And Carrie On

As leaders, I often think we end up in positions of leadership because we were good at our prior role. It’s a natural progression. You were good at X thing. Now, lead others to do X thing. However, the process isn’t that linear.

In fact, it’s pretty problematic because often the skills to do X thing, don’t translate to the skills to be a great leader in that area. We focus so much on the skills to be good at X thing, but we often neglect the skills needed to lead others.

Let Me Explain:

This is one example that works really well for this point. The same can be said for many other professions.

Being a fundraiser means you’re usually:

• Not deterred by “no”
• Persistant
• Results-focused
• Transactional minded

These are great skills for a fundraiser, but they may not translate to good leadership skills. Those who want to be good leaders need to have additional tools in their toolbox to help support them in the people aspect of leadership.

Value of Leadership Theories

One of the ways that I have learned to be a better leader is through studying various leadership theories. Understanding the theory of leadership has helped me look at situations within the context of the various theories and understand how to think about my response.

Three Leadership Theories

While there are many leadership theories out there, here are three of my favorites that I think are particularly relevant to higher education.

Systems Thinking

Developed by Chester Bernard, systems thinking is the idea that we are all part of multiple, inter-connected systems. Because systems are inter-connected, impacts to the system in one area will create impacts in other areas. For example, if a MarComm department is working on a major project, it could make the view book late. A late view book means the admissions team may not have it, which could impact recruitment.

Benefits: This theory is really good to understand how things are related, and the impact actions have on other parts of the university. I use it when thinking about how a new initiative might impact others.

Situational Leadership

This is one of my personal favorites! It was developed by Paul Hersey and Ken Blanchard, and it is the idea that we change our leadership approach based on the knowledge of the people and details related to the goal. It’s more complex than this, but a quick example is if we needed a new employee to handle a task, we would probably be much more hands-on than if a more seasoned employee were tackling the task.

Benefits: This theory helps leaders make decisions by taking into account the environment and the skills of the team. It also offers leaders flexibility to meet people where they are.

Conflict Styles

Developed by Killman, conflict styles suggests there are similar ways we, as leaders, handle conflicts. While everyone has a natural style, you can look at the task and the relationship to determine what style makes the most sense for any given conflict. For example, if there’s something that is really important to you and it’s not to me, I might go forward with your approach for the sake of our relationship.

Benefits: This gives leaders a tool to assess how to handle conflicts. In looking at the need to support the issue versus the relationships, leaders have a framework to think about conflict in an intentional way.

Learn More About Leadership

I’ll be hosting a leadership course with Enrollify. The inaugural cohort kicks off September 9. Learn more about it!

I hope you can join us!