Pre-Session Reflection for the Tufts University School of Dental Medicine Leadership Team
Sustaining Culture in Times of Complexity and Change
Ahead of our session on November 18, please review the short video clip and image below, along with the descriptions and prompts for reflection. Altogether, this should take about 15 minutes
1. Watch: Hypernormalization in Leadership (3 minutes)
We’ll start the session by looking at what makes leading in higher education, and sustaining a healthy culture, so difficult today, and where our thinking may need to shift. One concept we’ll use is hypernormalization: when we act as if “the way things are” is normal or even okay, because imagining an alternative feels impossible. As a preview, here’s a 3-minute clip from the opening session of the Chronicle of Higher Education’s Leadership Transformation Collaborative, which welcomes several hundred higher education leaders each year.
2. Reflect and Come with a Change in Mind
A key challenge for leaders in these times is supporting our teams through a high volume of change. And when it comes to change, what we intend as leaders and what our teams hear can be very different.
This comic is drawn as a town hall, but the same dynamic can show up in a one-on-one meeting or around a conference table.
And we’ve all been on both sides of this comic: as one of the leaders at the front of the room, and as someone in the audience. Spend a few minutes reflecting on your experiences both ways.
Then think of a change you’re leading or helping to lead that comes with some uncertainty, tension, or stakeholder resistance, for example a new process, a curricular change, or a shift in how your team works. It can be large or small. What might the people affected be thinking, like the audience in the comic? Bring this change with you; you’ll return to it for an exercise during the session.