New Academic Year, New Role: Advice for New Provosts from Other Higher Education Leaders
As we enter the new academic year, many people across higher education institutions will be starting out in new leadership roles. Learning from the experience of others who have occupied similar positions is one way for those taking on new roles to gain valuable insight — and help them make an impact.
During conversations for our COACHECast podcast, we asked current and former provosts from a diverse range of institutions what advice they would give to someone starting in the provost position. Read on to hear about their advice, and other insights from their conversations for COACHECast.
Hone Your Active Listening Skills
It might seem obvious, but deliberately creating time and space to listen to a diverse group of stakeholders is a critical starting point for new provosts and leaders.
“Listen, listen, listen,” says Dr. John Zomchick, Provost, University of Tennessee, Knoxville. “Make yourself available to the faculty, to students, make yourself available to the faculty senate.”
Dr. Lisa Sullivan, Provost and Dean of Faculty, Mount Holyoke College and former Provost at Harvey Mudd College, says that listening is both an important first step for new provosts and an important opportunity to get orientated. “There's going to be a moment very soon... when the concerns come to your door and the tasks are there to be done,” says Sullivan. “But there's a moment right at the beginning where you can just exhale and listen and get your bearings.”
Dr. Susan Carlson, Professor Emerita, University of California, Davis, and Vice Provost Emerita, UC Office of the President, notes that, of course, “At an academic institution, there are always people who will not agree with you.” But, she says, “It's really important to listen to them [as well].” She adds that physically getting out of your office is an key way to make your mark as part of the community.
Seek Out Diverse Voices and Perspectives
Carlson’s comments speak to the fact that sometimes, even if you are listening, you might only hear the loudest voices, or only some points of view, so it’s essential to actively seek out diverse voices and to hear a range of perspectives. And, if you are coming from within an institution, be sure you don’t simply default to preconceptions you might bring with you into the role.
Sullivan says every new leader in higher education needs to be out having conversations with as many members of the community as possible. “Insider or outsider, what you need are the set of views of institutional opportunities and challenges so that you can begin to assemble a picture of what the community is looking for you to accomplish,” she says.
In our conversations with leaders, they noted that data from COACHE surveys is one way that provosts can hear from a broad range of faculty and understand their perspectives on a range of issues. “One of the advantages of drawing a community into processes of data collection and data analysis and data transparency are the opportunities to bring to the fore perspectives that are silent,” adds Sullivan. “And at Harvey Mudd, and it’s clear this will be true at Mount Holyoke as well, the opportunity to hear those different voices, to make them visible in processes that have garnered trust, it’s a critical element for institutional improvement.”
Surround Yourself with Great People
Another common theme that emerged from leaders was the importance of surrounding yourself with a great team so you can accomplish more than you could as an individual.
“You can't do it all alone. You need other people. Those other people are around you for very good reasons,” says Dr. Nicolle Parsons-Pollard, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, Georgia State University. “Whether it's your assistant, your associate provost, your deans, your other colleagues who sit on the cabinet with you — really embrace the fact that, together, you can really move the needle on things where seldom can you do it all by yourself.”
Parsons-Pollard notes that new leaders coming from a faculty perspective may be used to being siloed: “It's my class, it's my curriculum and I get to decide how I'm going to teach that.” But ultimately, she says, success in the provost role requires one to figure out how to be a great team player.
Zomchick highlights the importance of having people around you who aren’t afraid to speak their minds. “Surround yourself with people who will let you know if they think you’re heading in a direction that might not be best for the university,” he says. “None of us have all the answers. And I like to think that, in my career, I’ve learned more from others than others have learned from me.”
Recognize that the Work of a Higher Ed Leader Is Not Linear
When he looks back on his time as Dean of Faculty and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Skidmore College, Dr. Beau Breslin says he proud of the accomplishments under his watch, but that it took him several years to learn that any plan he put in place was subject to be torn up and started over gain.
“Nothing you do as a chief academic officer is going to be linear,” says Breslin. “There are going to be moments where different influences, different power centers, different voices come into the mix, and you have to be able to pivot.”
Several leaders we spoke to talked about projects that didn’t turn out as they expected. But some leaders also felt that the ultimate outcome was better than the original plan and better received because it balanced a range of perspectives.
Sharpen Your Communication Skills
Especially when it comes to implementing key initiatives, working through change or navigating a bumpy road, several leaders highlighted the need to focus on communications.
“Most of what faculty want is for you to value them and to hear them, and if you are not communicating with them, you ultimately start behind the eight ball,” says Breslin.
“I try to make it clear to people that, when I know, I’ll make sure you know. And I will also tell you when I can’t say something,” says Parsons-Pollard. “I think it’s just as important to be transparent with people as it is to let them know that you also understand confidentiality, because there will be times when they want you to hold things confidential and they need to understand that works both ways.”
Zomchick also noted the value of communication in the provost role. “No matter how much pre-work that you do, if you don’t communicate and meet again, and again, and again, with the faculty who are most concerned about changes to their daily work life, then, you’re at a terrible disadvantage,” he says.
Not all communications are positive or easy, and no initiative will ever satisfy every stakeholder. “There’s a lot of sensitivity when you raise issues of maybe everything’s not right,” says Carlson. She notes that sharing information about the process itself is another worthy consideration in communications. “Not everybody will get exactly what they want, but I think seeing how that process unfolds and being a legitimate player in it, that’s an important thing.”
Parsons-Pollard offered a similar sentiment. “Really having the difficult conversations, even when it might not be the best information that you can provide, is also helpful to the process as well,” she says.
Find Common Ground
While faculty is a primary stakeholder for provosts, there are many others in the mix, who may have greatly differing perspectives, from the president, the board or legal, to students or even legislators. It’s important to build and manage relationships with a wide range of stakeholders, both inside and outside of the institution.
Breslin says that so much of his time was spent trying to enhance and advance the ideas of faculty that sometimes he neglected other constituencies, like the board and other cabinet members.
Zomchick agrees that it’s not an easy task. “That to me is the biggest challenge: managing expectations from the outside, on the inside, and seeing if somehow we can come together and ... say that there may be really important topics that we disagree on, but can we find common ground on those topics that we do agree on?”
Parsons-Pollard also notes the challenge of finding common ground: “It seems that we end up at different poles oftentimes, but I think the first thing is trying to figure out what can we all actually agree on... Finding some area that touches a particular group and is important to them I think is often key to that,” she says.
Keep Your Eye on the Big Picture
From creating new mentoring programs, to building new facilities, to implementing a new strategic plan, all of the leaders we spoke with talked about delivering large scale and transformational change at their institutions as they strove to create progress and improvements for their faculty and their institutions. This is vitally important work of higher ed leaders, especially those in the provost’s role but, of course, it takes a lot of hard work and dedication. “It’s really hard work. You’re changing the culture in this work, and you’re often redefining academic priorities,” says Carlson.
“You have to prioritize it,” says Breslin. “If you allow yourself to get overwhelmed with the day-to-day tasks it can easily eat up the time and energy you might have for thinking bigger or into the future.”
Know What Drives You and Keeps You Energized
In leadership roles that can be “difficult, challenging, sometimes underappreciated”, it’s important to find ways to stay inspired and energized.
One obvious theme emerged: “Why would anyone want to be an academic administrator if you didn’t want to make your institution better? It wouldn’t be worth it. It wouldn’t be worth all the work.” says Carlson.
Echoing other leaders we spoke to, Zomchick highlighted two groups at the heart of the institution that keep him energized: students and faculty. “Actually getting out on the campus, walking the campus during class change, seeing, feeling, the energy [of students]... it's contagious,” he says. “The other thing... is to look at the dedication of our faculty, whether it be in research, scholarship, creative activities, or what they do in the classrooms.” Zomchick says the fact that faculty “give their all — they give more than their all every day,” drives his work. And he is sure to tell others the same: “Never, never, never miss an opportunity to say that, without the faculty, there is no university.”