Ewart Wooldridge Plenary

AUA Annual Conference

‘The changing Psychological Contract in HE’

4 April 2012

Ewart Wooldridge CBE

Chief Executive

Leadership Foundation

‘What matters now’:

“What matters now, more than ever, is that managers expand their sense of stewardship and embrace timeless values such as truth, prudence and fairness. Unfortunately, these virtues have been notably scarce in recent years– particularly in the citadels of capitalism. What’s needed is a values revolution in business – and everyone who has a stake in the future of capitalism will have to do their part.”

‘What Matters Now’, (Gary Hamel, 2012)

Extreme sports

Extreme sports

Leadership lessons from the Tempest:

• Perfect storm?

• Shipwrecked universities?

• Prospero’s magic and leadership

Providing a narrative to the crew

The Psychological Contract

Psychological contract (the ‘Deal’):

Aggregate of reciprocal expectations between institution and its stakeholders (internal and external)

- sense of fairness/’fair deal’- dignity at work- collegial v corporate- expectations/perceptions of

leadership- sense of reciprocity in key

relationships- planned, not erratic or accidental

Stefan Collini’s: “What are Universities for?” (1)

“Universities are perhaps the single most

important institutional medium for conserving,

understanding, extending and handing on to

subsequent generations the intellectual, scientific

and artistic heritage of mankind...” we are merely

custodians for the present generation of a

complex intellectual inheritance which we did not

create – and which is not ours to destroy”

Stefan Collins’: “What are Universities for?” (2)

.. “the background implication in the

comments of some journalists and

politicians that ...many academics are little

better than middle-class welfare

scroungers indulging their hobbies at

public expense”

The Coalition View

‘I expect to see, in a university sector faced with the onset of

more competition and more demanding students, a ferment of

creative thinking on how to redesign course structures and

manage major change among staff so as to promote higher

quality but lower-cost teaching. I may be missing something,

but I haven’t seen much evidence of this.’

Rt. Hon. Dr Vince Cable MP, Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and SkillsHefce conference, 6 April 2011

New psychological contract for HE - a paradigm shift?

• Students as customer? Co-creator? Citizen?

• ‘Comprehensive’ to ‘differentiated’ institutions?

• Collaborative to competitive?

• HE Sector to HE ‘system’?

• Trusted to challenged?

• Certain to uncertain?

Critical leadership issues 2012 onwards

• Handling uncertainty and ambiguity

• Challenging inefficiency and reluctance to innovate

• Being entrepreneurial

• Making change happen

• Knowing how to collaborate and compete

• Perfecting the skills of engagement

• Applying citizenship creatively

• Being true to core values of HE

The ‘long view’ of change

‘All change is to ensure that we stay the same?’

Quote from Sir Peter Scott’s discussion paper for an LF Round Table event: ‘A New Deal for Higher Education- All Change, Slow Change or No Change’ – taken originally from The Leopard, by Guiseppe di Lampedusa (translation)

Disruptive innovation

• ‘Sustaining’ innovation vs ‘disruptive’ innovation

• New market mechanisms (contrived or real)

• Research and ‘Impact’

• “Unbundling” – separation or outsourcing of different parts of HE value chain

• Open educational resources

10 key issues

1. Leading the whole student experience

2. Public and societal engagement

3. Distinctiveness

4. Learning from Academic Leadership

5. Professional vs Academic Leadership

6. Alignment

7. Learning from other sectors

8. Entrepreneurial leadership of universities

9. New leadership qualities of challenge and support

10. Discovering the magic in leadership

(1) Leading the ‘whole’ student experienceCreating

Organisational Conditions

Culture,Curriculum,

Co-curriculum, Community

Modelling a Meaningful LifeSense of purpose,

Intentionality, Authenticity,

Identity, Reflection

Leadership of Learning

Knowledge of, and

involvement with, teaching and learning

Holistic Learning

Environment

Diagram taken from LF

Research- ‘Developing the whole Student..’

(Dr Kathleen Quinlan, Uni of Oxford 2011) –

From studies by Braskamp, Colby and Blackmore

(2) Public and societal engagement –

a ‘sheet anchor’

“Increasing integration of institutional

interest with the wider public good –

placing universities at the heart of social

and economic advancement”

UUK Report: Futures for HE: Analysing trends

(3) Distinctiveness

- Narrative

- Place

- Values

- Community

- Clusters

N PVC

C

• Winning hearts and minds

• Nurturing the next generation

• Creating space to thrive

• Stimulating a culture of debate and enquiry

• Fostering a sense of community

• Encouraging curiosity

(4) Learning from academic leadership

(5) Professional vs Academic Leadership

Professional Leadership

and careers

Academic Leadership

and careers

Third space

Diagram inspired by LF Research by Dr Celia Whitchurch on Professional Careers in HE (2008)

“For me, it’s more about

a job well done and

less about the cheese.”

(Harvard Business Review)

(6) Alignment

(7) Learning from other sectors

John Lewis

Professional services

Third sector/ Social enterprise

(8) Entrepreneurial leadership of universities

‘Entrepreneurs – and entrepreneurial organisations – always operate at the edge of their competence, focussing more of their resources and attention on what they do not yet know than on controlling what they already know.

They measure themselves not by the standards of the past (how far they have come) but by the visions of the future (how far they have to go). And they do not allow the past to serve as a restraint on the future; the mere fact that something has not worked in the past does not mean that it cannot be made to work in future’

Kanter R M, (1983), the Change Masters, Unwin Hymen Ltd, referenced in LF and CUC ‘Getting to Grips with Risk’ Report

(9) New leadership qualities of

challenge and support

• The interpretative leader – giving meaning

• The entrepreneurial/business focussed leader

• Confidence building

• Balancing support with strong challenge

• Offering a clear narrative and a ‘point of sail’

• Encouraging collaboration

• Energising

(10) Discovering the magic in leadership

“ We are such stuff as dreams are made on..” Prospero Shakespeare’s ‘Tempest’

“ The history of the struggle in South Africa

is rich with the stories of heros and

heroines, some of them leaders, some of

them followers. All of them deserve to be

remembered.”

Nelson Mandela

• Seeing new connections

• Transforming the obvious

• Crossing boundaries

• Using humour

• Underpinning with trust and respect

Where do we find the magic in leadership?

“We don’t have a leader

to take you to”

“Live as if you might die tomorrow.

Learn as though you will live

forever.”

Mahatma Gandhi quote: