1. AUA Annual Conference
„The changing Psychological Contract in HE‟
4 April 2012
Ewart Wooldridge CBE
Chief Executive
Leadership Foundation

2. „What matters now‟:
“What matters now, more than ever, is that managers
expand their sense of stewardship and embrace timeless
values such as truth, prudence and fairness.
Unfortunately, these virtues have been notably scarce in
recent years– particularly in the citadels of capitalism.
What‟s needed is a values revolution in business – and
everyone who has a stake in the future of capitalism will
have to do their part.”
„What Matters Now‟, (Gary Hamel, 2012)

3. Extreme sports

4. Extreme sports

6. Leadership lessons from
the Tempest:
• Perfect storm?
• Shipwrecked universities?
• Prospero‟s magic and leadership

7. Providing a narrative
to the crew

8. The
Psychological Contract
Psychological contract (the „Deal‟):
Aggregate of reciprocal expectations between
institution and its stakeholders (internal and
external)
- sense of fairness/‟fair deal‟
- dignity at work
- collegial v corporate
- expectations/perceptions of leadership
- sense of reciprocity in key relationships
- planned, not erratic or accidental

9. Stefan Collini‟s:
“What are Universities for?” (1)
“Universities are perhaps the single most important
institutional medium for conserving, understanding,
extending and handing on to subsequent generations the
intellectual, scientific and artistic heritage of mankind...”
we are merely custodians for the present generation of a
complex intellectual inheritance which we did not create
– and which is not ours to destroy”

10. Stefan Collins‟:
“What are Universities for?” (2)
.. “the background implication in the comments
of some journalists and politicians that ...many
academics are little better than middle-class
welfare scroungers indulging their hobbies at
public expense”

11. The Coalition View
„I expect to see, in a university sector faced with the onset of more
competition and more demanding students, a ferment of creative
thinking on how to redesign course structures and manage major
change among staff so as to promote higher quality but lower-cost
teaching. I may be missing something, but I haven‟t seen much
evidence of this.‟
Rt. Hon. Dr Vince Cable MP,
Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills
Hefce conference, 6 April 2011

12. New psychological contract for
HE - a paradigm shift?
• Students as customer? Co-creator? Citizen?
• „Comprehensive‟ to „differentiated‟ institutions?
• Collaborative to competitive?
• HE Sector to HE „system‟?
• Trusted to challenged?
• Certain to uncertain?

13. Critical leadership issues
2012 onwards
• Handling uncertainty and ambiguity
• Challenging inefficiency and reluctance to innovate
• Being entrepreneurial
• Making change happen
• Knowing how to collaborate and compete
• Perfecting the skills of engagement
• Applying citizenship creatively
• Being true to core values of HE

14. The „long view‟ of change
„All change is to ensure that we stay the same?‟
Quote from Sir Peter Scott‟s discussion paper for an LF Round
Table event: „A New Deal for Higher Education- All Change,
Slow Change or No Change‟ – taken originally from The
Leopard, by Guiseppe di Lampedusa (translation)

15. Disruptive innovation
• „Sustaining‟ innovation vs „disruptive‟ innovation
• New market mechanisms (contrived or real)
• Research and „Impact‟
• “Unbundling” – separation or outsourcing of
different parts of HE value chain
• Open educational resources

16. 10 key issues
1. Leading the whole student experience
2. Public and societal engagement
3. Distinctiveness
4. Learning from Academic Leadership
5. Professional vs Academic Leadership
6. Alignment
7. Learning from other sectors
8. Entrepreneurial leadership of universities
9. New leadership qualities of challenge and support
10. Discovering the magic in leadership

17. (1) Leading the „whole‟
Creating
Organisational
student experience
Conditions
Culture,
Curriculum,
Co-curriculum, Diagram taken
Community
from LF Research-
„Developing the
whole Student..‟
(Dr Kathleen
Quinlan, Uni of
Holistic Oxford 2011) –
Learning
Environment From studies by
Leadership of Modelling a
Learning Meaningful Life Braskamp, Colby
Knowledge of, and Sense of purpose, and Blackmore
involvement with, Intentionality,
teaching and Authenticity, Identity,
learning Reflection

18. (2) Public and societal engagement –
a „sheet anchor‟
“Increasing integration of institutional interest
with the wider public good – placing
universities at the heart of social and
economic advancement”
UUK Report:
Futures for HE: Analysing trends

19. (3) Distinctiveness
N - Narrative
P - Place
V - Values
C - Community
C - Clusters

20. (4) Learning from
academic leadership
• Winning hearts and minds
• Nurturing the next generation
• Creating space to thrive
• Stimulating a culture of debate and enquiry
• Fostering a sense of community
• Encouraging curiosity

21. (5) Professional vs
Academic Leadership
Professional Academic
Leadership Third space Leadership
and careers and careers
Diagram inspired by LF Research
by Dr Celia Whitchurch
on Professional Careers in HE (2008)

22. (6) Alignment
“For me, it‟s
more about a
job well done
and less about
the cheese.”
(Harvard Business Review)

23. (7) Learning from other sectors
John Lewis
Professional services
Third sector/ Social enterprise

24. (8) Entrepreneurial leadership
of universities
„Entrepreneurs – and entrepreneurial organisations –
always operate at the edge of their competence,
focussing more of their resources and attention on what
they do not yet know than on controlling what they
already know.
They measure themselves not by the standards
of the past (how far they have come) but by the
visions of the future (how far they have to go).
And they do not allow the past to serve as a restraint on
the future; the mere fact that something has not
worked in the past does not mean that it cannot be
made to work in future‟
Kanter R M, (1983), the Change Masters,
Unwin Hymen Ltd, referenced in LF and CUC
„Getting to Grips with Risk‟ Report

25. (9) New leadership qualities of
challenge and support
• The interpretative leader – giving meaning
• The entrepreneurial/business focussed leader
• Confidence building
• Balancing support with strong challenge
• Offering a clear narrative and a „point of sail‟
• Encouraging collaboration
• Energising

26. (10) Discovering the
magic in leadership
“ We are such stuff as dreams are made on..”
Prospero Shakespeare‟s „Tempest‟
“ The history of the struggle in South Africa is rich
with the stories of heros and heroines, some of
them leaders, some of them followers. All of them
deserve to be remembered.”
Nelson Mandela

27. Where do we find
the magic in leadership?
• Seeing new connections
• Transforming the obvious
• Crossing boundaries
• Using humour
• Underpinning with trust
and respect

28. “We don‟t have a
leader to take
you to”

29. Mahatma Gandhi quote:
“Live as if you might die tomorrow.
Learn as though you will live forever.”