Leadership in UK's Higher Education system
Dr Tarek Jomaa
At the Intersection of Motorsport Engineering & Leadership: Empowering Sustainable High-Performance Cultures | Founder & CEO | Executive Coach | Dr in Engineering | ?? Global Keynote Speaker
Misconception about leadership?
A basic search on Google will come up with the definition of leadership as the process where executives direct, guide and influence the behaviour and work of others towards accomplishment of a specific goal or target .
While such definition holds some truth in it, when talking about influencing others, it is still far from representing an accurate definition of leadership. In fact, Kouzes and Posner (2019) challenge the myth that leadership is found only at the highest level of organisations. They identify leadership as a set of skills and practices available to everyone, not limited to few charismatic individuals with "lofty titles and positions" (Kouzes and Posner, 2019, p.25).
The reality about leadership in UK's Higher Education?
The Higher Education Leadership and Management survey (HELMs) revealed that 25% of respondents identify top leaders' traits as relating to the people in the right way rather than a top-down approach.
This finding highlights a major concern for higher education institutions when building their leadership teams, which confirms my observations from working closely with many leaders in this sector. It appears to be great confusion between management and leadership; The road to leadership in higher education is usually paved by following a very specific structured approach to career progression in management and/or research.
Leadership roles in higher education are exclusively reserved for line managers, heads of departments, and other similar positions. 66% of respondents on the HELM survey stated that " higher education leadership requires a set of attributes and skills that differ from those needed in other sectors" (HELMs, 2016, p3, p25), and as expected, the majority who held this view were people who never worked outside higher education.
The survey pointed out other main concerns such as the lack of support and resources when it comes to staff professional development, alongside the lack of clarity on the pathway to formal leadership career path in higher education (HELMs, 2016).
The current impact
The misunderstanding of leadership combined with the lack of diversity in the experience leads to the previously mentioned "top-down approach", where the strategic leadership team try to enforce changes and regulations on academics. This approach looks more like managing a process rather than leading people which quickly pulls the organisation's culture further away from its own values.
It usually results in a detrimental effect on the work environment due to excessive micro-management, and an increase in the disconnection between leaders and academics which fuels the growing sense of "us vs. them" (Clair, 2020, p16).
Another interesting result emerging from the HELM's report was that despite the majority of respondents benefiting from a flexible work approach, their stress level remained high. "Academics who were more likely to report flexibility in their hours were also more likely to not be satisfied with their work-life balance and were less likely to be able to cope" (HELMs, 2016, p.7).
Is it all bad?
Not really! The HELM survey revealed some positive aspects reflecting how higher education is slowly trying to move away from the classic approach to leadership. In fact, a large minority of respondents (41%) reported that their institutions have a leadership talent identification programme.
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On the other hand, 90% reported benefitting from a formal mentoring relationship to help their progression, and 88% reported participating in leadership development activities during the past 12 months (HELMs, 2016). It shows staff desire to contribute and their motivation to progress.
Intrinsic factors such as challenging work and opportunities for learning and development and social factors such as a positive work environment filled with respect and inspiration were classified as the most important motivator at work (HELMs, 2016).
What makes you a great leader?
In a nutshell, great leadership relies on supporting your team members in finding meaning and value in their work, which depends on your deep understanding of what motivates and challenges them.
There is no one-size-fits-all approach, every individual is unique when it comes to motivation, fear, and preferences. Great leaders are effective communicators who demonstrate a high level of empathy and invest time in connecting with their people at a deep level.
Last but not least, successful leadership relies upon adopting diverse leadership styles. As Goleman (2017) pointed out, leaders who master four or more leadership styles, where coaching is one of them, have the best climate and business performance.
The measure of leadership is, in the end, not what you do, it is what you make possible.
R. St. Clair