The expanding connectivity culture in the business world, spawned by the spread of social media technologies, and the increasing influence of the Millennial generation, points to an enhanced role for universities to ensure that these technologies are most effectively used. Institutions of higher learning can play a proactive role in fostering social media literacy, meaning the use of tools like blogs, wikis, Twitter, and Facebook, in a collaborative organizational setting.
Since 1990, organizational development has focused on the organization’s capacity for managing change, i.e., how managers can be better change agents, leaders, and managers of change. With the rate of change today at its fastest in recorded history, managing change is no longer enough. Instead, we must begin to create change-ready organizations that can respond to change in real time and come out better for it on the other side. Change readiness, it seems, is the new change management.
Just about every top leader in the education space is either anticipating and driving a change or reacting to one thrust upon them. (The rest have convinced themselves that things are just fine.) Whether newly appointed to lead their institutions or in top leadership for years, the challenges of demographic- and economic-driven change are demanding adaptation. Some institutions will cease to exist; some will grow and prosper.
Above all else, educators and education administrators have great respect for the learning process. However, sometimes even educators neglect to consider their performance and take steps to learn or relearn skills they need to continue to be effective. Ask yourself: Am I as effective as I could be? Am I inspiring? Am I making a difference? Am I helping my reports develop the skills they need to be effective today and five years from now? Do my peers, supervisors, and reports think I am doing a good job? If any of these questions hits a nerve, it might be time for a 360.
