American Higher Education is my current textbook for a class I am taking toward a certificate in higher education administration. As expansive as its title, the book paints with broad strokes across current issues and events that affect all areas of higher education. The book is in its third edition and the focus has changed with each. In the first edition, published in 1999, Altbach, Berdahl and Gumport (2011) list, "multiculturalism in the curriculum, racially based admissions procedures, violence and hate crimes on campus..." among other topics as the focus. In the second edition, published in 2005, they note, "the emphasis on the values of the free market...the correct path to improvement and prosperity was that of deregulation, decentralization, privatization, globalization, information technology, reinventing government, and total quality improvement" as the focus. With the third, and current, edition, the focus is on four A's: Access, Attrition, Affordability, and Accountability.
This book is a comprehensive text and one that I would recommend if you work in the field or plan to do so in the future. I personally found chapters 4, Academic Freedom, and 15, Curriculum in Higher Education, to be most related to my field, and therefore the most helpful. In my position in Academic Services, I support students and faculty achieve their academic outcomes. I assist them best by understanding the industry (this book as one resource), as well as policies and procedures of the institution.
Strengths-Based Leadership has been a good resource for me as I mentor staff using a strengths-based approach. I speak about StrengthsQuest in my "Best Finds" page of the blog. This leadership book takes "strengths" to the management level offering a pragmatic approach to getting the most from your team. Readers take the Clifton StrengthsFinder online assessment and, similar to the program we use with students, the results identify your top five themes of talent. The difference between the two (StrengthsQuest and StrengthsFinder) is that this book takes the 34 themes of talent and groups them into four leadership domains; Executing, Influencing, Relationship Building, and Strategic Thinking. The idea is that the best teams include representation from all four domains.
In my little Idaho, this works well. I often split my classes (students or employees) into these domains and then choose teams that include representation of all four to do a project or case study. The end result is more diverse than if they chose their own teams, which tend to be composed of like-minded individuals. Like-mindedness leads to the same solution over and over... never a good thing in our changing world.
Switch is a great resource when you work in higher education. The book leads the reader through a series of steps toward leading change (when change is hard). The book "unpacks" a three-part framework that can guide the reader in any situation where behavior needs to change. Part one) Direct the Rider. What looks like resistance is often a lack of clarity. The "Rider" is people's rational side. Part two) Motivate the Elephant. What looks like laziness is often exhaustion. The "elephant" is people's emotional side. Part three) Shape the Path. What looks like a people problem is often a situation problem. Heath & Heath (2010).
In the past six years with my current institution, I have gone through two Vice Presidents, Two Provosts, and moved my office four times. My job has been reclassified twice, and I'm working on a title change. All of this in six years! "Change is certainly coming", my professor said recently, and he is right. This book gives the reader clear direction on how to "shrink" the change into manageable chunks. There is a set of free resources that the purchaser can download. I use the workbook that summarizes the steps over eight concise pages.
At the end of the book, the authors provide a resource guide including a list of twelve common problems that people encounter as they fight for change, and advice from the authors using the model. Here are their twelve:
Problem 1: People don't see the need to change.
Problem 2: People resist because they say, "We've never done it like that before."
Problem 3: We should be doing something, but we're getting bogged down in the analysis.
Problem 4: The environment has shifted, and we need to overcome our old patterns of behavior.Problem 5: People simply aren't motivated to change.
Problem 6: I'll change tomorrow.
Problem 7: People keep saying, "It will never work."
Problem 8: I know what I should be doing, but I'm not doing it.
Problem 9: You don't know my people. They absolutely hate change.
Problem 10: People were excited at first, but then we hit some rough patches and lost momentum.
Problem 11: It's just too much.Problem 12: Everyone seems to agree that we need to change, but nothing's happening.
Heath & Heath (2010)
I have highlighted the ones that speak to me on both a professional and personal level.
Problem 3. I have been involved in so many focus groups and planning committees I've lost count over the years. I feel frustrated when there, in my opinion, is no solution presented. It could be because my strengths lend themselves more toward the "elephant" than the "rider". This book has helped me see that we need to identify the analysis paralysis and motivate the elephants (the "me's") in order to stop planning and get moving.
Problem 8. I sometimes get so caught up in doing other things that I don't do the things I should be doing. I need to be mindful of my "elephant" and tweak the environment. For example, make a list and do the tasks on the list so as not to get sidetracked. This is a typical elephant issue. The only way I get my exercise in is to schedule it on my calendar like an appointment. Otherwise I end up on email the entire day putting out fires.
Problem 10. This is very commonplace in my institution. We get excited about a new trend and try it for awhile until it stops "sticking". The solution, according to Heath & Heath, is to create habits. If the change becomes habitual there's less backsliding. I can see this in myself when I bought a planning calendar. I was having difficulty planning "work on projects" time. I had no problem tending to the every day issues and crises. I just couldn't get into a habit of p l a n n i n g. This book helped me see that scheduling time to plan would help. Honestly, it's a work in progress and a constant struggle between my elephant (crisis planner and problem solver) and rider (plan the work and work the plan).
I recommend this book to anyone who deals with change, or leads change in their careers. I also recommend this book to those of us who need to make a change in our lives - even something as simple as losing weight.
