The Progressive School Vol 02 Issue 04

need to adapt oneself to the frequency
of change in knowledge management.
Academic leaders are required to respond
to these both purposefully and effectively.
Sensitivity to learning cultures will define
the quality of academic leadership of the
future.
Engage with change
as a team
The journey of an academic leader is
not exclusive. He has to lead a core team
in chasing the change and to engage with
change for growth and development. It
is, therefore, important for an academic
leader to organize, manage and lead a
learning team so that his responsibilities
of an academic leader are manifested
into a shared vision. No academic
progress is individualistic. It is conceptual
engagement which is immersed in
appropriate skills. The development of
a conceptual change in the universe of
academics needs progressive diffusion of
new knowledge, competence and skills.
An academic leader cannot make this
journey as individual and has to ensure
it as a team work. This alone could help
in acknowledging and sustaining the
leadership.
Focus on changing
behaviour than skills
An effective change should lead to
transformation. Transformation largely
involves both attitude and behaviour.
Hence the academic leader should work,
bringing about a change in the mindset,
consequent to any new learning rather
than simple acquisition and exhibition
of new skills. Superficial demonstrating
of new skills might have more cosmetic
value and help in exhibitionism rather
than an organizational transformation.
Academic leaders would be successful
only when they mentor transformation.
Lead the change
Promotional activities about
organizational change could lead to
thrill, challenge or fear. In an academic
engagements, changes happen much
slowly as compared to other business
or formats of work. The measurement of
the impact of change and change impact
analysis are quite a long and strenuous
process. Hence the personal engagement
of the academic leader with the change
and to lead the change is vital to any
institutional set up. Unless there is a clear
evidence of the leader being a part of the
change process, the confidence profile
of the team would be low and weak. An
academic leader who leads the change
ensures not only his personal growth
and of his team, but of the organization
as a whole.
Align the process
with results
In many academic set ups, the
process and results are largely viewed
independently, least realizing the latent
relationship with the two. In a number of
cases, the results are considered more as
a data rather than as reflections of inputs
to the processes that lead to results. The
underlying reason for this is either lack
of alignment between the process and
the results or the improper correlation
that is established between them. While
pedagogues tend to focus on processes,
the managers and administrators tend to
focus on results. Such inadequacies exist
both at the micro level as well as at the
macro level. An effective academic leader
builds his vision keeping them in tandem.
Competing with the self
Academic leadership is highly noncompetitive.
It is a personal branding of an
academician to a world he engages with.
Therefore, it is self-nurturing process and
has to be full of life. Any comparison of
an academic leader with others except
the self is a deceitful process. It could be
referral but non-prescriptive. The only way
an effective academic leader can sustain
his leadership is through a competition
with the self, demonstrating a continuous
progress of the levels of learning and
empowerment of the learning curve. As
the domains of knowledge and skills of
each leader has a variant, the growth
and development happen by redefining
the self.
Enlarging the spectrum
The universe of operation and
performance of an academic leader is
continuously enlarging. The spectrum
of knowledge, skills and competencies
continuously demand newer approaches
and domains of knowledge. Both
convergence and divergence of knowledge
impact the learning spectrum and its
consequent behaviour. There has to
be no road blocks to this engagement
with larger vistas of knowledge. If any,
they need to be removed to ensure the
expansion of knowledge spectrum.
www.progressiveschool.in
JUL-AUG-SEP 2018
THE PROGRESSIVE SCHOOL
55