Many continuing education and lifelong learning programs are led by “Baby Boomers” who have been and will continue to retire, over the next five to ten years. The next five years will be challenging times for continuing education and lifelong learning leaders who might have a title of Vice President, Dean, Director or CEO. The growth of competition, reduction in funding, requirement to be financially self-sufficient, increased demands of learners and contract training clients, the need to stay cutting edge and much more, can make running a continuing education and lifelong learning program stressful and arduous.
While great efforts are being taken to remain successful in the short run, continuing education and lifelong learning leadership is focusing on positioning their programs for success when they retire. Priorities include: leaving their successor a program that is financially self-sufficient; staffed with personnel trained in industry best practices. The program needs to be structured so revenue generators can generate revenue. It needs to be founded on short and long-term plans, operate on a software system built for their business, and be guided by decision-making, based on data.
Managing succession is never easy. In the business world, the transition success of a small business from one leader to the next leader is less than 50 percent. The new leader will need to be able to engender respect and deliver the support and guidance their team requires to make the transition to a new leader.
As the new leader of a continuing education or lifelong learning program, the following are seven actions you can take to support and increase the success of the transition.
#1. Vision and Timeline.You need to be able to articulate your vision for the next three years and if changes from the present direction are included, be able to document and communicate the timeline for the changes. Your staff wants to understand what the continuing education or lifelong learning program will look like in three years. You also must be open to shifting the vision and timeline due to changes and challenges you did not envision when developing your vision.
#2. Priority Setting.The business of continuing education and lifelong learning can be complex and busy. Many times, the program is asked to handle a variety of responsibilities that are not introduced through appropriate vetting, but rather because someone up the ladder says they need to happen. You must be able to set priorities, whether they are overall program priorities or if they are based on department/unit or individual priorities.
#3. Communication.You may be clear about what you want done, but most likely everyone else is not. They need to hear the vision; the plan, and so on, over and over again. Consistent and constant communication is important for a staff that is in leadership transition. Part of communication is listening and better explaining confusions and misunderstandings.
#4. Buffer and Protection.Many times, continuing education and lifelong learning program staff are asked to take on responsibilities outside of the program’s prevue, as well as having to deal with roadblocks with departments external to continuing education and lifelong learning, decelerating their efforts. You must be able to say no to outside interruptions, as well as be the defender of your program by working to dismantle roadblocks. Both actions require good negotiation and people skills. The people outside of your program may not understand the reasons why you are saying no or working to eliminate roadblocks that might not be roadblocks for others in the institution.
#5. Be the Expert.Your staff may be talented, but there will be challenges where they need an expert to give them the answer. Depending on your experience being the expert, providing answers may be easy or you may need to work diligently; leaning on experts like LERN to get the answer. You will never be expected to have all the answers, but your staff will expect you to be able to get the answer.
#6. Team Building.Efforts need to be taken to build respect from your team for you, but also you need to be able to make sure they are working together for the betterment of the program’s customers and clients. You want to make sure you are encouraging them to be engaged in decision-making, as well as being accountable for the performance of their area of responsibility. Building trust in you and others on staff helps with self-motivation; a requirement for growth and improvement.
#7. Champion.You are the champion of your continuing education or lifelong learning program, but most importantly you need to champion quality offerings and services, as well as steady growth. It is easy for staff to forget whom they actually work for – your customers and clients – because of day-to-day challenges. It is also easy for staff to get overwhelmed and become unproductive if growth is not managed.
So, congratulations on your new job! The work being done by continuing education and lifelong learning staff is critical to the future of the world. Education is a keystone for economic and personal growth. As the new leader, you need to transition your staff from their former leader and guide them forward to remain successful and relevant.