At Higher Education Shared Services and Outsourcing Week, leaders from across the sector came together to examine the challenges reshaping higher education and share practical strategies for leading through change. The two-day agenda featured sessions on everything from expanding shared services at pace to remaining centered in the face of uncertainty, with the latter emerging as a universal need for today's higher education (HE) professionals.
Each speaker came from a different background and institution, some with experience in other fields, and some with entire careers forged in academia. Regardless of their differences, attendees and speakers alike agreed on the following ideas:
Strong Leadership is Critical
Day one of the agenda brought leadership into focus from a number of different angles: how to maintain principled leadership in politicized times, leading organizations through the shared services journey, sustaining momentum through leadership transitions, and reorganizing leadership to scale shared service impact. Even in sessions that weren't solely focused on leadership, the importance of strong, accountable leaders came up time and time again.
Emotional intelligence (EQ) emerged as a defining factor of successful leadership: "Soft skills aren't soft – they're leadership skills," said Casilda Gody Clarich, Ed.D. Compassion, fairness, respect, and transparency were highlighted as key elements of high EQ, and traits that inspire positive working relationships between leaders and teams.
It's also important to recognize that leaders need training too. This training may be in cultivating the leadership skills already mentioned, or in the evolving technologies that continue to impact and change higher education, or any number of additional skills. Whatever the subject area, the message is the same: leaders aren't finished products. They must continue to learn and grow as much as the junior members of the workforce.
Disruption is Inevitable
As a sector that faces diminishing government funding and budgets, as well as changes to tuition fee policy, financial disruption is an ongoing operating condition for higher education organizations. HE shared services teams experience an additional share of disruption and pressure in the form of exceptions, automation, increasing demand for services, and often hiring freezes.
Some of these challenges are within a leader's control. Others are not. Budget cuts, organizational restructures, and leadership changes can quickly alter priorities and operating models, requiring shared services teams to adapt with little warning.
"The person with the most control of their nervous system is the person with the most power," advised Shelly Prosise, Executive Coach. While unexpected change can be difficult to accept, leaders who are able to pause and choose to respond rather than react emotionally are the ones who will maintain both their effectiveness and their influence. In an environment where disruption is inevitable, adaptability and resilience are essential leadership capabilities.
Feedback Loops Create Happy Teams
It's easy for teams to become destabilized in times of disruption. Lack of clarity and control can be detrimental to a team's ability to work effectively and keep their focus on a unified goal. It's more important than ever to build morale in difficult, disrupted times.
One way to erode any morale and goodwill in a team is to ask for feedback in engagement surveys and then never address it. Asking for feedback is good practice and was encouraged across the event. But asking for feedback and then neither acting on it nor acknowledging it breaks down trust that employees' opinions are heard or valued.
A feedback loop – the process where the results of an action are fed back into a system and influence what happens next – reduces the risk of disincentivizing employees to share their honest opinions. When their thoughts and feelings are either reported on or acted upon in a visible, meaningful way, employees are more likely to remain engaged.
This can be as simple as reporting back in either a one-on-one or team meeting before any change has been made, shared Louis DeMatteo. The key, he said, is asking yourself, "Once we have the information, what are we going to do with it?" and following through.
Final Thoughts: How Higher Education Leaders Can Thrive Through Change
No leader can prevent disruption or single-handedly transform their organization overnight, but they can influence how their teams experience it. Across the two-day event, speakers repeatedly emphasized that successful shared services organizations are built on strong leadership, open communication, and a willingness to adapt.
In a sector facing ongoing financial and operational pressures, those qualities will continue to differentiate organizations that react to change from those that are able to thrive through it. If you're interested in joining future conversations with shared services leaders, check out our upcoming events.