Developing Faculty and Staff

Learn from Experiences

Use the possible reasons for rejection in the Chronicle Of Higher Ed article, "The Path to Full Professor: When Your Bid for Promotion Fails" as a framework to coach a faculty member. Whether early or mid-career, a faculty member can identify strategies to avoid the problems the article maps out.
Schedule a meeting with one or more new faculty members to solicit feedback about their experiences to date. Review the Chronicle Of Higher Ed article, "That New Hire Needs Your Help" and share it with new faculty. Use the key points to inform a coaching conversation.
Provide faculty with honest, accurate, and balanced feedback about their performance. The next time you have a problem with a faculty member, read the article, "Dealing with Problem Faculty in Seven Not-So-Easy Steps" for tips and reach out for help from GW Faculty Affairs.
Meet with a faculty member who you believe is in a "post-tenure slump." Refer to the article, "Posttenure Planning" in a mentoring discussion to try to motivate the faculty member to develop a plan.

Use the GROW Model tool to coach your direct reports to improve performance. This model of coaching will help your team members to understand where they currently are and to align on where they are going. Explore the various ways they can reach their goals by identifying the areas of development necessary to get there.
Set clear expectations with staff members to help them provide the best support possible. Listen to this brief (3 minute) Linked In Learning video, "Clarifying Team Expectations" for ideas to help you prepare for the conversation. NOTES: You will need to be logged in to GW's single sign-on to gain access. You may also be prompted to set it up the first time you access the platform. GW has a special partnership with LinkedIn so that all employees and students have access to the full library.
Access GW resources to better manage staff performance. Take care to understand the performance management process and to use it to help your staff grow and develop.
Recommend your staff review these Tips for Moving Up in the Organization to help with their career planning.

Pull a group together to explore the online faculty development resource, "Global Diversity in the Classroom," to encourage them to reorient their practice and their thinking. Find tools to empower faculty as they foster an inclusive classroom and work to offset deficit discourses.
Mentors learn from the people they mentor. Bring a group of seasoned faculty together to discuss the effectiveness of mentoring in your department. Ask who is mentoring whom, find out what they are learning, and discuss any gaps in covering early career faculty needs.
Mentor new faculty and/or help others to do so. Use the article "Acing the First Semester: Success Strategies for New Faculty" to inspire a mentoring conversation. Use the conversation as a chance to reflect on what you've learned. Ask questions to gain insights into what new faculty think about our programs, etc.

Take the Critical Coaching Activities Assessment to identify new ways to develop your staff and access resources to assist you. At the same time, ask staff members to complete the associated "How Coachable Am I?" assessment. Meet and discuss how the two of you will implement what you learn from these assessments.
Spend a little time managing staff to help them support your faculty and students better. If they are performing well, challenge them to do more by delegating or assigning new tasks. Delegating is a win-win because it saves you time while developing others.
Ask a colleague, employee, or your boss for feedback on how well you are developing your team. Take the How Well Do You Develop Your People assessment and use it to frame your conversation. Based on your results, identify three things you will do to enhance the ways you are developing your staff.

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