By Jennifer McCrickerd, LifeBound Director of Academic Leader Development, Oct 9, 2025

Becoming a department chair represents a significant shift in professional identity, one that often comes with no formal preparation. This is particularly challenging in academia, where every member of a department is an expert in their own right, accustomed to being the authority in their domain. While accomplished scholars, academic professionals are rarely trained to manage other experts, let alone a collective of them. This difficult, unmapped role requires an environment that values productive, collective action over the academic tradition of individual challenge and defense.

This becomes especially true in the current climate of general upheaval in higher education, where political polarization, financial pressures, and a new wave of challenges are reshaping institutional life.

Lack of preparation often leaves leaders to navigate a challenging terrain without a clear map. They are tasked with writing performance reviews, addressing student complaints, and defusing conflicts among faculty. In addition, they facilitate regular departmental meetings, work to make their department's programs as high quality as possible, and implement broader directives from upper administration. The tasks are made particularly difficult because department chairs have to address the performance of senior colleagues who hired them, and the relationships with each colleague predate and are likely to extend far beyond one's time as chair.

Developing a Leadership Toolkit

Just as one's academic expertise is honed over years of focused effort, the skills of a leader are learned and developed. Academic professionals are well-equipped to go toe-to-toe on topics in their area of expertise, but our training has not prepared us for the types of difficult conversations necessary in this role. These include telling a senior colleague their teaching needs to change, giving a good friend a negative performance review, or denying an opportunity to an eager colleague who is passionate but frightens students.

A coaching-based leadership model provides a practical toolkit to master these essential skills. It empowers leaders to approach their new role with a proactive and strategic mindset, replacing reactive measures with thoughtful engagement. A coaching mindset not only improves individual skills but also fosters a more open, less reactive, and more trusting departmental environment. The regularity of departmental meetings is a consistent, often-overlooked opportunity to practice these skills.

This approach helps administrators:

• Create a More Productive Environment: A coaching mindset not only improves individual skills but also fosters a more open, less reactive, and more trusting departmental environment.

• Manage High-Stakes Situations: Coaching helps leaders build self-awareness and resilience to remain composed under pressure. It provides a framework for navigating difficult conversations and helps them shift from a directive to an inquiring approach.

• Ensure Institutional Alignment: It clarifies a leader’s role in the organizational mission, helping them connect their department’s vision with the institution’s strategic plan. This is vital for maintaining a unified front in a polarized environment.

• Cultivate a Stronger Leadership Pipeline: The chair position is a crucial entry point into university administration, making it a critical position for cultivating future leaders. Equipping these leaders with a coaching skillset is a strategic investment that benefits the entire institution by preparing them for increasingly complex roles.

A Coach's Perspective

Coaching is not just an abstract idea; it is a set of skills a leader can use in real-time. The most difficult conversations often take place when a leader is trying to manage a team of experts, each with their own set of deeply held ideas about what is best. A leader with a coaching mindset recognizes this and takes the time to prepare. Here are a few questions a leader with a coaching mindset might ask themselves when navigating a difficult conversation with a colleague:

• How can I ensure everyone's expertise is valued without compromising the group's ability to act cohesively?

• What are the implicit norms of our department, and how do they help or hinder our ability to collaborate?

• What is one small, deliberate action we can take right now to move forward?

Call to Action

Bring Coaching to Your Campus to Drive Real-World Results

LifeBound is the only coaching training company that combines higher education coaching expertise with business leadership, helping faculty, staff, and administrators build the self-management and professional skills they need.

We offer flexible and affordable coaching training for faculty, academic coaches, and staff, including:

• 3-Day Virtual Coaching Course
• Self-Paced Coaching Course
• LifeBound Coaching Certification Program

To learn more or explore which option is right for your team, visit us at www.lifebound.com.

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