From Storytelling to Redesign Planning

A MID-LEVEL LEADERSHIP APPROACH TO CONNECTING AND PRIORITIZING YOUR REFORM EFFORTS

Mid-level leaders excel at telling the story of their day-to-day work. Mid-level leadership, however, also requires the ability to connect these stories to a college’s institutional vision and strategic plans — all with equity embedded. At Phase Two Advisory, we find that making these connections can be especially difficult because most mid-level leaders are trained to think tactically, starting with the identification of action steps and timelines, and then trying to map the associated efforts onto the institution’s vision and strategic goals afterwards.

This tool helps mid-level leaders shift from tactical to strategic thinking by using a storytelling framework to flip their thinking to start with the big picture, and work backwards from college priorities towards day-to-day activities.

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.