Next Steps: Distributed Leadership
While some are tempted to see these results and jump immediately to strategies for fixing problems, others know that institutional change is more effective and sustainable under models of distributed leadership. At COACHE, we have learned from our partners that analysis and sensemaking are a community process. Treat this document and the full report as a discussion guide, not a report card. Engage your faculty as partners in improving the workplace. Leverage their skills, expertise, and their personal experiences. Thoughtful, transparent engagement establishes trust among faculty. How you engage your faculty throughout this process is just as important as any policies or programs that result. Very few things can be accomplished in the academy without trust.
The remaining pages of this preview pose questions for you to consider, alone or with your team, as you begin this endeavor. In the next few weeks, COACHE will host several online events where you and your team can ask questions and engage with other teams. These events are free of charge to our partners and are designed to give every institution the opportunity to plan for a successful dissemination strategy. We will also share some additional materials, including:
- A series of video tutorials for navigating and interpreting your full report
- Sample meeting agendas
- Discussion guides for your team
- Promising practices from other partner institutions
Your CAO Report contains additional materials that describe how to dig deeper, build communication plans, disseminate broadly, take ownership, and engage with peer institutions. If you are ever in doubt about what to do, call us. COACHE succeeds only when you are equipped to create the conditions in which faculty do their best work.