The Kardia Group

While the role of department chair or dean requires the knowledge, awareness, and experience of being a member of the faculty, that prerequisite offers little preparation for the realities of budgets and funding, personnel issues, faculty/staff relations, organizational change, departmental priority setting, motivating faculty, student complaints, supervision of staff, tenure considerations and denials, retention challenges, merit increases, faculty meetings and retreats, legal considerations, disgruntled faculty, relationships with the Dean's Office, policy development and implementation, intra-departmental conflicts, curricular renovations, accreditation issues, strategic planning, and more - not to mention the onslaught of meetings and e-mail.  Furthermore, an academic administrator is no longer simply a colleague to anyone else in the department and cannot rely on past friendships or collaborations in the same way.  

Coaching for new academic administrators is on-the-job training tailored to the specific needs, challenges, and contexts of a given administrative role and academic unit, providing "just in time" resources, advice, and perspective.  This approach is particularly useful in academic settings where leadership turnover is more the norm than the exception, and on-going commitments to research and teaching cannot be sacrificed in order to learn how to be a better administrator. 

Coaching is also a valuable resource for experienced administrators who, given the boundaries of the leadership role, typically lack colleagues with whom they can vent, assess and identify appropriate responses.

Coaching contracts are available for individuals (who may pay out-of-pocket, or through designated university funding) or for departments, schools, colleges, or universities who wish to provide this as training resource to leaders.  With either approach, all coaching is conducted as a confidential relationship between the coach and the individual being coached.