The Challenge
As part of a reorganization, several new Department Chair positions were created for faculty to assume leadership roles. The roles were designed to take about 25% of their time, with the assumption that they would continue to assume their faculty responsibilities.
The faculty were challenged by learning the new role and forming a new team, given their limited leadership experience. They needed to balance how to assume their new responsibilities while maintaining their current workload in teaching and research.
The Tandem Solution
We set up a series of coaching sessions over 9 months to help the Chairs sort through their new priorities and to how to balance their workload so they may be successful in all their roles. We focused on critical leadership skills including how to create shared priorities, set expectations and boundaries, advocate for change, coach new faculty members, address conflict, and demonstrate self-care.
The Results
The three leaders developed a strong, unified, and trusting team that moved from reacting to student and faculty needs to setting a clear agenda for change and establishing a common set of practices that set the foundation for the culture that would best support student and faculty success.
Are You Ready to Work in Tandem?