Change management has quietly become one of the most important competencies a president, provost, dean, or vice president can bring to the table. Enrollment shifts, funding uncertainty, and evolving student expectations mean that nearly every leader in higher education today is being asked to bring people along through change that feels, at times, uncomfortable.
So what do we actually look for when we’re assessing this skill in a candidate? Not simply a résumé full of restructurings and reorganizations — plenty of leaders have “led change” that left a wake of mistrust behind them. We look for leaders who can explain not just what they changed, but how they communicated it, who they brought into the process early, and how they handled the people who disagreed with them.
The best change leaders don’t treat resistance as an obstacle to manage around. They treat it as information. If you’re evaluating candidates for a role that will require significant change management, ask them to walk you through a moment when the change didn’t land well — and what they did next. The answer will tell you more than any success story will.
