Tired but Still Showing Up? A Guide to Leadership Burnout in Higher Education
When we talk about leadership burnout in higher education, we’re not just talking about exhaustion… Leading in higher education demands more than strategy and vision; it requires stamina, empathy, and constant adaptation. Between tightening budgets, shifting enrollment patterns, and rising expectations from every direction, it’s easy to miss the quiet signals that your energy, focus, […]
Why Women in Higher Ed Feel Responsible for Everyone: Causes, Challenges, and Impact
Women In higher education carry the weight of collective responsibility, supporting students, colleagues, and the institution itself. Women in academia often feel responsible for everyone because cultural expectations, institutional pressures, and leadership gaps encourage them to take on more than their share of emotional and administrative labor. As these dynamics persist, they also reflect broader inequities connected […]
How Psychological Safety Shapes a More Inclusive Campus Culture
Campus culture shapes how we learn, lead, and work together. When people feel safe to share ideas, admit mistakes, and ask questions, collaboration grows stronger and trust becomes the norm. Psychological safety changes campus culture by replacing fear and silence with openness, respect, and shared responsibility. We’ve seen that campuses built on trust perform better—not because everyone […]
Building Better Professional Boundaries in Higher Education
Professional Boundaries in Higher Education shape how we teach, learn, and collaborate. They define expectations, protect well-being, and create structure in spaces that often demand constant availability. In today’s professional environment, boundary-setting also affects team cohesion and informs how we navigate power dynamics that appear in classrooms, advising relationships, and departmental cultures. When we set […]
Your department is not a family. Stop calling it that.
Employee Family Boundary Have you read The Book of Boundaries by Melissa Urban? If you haven’t, order it from your favorite independent bookstore right now. It’s an amazing guide and could change parts of your life (it has scripts!). Urban is the co-founder of Whole30 and an expert at helping people set boundaries, particularly around […]
The Iterative Process of Creating Your Strategic Plan
Why Higher Ed Strategic Planning Matters In previous posts, I have written about the conditions leading to a successful strategic planning process, how appreciative inquiry can be used to facilitate an inclusive strategic planning process, how SOAR can be an effective analysis tool and, finally, how to involve multiple stakeholders. In this post, I offer […]
Meaningful Ways to Make Academic Meetings Inclusive
Inclusive Academic meetings shape research collaboration, decision-making, and innovation. Yet, too often, certain voices dominate while others go unheard. Making academic meetings more inclusive ensures that every participant feels respected, valued, and equipped to contribute meaningfully. By broadening who speaks and how ideas are shared, we improve both the quality of discussions and the outcomes […]
The secret to implementing an inclusive and successful strategic planning process
Why Inclusive Planning Matters Including people in a decision that affects them increases its potential for success. The same goes for strategic planning. Strategic planning processes that include stakeholders are more successful because we are more likely to support ideas that we help shape. This is particularly pertinent in higher education, where shared governance is […]
Celebrating International Coaching Week with Coaching Tools: The Eisenhower Matrix
Time Management Resource for Higher Ed Professionals Have you ever felt robotic when you hear the ping of your inbox and, without even thinking, you stop what you are doing to check it out? It’s a modern version of Pavlov’s dogs. Or, do you ever respond to emails because it gives you a feeling of […]
It’s International Coaching Week!
International Coaching Week is a celebration of professional coaching. According to the International Coaching Federation, it was launched in 1999 and aims to educate the public about the value of working with a professional coach. It also acknowledges the results and progress made through the coaching process. This year’s theme is Reimagining the Future. If […]