“Leaders Gotta Lead”

HOW SENIOR LEADERS CAN DELIVER THE SUPPORT MID-LEVEL LEADERS NEED

The higher education field has a long tradition of distributed and bottom-up leadership, where senior leaders delegate substantial responsibility to mid-level leaders, particularly during efforts to design and implement institutional reform efforts. In Phase Two Advisory’s work with college leaders across the country, we have seen how senior leaders are excited to support mid-level leaders as they facilitate institutional change. Conversely, we have also heard from mid-level leaders that when it comes to reform efforts and implementation, “bottom up” has usually meant “bottom only.”

This tool, for senior leaders, shares what mid-level leaders want to tell senior staff what they need, offering real-life suggestions on how to better support your middle leaders.

The insights in this document are based on our previous study on Student Success Teams and our work with the Holistic Student Support (HSS) Implementation Network, a group of mid-level leaders from five California community colleges engaged in HSS redesign, facilitated by Phase Two Advisory and The Ada Center and funded by College Futures Foundation.