Learning 2 Lead Leading 2 Learn

As a leader working in higher education, I navigate what feels like an unprecedented array of challenges. Everything feels like an urgent priority.

I recently collaborated with colleagues across UCalgary’s Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning to explore the shifts and transformations we are experiencing in higher education (Kenny et al., 2025), and to develop recommendations and approaches for navigating these shifts.  We connected with teaching and learning leaders across Canada’s U15 (leading research-intensive institutions) universities to explore how they were leaning into the challenges they were experiencing. The outcomes of these conversations validated what we are confronting AND provided pathways forward—pathways that combine academic transformation and relational transformation.

Beyond Individual Solutions: A Systems Approach

Creating sustained change in postsecondary education extends beyond supporting individual faculty or implementing isolated academic program improvements. Our work suggests focussing on 7 key levers for change:

1. Reflecting Value – Balancing employability with the broader purpose of higher education & demonstrating value for teaching and learning.
2. Academic Innovation – Transforming academic programs through authentic assessment, experiential and work-integrated learning, GAI and educational technologies, and flexible program structures.
3. Indigenization, Decolonization, and Reconciliation – Affirming Indigenous perspectives, methodologies, Protocols and pedagogies through meaningful and respectful engagement, curriculum transformation, and land-based learning.
4. Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility – Addressing systemic barriers, embracing universal design for learning (UDL), inclusive and accessible teaching, and fostering civil discourse.
5. Learning-Focused Culture – Prioritizing student partnerships, relational pedagogies, flexible learning spaces, and educator learning and wellbeing.
6. Strategic Planning – Navigating budget constraints, strategic planning and prioritization, and communicating impact.
7. Connection, Leadership & Well-being – Building communities and networks that support transformation, strategic and relational leadership, and well-being.

As you can imagine, these areas do not exist in isolation. They are interconnected and require a systems approach that simultaneously involves working with individual educators (micro level), academic departments (meso level), institutional structures (macro level), and broader societal contexts (mega level) (e.g., Kenny & Eaton, 2022; Simmons, 2016).

Consider how generative AI is impacting teaching and learning.  We are working with individual faculty, students, and staff to explore new skills and experiment with emerging tools. At the same time, we are revising institutional policies, opening departmental conversations about academic integrity, reimagining assessment approaches, and engaging with broader societal questions about equity, access, environmental impacts, and the future of work and learning.

The Power of Strategic and Relational Leadership

Our framework (Figure 1) recognizes that effective leadership in higher education requires both strategic thinking and relational care.

Strategic leadership involves systems thinking, informed decision-making, collaborative partnerships, shared leadership, and a clear vision. It’s about seeing patterns, leveraging networks, and understanding how different parts of the university ecosystem connect and influence each other.

Relational leadership centres humanity, demonstrates care and compassion, practices deep listening, emphasizes learning and growth, and builds trust through authentic relationships. Relational leaders recognize that human beings are at the centre of sustainable change.

The most effective leaders integrate these approaches. They navigate through complexity and create psychologically safe spaces (Edmondson & Lei, 2014) for difficult conversations. They build strategic partnerships while demonstrating genuine care for our individual and collective well-being.

Formal and Informal Pathways

Change in universities happens through both formal structures (policies, committees, strategic plans, funding) and informal processes (conversations, relationships, communities and networks of practice).

Formal processes provide funding, resources, structure and create accountability. They ensure that changes are embedded in institutional systems and continue beyond any one individual leader. However, without informal relationships and conversations, formal changes often remain at the surface. They don’t dig deep into the heart of change.

Informal processes that involve meaningful conversations, trusted relationships, communities and networks that form around shared interests create lasting cultural shifts.

An Ethos of Care in Complex Times

Perhaps most importantly, our framework calls for an ethos of compassion and care in academic leadership. Compassionate leadership is not about avoiding difficult decisions or looking past things that happen that are not OK. Compassionate leaders lean into these situations and recognize that the challenges we face in higher education require strategy and genuine humanity.

When budget cuts threaten programs, compassionate leaders engage transparently with affected communities and advocate strategically for resources. When considering new educational technologies, they leverage and bring together shared expertise, thoughtfully considering impacts on systems, efficiencies, and on human relationships. When addressing systemic inequities, they combine action with a personal commitment to growth and learning.

Moving Forward Together

No single person or unit can address today’s complex challenges. Meaningful change in higher education requires partnership between academic and non-academic units, between institutions, and with external communities. Our report acknowledges the complex shifts we are facing in higher education. It offers hope and provides concrete pathways forward.

Universities still hold value. They contribute to positive economic growth and student employability. They strengthen society and civic engagement. They improve health and help nations progress. They create knowledge and improve our ability to thinking critically about the world around us.  Like elsewhere in life, change is inevitable for universities.  We must continue to evolve.  By combining strategic thinking and relational care, working across multiple organizational levels, and leveraging both formal and informal processes, we can inspire meaningful and sustainable change across postsecondary education.

A Call for Further Action and Reflection

The following questions are intended to guide further reflection as you consider your own context:

• How might you integrate strategic thinking with relational care in your current role?
• What informal relationships and conversations could you nurture to support the formal changes you hope most to see?
• Where do you see opportunities to work across multiple organizational levels (individual, departmental, institutional, societal) to address a challenge your institution is facing?
• How could you demonstrate an “ethos of care” (for you, colleagues and/or the broader system) while making difficult and necessary decisions?
• What partnerships beyond traditional academic boundaries might help address the complex challenges in your context?
• What is one incremental step you will take on your journey to influencing change in higher education?

The path forward isn’t simple, but it is clear. Sustained change in higher education requires leaders who can think strategically while caring deeply, who can work across systems while honouring relationships, and who can navigate complexity while holding space for hope and possibility.

References

Edmondson, A. C., & Lei, Z. (2014). Psychological safety: The history, renaissance, and future of an interpersonal construct. Annual Review of Organizational Psychology and Organizational Behavior, 1(1), 23-43. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-orgpsych-031413-091305

Kenny, N., Arshad, M. A., Biswas, S., Carter, J., Dyjur, P., Flanagan, K., Grant, K. A., Kaipainen, E., Martineau, C., Mason, D., Miller, S., Norman, D., Smith, E. E., Stowe, L., & Usman, F. (2025). Shifts and Transformation in Canadian Postsecondary Teaching and Learning: Views from Teaching and Learning Centre Leaders. Calgary, Canada: University of Calgary. https://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/49576

Kenny, N., & Eaton, S. E. (2022). Academic integrity through a SoTL lens and 4M framework: An institutional self-study. In S. E. Eaton and J. C. Hughes (Eds.), Academic integrity in Canada: An enduring and essential challenge (pp. 573-592). Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-83255-1

Simmons, N. (2016). Synthesizing SoTL institutional initiatives toward national impact. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, (146), 95-102. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.20192