Dive Brief:
- Colleges and universities should evolve their professional development strategies to help faculty and staff adapt to massive changes in the business and expectations of the higher ed marketplace.
- Oakwood University serves as a model of professional development done right, with experimentation and changes in its leadership development academies for frontline and executive development modules.
- Input from middle management and inter-departmental collaboration, like the University of South Carolina's new initiative to pair human resources with admissions, are just a few steps schools can take to continually evolves processes and outcomes.
Dive Insight:
Colleges will need to develop innovative training and proficiency development strategies to make sure employees and executives are always creating new standards for performance. Encouraging faculty and staff to explore strengths and to develop flexible best practices can increase performance, workplace morale and foster innovation as a cornerstone of campus culture.
Technology can be at the forefront of this kind of employee development model, but for smaller campuses, encouraging diversity and regular input in streamlining processes and creating revenue is a path towards stronger shared governance and more effective performance in key service areas.