identified three practical leader-shifts to help leaders develop the capacity and courage to embrace a new world when there is no real knowledge of what it will bring:
- Bring an empty cup
It is tempting for experienced leaders to fill their cup with the learning gathered over time, without reassessing its relevance for a time such as this. Leaders must remember what we have learned is not always accurate or true, and as leaders grow, sometimes beliefs and assumptions are based on incomplete or inaccurate information.
In the Framework for Leading in Higher Education, knowledge is not so much about more but how to make sense of the data and trends to navigate the complexity. So, what if the answer starts not with more learning, but less? Unlearning, much like an empty cup, opens the spirit of possibility and imagination required for making a future not yet seen.
- Adopt a new lens
Humans see what they want to see. But, in the grey zone, leaders must be able to see things as they really are. This means giving up certainty because nothing is assured. If leaders don’t do this, disorientation will only continue, leading to poor judgment and decision-making.
Essentially, this is about the values and mindsets of the leader as identified in the third dimensions of the framework – how leaders view things is how they do things. What leadership mindset helps open the possibilities and imagination essential to creating space for the new? It is not about IQ, but an openness to new evidence and making sense of the data much like Adam Grant’s ‘scientist lens’ and Julia Galef’s ‘scout mindset’.
- Ditch the old map
Much of how we talk about the leadership journey uses language referencing land-based metaphors: landscape, new territory, map-making and pathfinding. Adopting the more recent systems leadership work that captures leading in a chaotic, interconnected and unpredictable world, a more useful metaphor may be wayfinding: navigation, exploring patterns, finding relationships and exercising presence (see work of Margaret Wheatley and others).
This is about the application and skills of leaders as identified in the framework – the exercise, the innovation and collaboration along the journey.
Perhaps then using the words of de Saint-Exupery, the limiting factors are less about the ship and more about the mindset of the captain and their openness to find new horizons on the vast and endless sea. If this is the case, then it is time to ditch the maps and chart the course.
Plotting the course
At this time, I know there is much for leaders to juggle and the temptation to feel overwhelmed and paralysed is only too real. Leadership is not a solo endeavour - it is about connecting intuition to courage and collaborating with people who will help co-create the making of the future. The theory sounds plausible but practicing in a state of chaos is far from easy.
The Framework for Leading in Higher Education takes account of the context and reality, helping leaders chart a course into the future.
While serenity may be the antithesis of the grey zone, there is also no doubt of the need for a positive state of mind. Perhaps for HE leaders there is a starting point to consider in an old prayer – by asking for acceptance for what cannot be changed, courage to change what can be changed, and the wisdom to know the difference.
Karise Hutchinson is a Professor of Leadership at Ulster University and the Founding owner of Illuminaire Leadership – a global institute providing high quality, research-led insight to leaders in private, public and third sector organisations. Karise is also an Advance HE Associate and facilitator on the Strategic Leadership Programme. If you would like to read more Karise’s work, subscribe to her monthly Leadership letters on Substack.