Reflecting on a Year of Growth: Part 1

Image Credit: Adaptation from iPhone Calendar Screen Capture

Savoir, Savoir Faire, Savoir Être

If you want to improve yourself, surround yourself with people who have the savoir (knowledge), savoir faire (know how), and savoir être (ways of being) to which you aspire. This is exactly what I did when I took a one-year contract as an Educational Development Consultant at the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning (TI) at the University of Calgary. I was finishing my Ph.D. at the University of Alberta as I started in this role at the TI. When I crossed that doctoral degree finish line, I said to myself, “No more credentials!” I had an amazing Ph.D. experience in my mid-career, but I told myself that enough was enough. It was time to stop going back to school. Of course, learning and growing never stops; this is one of the marvels in life! Learning is life-long and life-wide.

If you want to improve yourself, surround yourself with people who have the savoir (knowledge), savoir faire (know how), and savoir être (ways of being) to which you aspire.

Leadership Matters

So, there I was joining the TI, a university centre for teaching and learning with an outstanding national and international reputation for being at the leading edge of educational development, the integration of educational technology, and experiential learning – all rooted in the latest scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL). The TI has been graced by exceptional senior leaders such as Dr. Lynne Taylor and Dr. Nancy Chick, as well as the outstanding current senior leadership of Dr. Leslie Reid, Vice-Provost, Teaching and Learning, and Dr. Natasha Kenny, Senior Director, Taylor Institute. I say this emphatically because leadership in academia is not consistently excellent. Academics who move into formal leadership roles often struggle with that change. Non-academics who join the academy from other industries or sectors can also struggle with leadership in higher education. A complicated tension stretches across the chasm between the educational and knowledge creation missions of a public university and the pressures of a neoliberal society (Jones, Harvey, Lefoe, & Ryland, 2014). This tension only represents part of the challenge faced by senior administrators in higher education.

That said, formal leadership roles are only one part of a healthy leadership equation in an academic institution. Distributed and collaborative leadership (Bolden, 2011; Harris, 2008; Shava & Tlou, 2018) – in which hierarchies are flattened – when implemented well, are also critical to excellence in higher education. The TI has developed this kind of ground-up, distributed leadership in spades. There, I found myself surrounded by people who have mastered the savoir, savoir faire, and savoir être to which I aspire. They are wizards at what they do, each bringing their own unique and ever-growing strengths to their work.

Formal leadership roles are only one part of a healthy leadership equation in an academic institution. Distributed and collaborative leadership (Bolden, 2011; Harris, 2008; Shava & Tlou, 2018) – in which hierarchies are flattened – when implemented well, are also critical to excellence in higher education.

While it might seem as though I am gushing with praise here, I share these reflections genuinely. And I'm not the only one who has noticed the outstanding work of the TI. While still working for the TI and attending a conference workshop on teaching culture in higher education, I introduced myself and identified my affiliation with the TI. One colleague in the workshop jumped in and said, "The Taylor Institute at the University of Calgary? Do you people ever sleep? Your team is prolific. Every time I turn around, there's another well-researched, robust resource up on your website" (paraphrased personal communication, 2023). This colleague's comment about the quality of the TI outputs is accurate, although I cannot take credit for the amazing TI Resource Library to which they were referring.

The people at the TI are exceptional. That said, I do sleep and I'm pretty sure the rest of the TI team sleeps as well. In fact, from my experience working at the TI, staff wellbeing there is highly valued and is regularly championed at departmental meetings. That human, care-centred approach in an academic workplace was refreshing and was part of the reason my experience working at the TI was so positive. The people there are real people, who really care about each other, about individual and collective wellbeing, and about the work they do to support and enhance teaching and learning in higher education. I am grateful that my learning this past year was influenced by such an excellent microculture (Mårtensson, Roxå, & Stensaker, 2014; Roxå & Mårtensson, 2015) of colleagues and leaders.

Where to next...

My year at the TI has come and gone. The contract was non-renewable. With gratitude for all that experience taught me, I had to move on to the next opportunity, which I am now embracing wholeheartedly. I am fortunate to be able to stay in Calgary and move into a new job as an Educational Developer at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT), working with the fine people at the Centre for Academic Development and Innovation (CADI). As I embark on this new adventure, in a new-to-me institution, I will no doubt grow further as an educator, as a leader, and most importantly, as a human being.

References

Bolden, R. (2011). Distributed Leadership in Organizations: A Review of Theory and Research. International Journal of Management Reviews. 13: 251–269. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2370.2011.00306.x

Harris, A. (2008). Distributed leadership: according to the evidence. Journal of Educational Administration. 46(2):172-188. https://doi.org/10.1108/09578230810863253

Jones, S., Harvey, M., Lefoe, G., & Ryland, K. (2014). Synthesising theory and practice: Distributed leadership in higher education. Educational Management, Administration, & Leadership. 42(5): 603-619. DOI: 10.1177/1741143213510506

Mårtensson, K., Roxå, T., & Stensaker, B. (2014). From quality assurance to quality practices: an investigation of strong microcultures in teaching and learning. Studies in Higher Education. 39(4): 534-545. DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2012.709493

Roxå, T. & Mårtensson, K. (2015). Microcultures and informal learning: a heuristic guiding analysis of conditions for informal learning in local higher education workplaces. International Journal for Academic Development. 20(2):193-205. DOI: 10.1080/1360144X.2015.1029929

Shava, G. N. & Tlou, F. N. (2018). Distributed leadership in education, contemporary

issues in educational leadership. African Educational Research Journal. 6(4): 279-287. DOI: 10.30918/AERJ.64.18.097