During the institute, learners are expected to dedicate approximately 4-5 hours per week (synchronous and asynchronous) to have an engaged and successful learning experience. We ask that participants actively plan the time they will spend on the institute each week, even on a daily basis. Once a week, we will hold a live, synchronous online meeting to discuss resources, activities, and projects in support of the six competencies:
All sessions will be on Wednesdays, 1– 2:30 p.m. ET.
- Week 1: Wednesday, August 28
- Week 2: Wednesday, September 4
- Week 3: Wednesday, September 11
- Week 4: Wednesday, September 18
- Week 5: Wednesday, September 25
- Week 6: Wednesday, October 2
- Week 7: Wednesday, October 9
- Week 8: Wednesday, October 16
- Week 9: Wednesday, October 23 (Break week for EDUCAUSE conference - No Live Session)
- Week 10: Wednesday, October 30
- Week 11: Wednesday, November 6
Senior Directors Institute Competencies’ Learning Outcomes
Competency 1: Leadership Journey
As a leader at the senior director level, you need to be skilled leading in different directions - often at the same time. You must provide vision and direction to your organization (leading down), manage the expectations of your supervisors (leading up), and collaborate and build relationships with colleagues throughout the institution (leading across). This competency provides insights into leading in these different directions, allowing you to take ownership more effectively of your personal and professional leadership journey.
By the end of this competency, you will be able to:
- Develop a personal statement that captures the principles and values you represent professionally
- Analyze techniques for leading in all directions in the organization
- Identify action items to incorporate into a personal development plan
- Develop a leadership approach that considers the needs of the organization and its people
- Describe the values and behaviors you want to embody in a leadership role
Competency 2: Leadership Communication
Leadership communication requires thought, planning, and awareness. It occurs in many forms, including individual conversations, written correspondence, and presentations. Successful communicators are able to identify the approaches that will work best with different audiences and adjust messages to maximize their impact. Leaders also need to listen for the meaning behind the spoken messages, using emotional intelligence to read body language and intent. This combination of skills allows senior leaders to diffuse difficult situations, build lasting relationships, articulate a clear vision of action, and manage effectively in all directions.
By the end of this competency, you will be able to:
- Incorporate audience considerations into your communication approaches
- Identify ways to expand your professional network and influence in the organization
- Use emotional intelligence strategies to strengthen working relationships
- Develop skills to communicate with and persuade senior leaders
- Practice active listening techniques to improve workplace communication
- Identify techniques to successfully communicate in times of crisis
Competency 3: Motivation and Engagement
Though you cannot make others feel motivated or engaged, you can cultivate workplace conditions that reliably lead to happier and more productive employees. As a senior director, how you communicate, organize your department, recruit and retain talent, and promote an inclusive culture all contribute to the success of the organization.
By the end of this competency, you will be able to:
- Develop strategies to leverage individual motivators and keep staff engaged
- Identify common elements of effective organizations
- Assess strategies for recruiting and retaining staff
- Evaluate the importance of diversity, equity, and inclusion in engaging and retaining talent
Competency 4: Institutional Change
Whether it is leading and managing change, overcoming barriers, articulating a vision for your team, or creating a culture for innovation, the senior director is in a position to make change happen. This requires the ability to think both tactically and strategically; you need to understand the day-to-day implications of how change will affect your employees as well as the larger downstream impacts to various stakeholders across the organization.
By the end of this competency, you will be able to:
- Identify qualities of effective change managers
- Evaluate organizational readiness for implementing comprehensive change
- Assess frameworks for effectively managing change
- Discuss the importance of communicating a clear vision
- Identify ways to promote a culture of innovation across the organization
- Analyze culture and climate considerations that support institutional change
Competency 5: Strategic Leadership Decisions
It is critically important that we are able to make sound decisions that align with the mission and vision of the organization. Though we have been making decisions all our lives, our roles give us responsibility and oversight over people, services, and technology across the institution.
By the end of this competency, you will be able to:
- Incorporate both tactical and strategic thinking into your leadership approach
- Use enterprise architecture and other systems thinking techniques to inform strategic leadership decisions
- Use best practices for making decisions and improving the decision-making of others
- Analyze KPIs and other portfolio data to monitor project work and inform decisions
- Identify characteristics and models for effective IT governance
- Analyze the importance of equity, diversity, and inclusion in leading IT efforts
Competency 6: Enterprise Leadership
In this competency, you will examine some of the modern issues and challenges faced by higher education institutions and explore how IT can help create opportunities for advancement and success. You will review the importance of positioning your organization, leveraging resources, and engaging with campus leaders. Finally, you will take a deep dive into the concept of digital transformation (Dx), a series of coordinated culture, workforce, and technology shifts that enable new educational and operational models.
By the end of this competency, you will be able to:
- Examine trends in higher education and technology to anticipate institutional needs
- Assess strategies for building partnerships with executive leaders throughout the institution
- Examine how IT initiatives can create enterprise-level opportunities
- Assess higher education tools and resources for collecting data and streamlining processes
- Identify strategies for overcoming budget and resource constraints
- Use strategic planning to ensure the long-term success of the organization
EDUCAUSE Professional Pathways
The EDUCAUSE Professional Pathways are designed to help you determine where you are in your career today and create a plan to move toward tomorrow.
Explore Your Professional Pathway