Leadership Brochure National

Too much turnover, too many interims, and far too much
leadership churn characterizes many of our colleges these days.
Identifying, developing and ultimately selecting higher
education leaders is a challenging process in the increasingly
complex environment of higher education. The average tenure
of leaders is far too short and fewer and fewer young faculty and
staff aspire to what they see as increasingly difficult jobs. The
Collaborative Brain Trust (CBT) has a team of higher education
leaders who bring dynamic skills and experience to help your
institution thrive during these times of uncertainty. In
response to these challenges, CBT has developed a portfolio of
services in support of effective leadership. These services include:
Leadership Identification and Development
Leadership Selection
Executive Leadership Coaching
Each of these services can be used individually or collectively
to enhance the effectiveness and stability of higher education
leadership. Although the services are described separately,
they can be integrated as needed at an individual institution
or multi-college system.

Growing your own leaders and identifying talent from the outside are
both effective strategies to combat high turnover and instability. Our
extensive network of consultants have a proven history of effective
institutional leadership. These educational leaders assist
community colleges in developing a framework, curriculum, and
implementation plan for an internal leadership academy that
identifies and develops aspiring and current faculty, classified and
administrative leaders. There is no more effective method of
securing strong institutional leadership than to build your own, and
CBT stands ready to support that process. However, attracting the
right mix of external talent is also important and CBT specializes in
supporting talent identification.
One of the most important responsibilities of any community college
CEO and/or Board of Trustees is the selection, oversight and
evaluation of high-level leadership reporting directly to the CEO or the
Board. Traditionally, when a high-level vacancy occurs, the CEO or
board will employ a consultant or firm to assist them in the search.
Although this can be a successful process, it can also create distance
between the CEO/Board and the institution, lead to unexpected
stress within the Board and the organization, and sometimes end
with no successful candidate. The professionals at CBT believe
there is a better way to ensure not only the successful selection of
new leaders, but their successful tenure as well.
A critical aspect in the CBT approach to supporting college leadership
is to ensure that the leader is successful in the critical first twelve to
eighteen months of her/his tenure. Once the search is done and the
new leader is employed most search consultants and firms are
finished. CBT believes we have a responsibility to not only advise and
support the selection of the new leader but to support that leader
in the beginning of their tenure. The total CBT process therefore
traditionally lasts six to twelve months after the new leader reports
for duty. Our professionals complete their work when the new
leader and the CEO and/or Board of Trustees are well on their way
to a successful relationship.

Brice W. Harris, Chancellor Emeritus
California Community Colleges

Our leadership services Team has extensive knowledge and are
extremely seasoned professionals. CBT will work closely with the
institution in selection of the right consultant for each circumstance.
The fit of consultant and institution is almost as important as that of
the institution and their leader. Below are some of our available
consultants for these services:
Helen Ben j amin
Chancellor Emeritus
Contra Costa Community
College District
Keith Bird
Chancellor Emeritus
Kentucky Community and
Technical College System
George Boggs
CEO Emeritus
American Association of
Community Colleges
Brice Harris
Chancellor Emeritus
California Community Colleges and the
Los Rios Community College District
Stu Sutin
Former President & CEO
Community College of
Allegheny County
Jill Wakefield
Chancellor Emeritus
Seattle Community Colleges