Blog from Peter Loge, Director of the School of Media and Public Affairs, School of Media and Public Affairs
Participating in the 2024/25 GWALA cohort introduced me to colleagues across GW I would not have otherwise met, helped me sharpen my leadership and management skills, and set me on a good path for the next academic year.
As with most things, what one gets out of GWALA depends on what one puts into it. There is always something to learn, a conversation from which to benefit, a new angle to consider. Every session, reading, and discussion offered new insights and ideas.
There are three things I will take with me from the program: stronger relationships across GW, a better sense of my leadership, and a fresh way to approach the next academic year. GWALA participants and speakers are from across GW. Some are established leaders, others are leading for the first time. Some are in academic roles, others in management or staff roles. All are important to GW, all are good to know, and I learned from every conversation. This wasn’t a casual networking event, it was an exercise in relationship building. Second, I got a better sense of myself as a leader. I was coaxed into participating in a 360 review. The results were illuminating and helpful. I have a much better sense of how I can be perceived, and how I can act on those perceptions. Finally, I have a way to approach the coming academic year.
Going into the session participants are encouraged to find a project on which they want to work, something to build or fix. I had some ideas, none of which I invested in. Instead, I spent energy making what was already working, stronger. This was the fourth year of my program’s five-year plan, and I focused on hitting the benchmarks the faculty agreed to hit. Had I not participated in GWALA, I would have put off the new plan until the end of the fifth year. Instead, I am going to spend the next academic year having strategic conversations in advance of the next plan. I will use the year to gather ideas and support for how we want to look next. Rather than force people to write on post-it notes on a random Friday morning in August, 2026, I am going to engage the community in a conversation about who and what we want to be together – then I will force people to write on post-it notes.
GWALA was a good use of time and attention, the most precious resources any leader has.