navigating your career in the shifting winds of academia
DESCRIPTION
A look at the current market of academia and a consideration of how to plan your personal development and future career.TRANSCRIPT
Winter Institute for Advanced Graduate Enrollment
Management Professionals
D
Managing your Career in the shifting winds of the
Higher Education Market
Dr. Terri Friel
What issues should you be aware of?
• Demographic changes
• Technology changes
• Severe resource limitations
– Corporate/private partnerships
• Burgeoning bureaucracy
• Federal Regulations
• Increasing competitiveness
Leadership Changes (predicted by Nick Petrie, www.cccl.org)
What new jobs might arise?
• Market relations by segment
• Compliance trainers
• Competitor analysis
• Pedagogical training/developer
• New programs and innovations developer
• Alternate sources of income innovator
• International recruiting coordinator
An Example
• Penn State administrative restructuring
Chaos/complexity compounded(check all that apply)
Researchers have identified several criteria that make complex environments especially difficult to manage
They contain a large number of interacting elements.
Information in the system is highly ambiguous, incomplete, or indecipherable.
Interactions among system elements are non-linear and tightly-coupled such that small changes can produce disproportionately large effects.
Solutions emerge from the dynamics within the system and cannot be imposed from outside with predictable results.
Hindsight does not lead to foresight since the elements and conditions of the system can be in continual flux.
In addition to the above, the most common factors cited by interviewees as challenges for future leaders were:
Information overloadThe interconnectedness of systems and business communitiesThe dissolving of traditional organizational
boundariesNew technologies that disrupt old work practicesThe different values and expectations of new
generations entering the workplace Increased globalization leading to the need to
lead across cultures
Plan for the new, design your own job
• Where do I want to go?
How to determine your development plan?
• Where do I want to go?
• How will I prepare?
• How will I get there?
• Is my boss on board with my plan?
• Who can mentor me?
• What can I do in my current job that helps me get to where I want to go?
The Skills Sets Required Have Changed “More Complex Thinkers are Needed”
The most common skills, abilities and attributes cited by interviewees were:
• Adaptability
• Self-awareness
• Boundary spanning
• Collaboration
• Network thinking
How should I Prepare?
• Self Examination:• better weekdays self assessment• Peer review and advice• Mentoring• Courses (academic and non academic) • Coaching• Journaling• Applying for new jobs, write your cover letters or
epitaphs
How will I get there?
Make a plan with a destination, the means will become obvious
• You may have to spend some money on yourself or ask your employer to spend on you.
• If you have a plan for personal development, selling the idea of an investment in you is much more attractive than asking to attend a conference or to take a class.
Is my boss on board?
• Sell your plan to your boss and coworkers…Hey I want to embark on a personal development journey…here’s my plan:
Who can mentor me?
• Look outside your own area
• Consider asking for an “internal internship”
• Look outside the organization
• Your plan will help you choose
What can I do now that helps me?
• If you begin with development activities that improve your current performance there will be less resistance.
Exercise: Immunity to Change• Consider a change you want to
make • Write down 3 reasons why
you can do it• Write down why it is needed• Write down 3 reasons why
you cannot do it• Write down how you will feel if
you are allowed to do it• Write down how you will feel
when you have accomplished this change
• Write down how you will feel if you don’t make this change
Action step: try it
• Pilot test:
– A pilot experiment, also called a pilot study, is a small scale preliminary study conducted in order to evaluate feasibility, time, cost, adverse events, and effect size (statistical variability) in an attempt to predict an appropriate sample size and improve upon the study design prior to performance of a full-scale research project.
Kissing Frogs
• Pilot tests fail, you need to accept that.
• Move on
• Learn
• Build for
next time
• Kiss more frogs!
Thank you!
• Dr. Terri Friel
• Dean Heller College of Business
• President Doctus Consulting
• 312 281 3320
• Find me on Linkedin!