1. Bridge-Building Leadership
Joining up the university
Richard Sharpe, Managing Director, Elementa Leadership
AUA Yorkshire and North East Conference
November 15th 2013

2. About Elementa Leadership
Elementa Leadership is an organisation development
consultancy. It works in partnership with its clients to
develop greater strategic agility.
The consultancy was
formed in October 2008 by Richard Sharpe, formerly
Associate Director, Leadership, with The Work Foundation.

Elementa Leadership works extensively in UK higher education and believes that HE is
critical to the success of the UK’s growing knowledge and innovation economy and
that it is essential that HE is sustained, protected and encouraged to flourish if the UK
is to achieve it’s economic and societal goals.

3. About Elementa Leadership

Our work is informed by a strong evidence base drawn
from organisational psychology, management theory
and ‘whole systems’ thinking.

We have significant practical international experience
of working at strategic and senior levels, across sectors.

Elementa Leadership has organised two US study visits for UK HE leaders, as a part of
our ongoing research in to the ‘Agile University’. These have included meetings with
senior leaders and key staff at Columbia, NYU, University of Michigan and Ohio State
University.

4. Adaptive Challenges that UK HE Faces
 Ongoing public sector retrenchment
 Changes in funding and policy direction (decreasing government financial
support)
 Prospect of institutions being allowed to ‘fail’
 Intensification of global and local competition (including the prospect of
private universities and increased competition for international students)
 Students as customers? What is the ‘student experience’?
 Research, REF & Impact
 The impact of technology on teaching & learning (MOOC’s)

5. Fit between an Organisation and its Environment
Jones, 2004

6. Strategic Agility
The ability of the university, as a living human system, to thrive
on and learn from continuous waves of change such that
change becomes a natural and inevitable part of organisational
life and not an isolated and threatening event. The ability to
continually develop new capabilities and improve upon those
that already exist,
advantage.
as a source of sustainable strategic

7. Bridges, Connections and Collaboration

8. An Interconnected Future – The Future of Global HE

9. Research Partnering around the world’s great problems

10. Transnational Education Collaboration
British Council, 2013

11. Partnering with Students

12. Partnering with the City Region

13. Interdisciplinary (Collaborative) Research

14. Building a new Academic / Administrative Interface

15. Discussion Point
What are the blocks to more effective collaborative
cross-boundary working in your University?

16. The Seven Key Collaborative Factors
Linden, 2010
1.
The partners have a shared, specific interest of purpose that they are
committed to and can’t achieve (as well) on their own.
2.
The partners want to pursue a collaborative solution now and are willing to
contributed something to the effort.
3.
The appropriate people are at the table.
4.
The partners have an open, credible process.
5.
The effort has a passionate champion (or champions), with credibility and
clout.
6.
The partners have trusting relationships.
7.
The partners use the skills of collaborative leadership.

17. Linden’s Collaboration Framework
Linden, 2010
Appropriate
People
High Priority
CHAMPION
Shared Goals
Open Process

18. Leading Across Boundaries –
The Intercultural Competence Assessment (INCA)
Byram et al, 1997
1.
Tolerance for ambiguity is “the ability to accept lack of clarity and ambiguity
and to be able to deal with it constructively”
2.
Behavioural flexibility is “the ability to adapt one’s own behaviour to
different requirements and situations”
3.
Communicative awareness is “the ability to establish relationships between
linguistic expressions and cultural contents, to identify, and consciously work
with, various communicative conventions of foreign partners, and to modify
correspondingly one’s own linguistics forms of expression”

19. Leading Across Boundaries –
Intercultural Competence Assessment (INCA)
Byram et al, 1997
4.
Knowledge discovery is “the ability to acquire new knowledge of a culture
and cultural practices and the ability to act using that knowledge, those
attitudes and those skills under the constraints of real-time communication
and interaction”
5.
Respect for otherness is “the readiness to suspend disbelief about other
cultures and belief about one’s own”
6.
Empathy is “the ability to intuitively understand what other people think and
how they feel in concrete situations”

21. Bennett’s Model of Intercultural Sensitivity

In the Denial stage, individuals must learn to recognize the existence of cultural
differences.

In the Defence stage, people can diminish their polarized perspectives by emphasizing
“common humanity” and similarities in needs and feelings.

In the Minimization stage, a person needs to develop cultural self-awareness and learn
that even if there are similarities between cultures, there are also a lot of differences.

In the Acceptance stage, individuals must refine their analysis of cultural contrasts,
making cultural differences the focus and practicing cultural frame-of-reference
shifting.

In the Adaptation stage, one must perfect one’s cultural frame-of-reference skills and
increase one’s ability to empathize with others.

22. Strategies for Working Across Different Cultures
Linden, 2010

Respect difference; don’t allow them to overshadow the commonalities.

Work on relationships; take time to let trust grow.

Become “bilingual”; take time to decode other culture(s).

Do real work together on a common goal.

Co-locate staff from several agencies or units in the same space.

Identify and use the strengths of each organisation.

Make needed systemic changes when trying to alter an organisation's culture
(in order that it can build and sustain collaboration across cultural
boundaries) .

23. What does a Bridge-Building Leader do?
© Elementa Leadership
CO-CREATES
SHARED
PURPOSE AND
‘BUILDS
COMMUNITY’
SEEKS ‘WINWIN’ HIGH
QUALITY
OUTCOMES
COURAGE TO
HAVE THE
DIALOGUE
A POST-HEROIC
LEADERSHIP MODEL
TRUST
THROUGH
HUMILTY AND
AUTHENTICTY
EQUITY
EMPATHY
THROUGH
LISTENING
AND
CURIOSITY
VOICE
ENGAGES AND
INFORMS
STAKEHOLDERS
EXCELLENCE
COMMUNITY
CREATES A
LEGITIMISED
‘ROAD MAP’

24. What does a Bridge-Building Leader do?

Achieves deep empathy with and understanding of others’ perspectives and encourages everyone
to do the same

Builds trust by acting authentically with humility- being open and transparent

Courage to actively ‘step in’ to contested ‘sites’ and conflict and engage in dialogue

Co-creates Shared Purpose promoting a sense of ‘voice’, control and influence (more pull less
push) and community. Can handle ambiguity and uncertainty.

Looks for collaborative win/win high quality outcomes and solutions (will not readily accept
mediocrity) to meet shared interests (equity and justice).

Keeps key stakeholders ‘on board’ as ‘champions’ and does not surprise these stakeholders or
‘blindside’ them (Political skill)

Develops a ‘legitimised’ strategic framework (goals, priorities and strategies) and process for
sustainable collaboration and/or partnership – building confidence with successful ‘baby steps’
first

25. Reflection Point
Think of your University’s best Bridge-Building leaders
Who are they?
and
What do they do that others don’t?

26. The Re-Invention of the
Academic / Administrative Interface
(The foundation of the ‘Agile University’)
A Job for Bridge-Builders?

27. The Current Academic / Administrative Interface
Model One:
Command and Control (Don’t Trust the Academics)
Model Two:
Avoidance / Consulting to the Void (Don’t upset the Academics)
Model Three:
Partnership and Collaboration (Let’s Work Together)

28. Lesson from the US - Appoint a Provost
 The Provost’s encountered took the academic mission as the core of
their role and orchestrated a range of academic and administrative
staff and services to best support this mission and the academics that
were key to its delivery.
 These role holders were all established academics who had at some
point in their careers opted to pursue a managerial route.
 There
appeared
no
confusion
academic/administrative interface.
or
lack
of
clarity
in
the

29. Lesson from the US - Appoint a Provost
 The Provost’s appeared to act as ‘bridge-builders’ between the
academic and administrative communities and as a result it appeared
that a productive, solution orientated focus occupied this space.
 The Provost’s seemed to find it relatively easy to identify problems
and opportunities and to get the right people around the table to find
appropriate solutions.

30. An Integrated framework for Planning,
Performance and Accountability
A new bridge that will join up the university

32. How effective a Bridge-Builder are you?
Complete our Bridge-Building Leadership Self Assessment Questionnaire
and find out if you are a:

Master Bridge-Builder

Effective Bridge-Builder

Apprentice Bridge-Builder

Bridge Blocker

33. Launching December 1st 2013

34. Email
richard@elementaleadership.co.uk
Web
www.elementaleadership.co.uk