Leadership Development for Faculty Administrators

Chairs Workshops

ADVANCE, in conjunction with the Vice Provost for Academic Affairs, hosts department chair management/leadership skill development workshops each semester.  The topics for these workshops typically come from the department and deans.  Past workshops include:

  • Strategies for Leading Difficult Conversations
  • Leading Effective Faculty Meetings
  • Organization Workshop based on Barry Oshry’s work
  • ADVANCE also supports Conversations for Chairs (C4C) which uses a peer-mentoring model to host chair discussions twice a semester.  The group is led by a Steering Committee which has representatives from each college.  These conversations are based on topics the chairs decide at the beginning of the year.

Chairs Retreat

Every semester the Provost convenes the department chairs in a half day retreat to discuss current issues facing the University. These conversations include time to engage as a group of institutional leaders.

Leadership Development Program (LDP)

The University’s leadership development program provides a comprehensive experience that leads to transformational and measurable growth in leadership for the top tier of University administrators. The program provides focused development on key leadership competencies; Leadership Exchanges which are opportunities to directly engage with Senior Leaders on leadership issues; and development planning supported with a structured coaching engagement. The program structure includes:

  • A Kickoff session focused on sharing the NU Leadership Competency Model
  • Four Program Sessions with deep dives on particular competencies
  • Senior Leadership Team engagement in frank discussions on the challenges of leadership and their tips, techniques and stories related to one particular competency
  • Development Action Planning shared with the coach and the participant’s manager
  • Individual Coaching Sessions throughout

For more information on the LDP, contact Elisabeth Hughes at e.hughes@neu.edu.

Management & Leadership Programs – by nomination only

Each college and division will nominate candidates for the Management and Leadership programs. Deans and Division Heads have information on the nomination process. More information on all offerings can be found on the HRM Training webpage.

Leading People, Delivering Results

  • Leading People, Delivering Results, built in collaboration with Tandem Solutions, is a hybrid leadership development program designed to engage and develop mid-career leaders over a four to six month period with a mix of workshops, online self-study and small group coaching. By the end of this course, participants will have gained resources and tools to assist them in leading teams, projects and university initiatives in order to deliver results.
  • 3 workshops, 5 online self-study modules, & 4 coaching sessions
  • The ideal candidates are key contributors with 5-15 years of management experience.

Essentials of Management

  • The Essentials of Management course is designed to provide supervisors and managers with the foundations of managing people. Topics include transitioning to a leader role, getting the work done/achieving results and managing teams. By the end of this course, participants will understand the key skills required to move from an individual contributor role to managing others effectively.
  • 4 half days
  • Ideal candidates are front line supervisors and those with less than 5 years experience managing others.

Leadership Modules

Each module is a two half day program that focuses on a specific leadership competency. Modules are offered on a rotating basis throughout the year. Ideal candidates for the modules are department heads, managers, and promising individual contributors.

Decision Making

The Decision-Making and Problem Solving module asks participants to think about how they can develop a broader view and perspective so that they address the issue before them and keep the bigger picture in mind. Participants learn how to incorporate multiple perspectives when solving problems or making effective and timely decisions. By the end of this course, participants will have the tools and key skills to help them to display and understand each person’s critical role in problem solving and decision-making including raising issues; developing recommendations and proposing solutions.

Delivering Results

The Delivering Results module engages participants in describing a focus on results and offers them an opportunity to identify the difference and relationship between action orientation and delivering results. Using their current work, participants will clarify desired results and determine how best to allocate time to activities that will achieve the results. By the end of this course, participants will have the tools and key skills to develop and exhibit a focus on results; to determine how best to direct their time and attention; and to delegate in order to achieve results.

Developing People: Self & Others

The Developing People (Self & Others) module asks participants to build a learning mindset: constantly improving, growing and developing to reach higher and broader levels. Participants develop an accurate self-assessment and gain an appreciation for assessing strengths and weaknesses in others – as part of building strong teams and, for those in people management roles, in support of ongoing development of direct reports. By the end of this course, participants will have tools and key skills to demonstrate each person’s critical role in self-development and to support the development of others through giving and receiving feedback, learning from experience and from mistakes and how to model desired behavior for peers and direct reports.

Effective Communication: Up, Down & Across

The Effective Communication module is at the heart of how Northeastern works as a university. Participants are asked to think about how they take ownership and play an active role in communications – up, down, and across the organization to effectively communicate with different groups and constituencies.  Particular attention will be paid to skills and techniques that clarify expectations; organize thoughts or perspectives; and address differences in communications style.  By the end of this course, participants will have developed the key skills to identify each person’s critical role in communicating and to be open and honest about their views.

Leading Innovation & Change

The Leading Innovation & Change module introduces participants to tools and models to help them understand innovation and change processes, ways to approach their work when dealing with change and/ or innovation, and ultimately how to lead innovation and make change happen. By the end of this course, participants will have the tools and key skills to apply to their own work and current initiatives to achieve better outcomes.

Teamwork & Collaboration

The Teamwork and Collaboration module asks participants to think about the benefits of working in a team environment to get things done and reach the best possible solutions. Participants are asked to expand their abilities to work well with a wide range of people to achieve the objectives of the team, division, college or university. By the end of this course, participants will have the tools and key collaboration skills to be an effective team member and potential team leader on any team.

For more information on trainings offered by HRM, contact hrmlearning@neu.edu.