Higher education institutions often struggle to reconcile their desire for change with an ingrained resistance to it. Academic leaders recognize the imperative for bold, innovative thinking while remaining unable or unwilling to loosen their grip on established practices, even when financial solvency demands it. This persistent mismatch leads to a precarious dynamic where institutions hire talented, forward-thinking individuals only to find their capacity for change is far less than anticipated.
The biggest risk we take in higher ed is not taking risk; not risking change.
And it’s not so complex. For example, as a young social worker I was hired to educate k-12 schools about suicide prevention in response to a rash of suicides in my state. While I developed my talks, I also developed a policy. To be effective everyone in the school from the principal to the custodian needed to be trained to recognize suicide risk and to intervene. Teachers wondered why they were sitting next to the lunch ladies. The custodians marveled that they were not there to deal with throw up. Everyone received the same training and the same mandate to act. I also insisted that this was not a one hit workshop, but a series of workshops aimed at teaching and practicing skills and empowering responsiveness. The result? The entire school was able to act in concert to deploy new skills. Competence and agency replaced apathy and helplessness. Referrals to the school social worker increased. Distressed children were identified, and staff acted in concert to intervene. For the year I followed the district–there were no suicides.
Drawing on an example from higher education—I was hired as a dean for a declining graduate school. The faculty were fearful and fatalistic. I drew the faculty and staff together and asked how we could increase enrollments. Then I watched as they cannibalized their own ideas with vicious attacks on those brave enough to suggest change. They were lodged firmly in stasis in a rapidly changing academic profession which brought a cascade of failures—a stale curriculum, a lack of student engagement, and a downward trend in enrollments. I immediately established rules for pitching ideas that protected creativity and rubrics for evaluating them. The result? Faculty and staff began to generate ideas rather than demolish them. They began to problem solve instead of sinking into self-sabotaging complacency. Those who could not make the shift had to leave. New ideas were evaluated by a task group for financial cost and benefit and then handed to the entire faculty for endorsement and then to a second task group for the development of an action plan. The result? The culture changed from one of passive acceptance to empowered agency, the culture changed from a teacher-centered focus to a student-centered focus and students became more excited about learning. And enrollments? They went through the roof as this school became the second largest graduate school and one of the largest revenue generators at the institution.
The takeaway is clear: Higher education’s future demands more than bold vision – it requires the ability to transform ideas into concrete, scalable action. Today’s institutions need leaders who are both innovators and orchestrators, capable of aligning people, processes, and policies toward a common transformative goal. Like conductors of a magnificent but sometimes weary symphony, these leaders must bring out the best in every section while creating harmony from diversity. And just as every musician in an orchestra brings their own expertise, creativity, and passion to create something greater than any individual could achieve alone, every member of the academic community must actively engage in the process of transformation. When visionary leadership works in concert with committed individuals, higher education can fulfill its essential role as a catalyst for social progress and economic vitality.
The challenges facing higher education are significant, but they are not insurmountable. With leaders who understand how to conduct the orchestra while co-composing new melodies for the future, our institutions can evolve from places of resistance to centers of renaissance. The time for transformation is now. The score begs to be written.
daniellewozniak 