PAL Department Chairs and Heads
PAL for Department Chairs and Heads
Principled Academic Leadership (PAL) is a professional development program tailored to develop the skills needed to survive and thrive while navigating the special challenges of the academic environment. Through highly interactive programs, current and emerging academic leaders consider and practice proven, continually practical tools that can be put into immediate use. Program participants gain concepts and skills needed for dealing with unpleasant and costly elements of interpersonal interactions, those that too often drive people out of leadership positions or that underlie dysfunction in academic units. The program covers topics such as:
- Building Cultures of Excellence
- Giving and Receiving Feedback
- Managing Difficult Conversations
- Exploring Leadership in Academia
- Building unit vibrancy, working effectively to improve challenged academic units
- Negotiation
- Critical Friends: a proven approach to group problem-solving for academic leaders
- Use of the Academic Unit Diagnostic Tool (AUDiT)
- Bullyproofing Academic Units
- Conflict resolution
- Listening and asking questions
- Effective mentoring and feedback, career development
Participants build skills for making and implementing decisions required in leadership positions and the conversations that follow. By applying tools and skills to case studies, cohort members work together to develop solutions and approaches to many of the unique hurdles of the academic environment. The program presents strategies for building vibrant academic units and bully-proofing challenged units. Participants are encouraged to evaluate their own leadership needs and growth throughout the program and to reflect on their role and impact as an academic leader.
We recommend this program to Department Chairs and Heads or Assistant and Associate Deans.