News
“Are We There Yet?”
A New Generation for Gravitational Leadership
By Mark Adams
Institute for Community College Development
Fall 2009
"Soon – very soon."
There are days when ICCD associate director Lee Riddell invokes those words with the frequency of a mantra. The word is on the street that ICCD is putting together a new generation of Gravitational Leadership programming for the SUNY system's 30 community colleges and its close neighbors in surrounding states. And that's a matter of keen interest for others farther beyond New York's borders whose own college systems don't offer centralized services like SUNY's. So, at times like these, it seems all phone lines lead to Riddell's desk at ICCD headquarters at Cornell.
"We expected something like this," Riddell says. "Formal program evaluations and informal feedback both indicated a great and growing demand for economical ways of developing ‘homegrown’ leaders attuned to the needs of their local campuses. Our goal was to provide that in a package that is fully AACC compliant. So we were aware of the demand, but what's noteworthy is the volume and urgency of the signals we're getting."
Photo above: CBLD Pilot Project collaborators meet at Finger Lakes Community College. From left, Grace Loomis, FLCC; Maureen Erickson, Cayuga CC; Joseph Nairn, FLCC; Susan Bronstein, Jamestown CC; Lee Riddell, ICCD; Carol Runge, Cayuga CC; and Ruth Hopkins, ICCD.
Over the course of three years, ICCD research consultant Ruth Hopkins worked with President Karen Stout, an ICCD board member, and her staff at Montgomery County Community College in suburban Philadelphia, to craft the key elements of a prototypical campus-based leadership program: a 360 Leadership Skills Inventory incorporating input from the Faculty Council of Community Colleges; a course of workshops; and a mentoring program – all coordinated by a campus trainer, armed with ICCD training and guidebooks.
With that package in hand, ICCD recruited three SUNY colleges – Cayuga, Finger Lakes, and Jamestown – to take the new program on a two-year test drive. After a few months' preparation, recruiting and training campus coordinators, FLCC became the first of the three to launch its "beta" program, in a high-profile inaugural session involving 300 faculty and staff during the college's annual fall semester Opening Days festivities.
It was about that time that Lee Riddell's phone began ringing. Often, the caller’s first question is, “Why is it taking so long? Do we really have to wait two more years for the results of this pilot project before we have a chance to access the new Gravitational Leadership tools for our campus?”
Ruth Hopkins points out that the collaborative pilot endeavor has actually sped the program’s development: “We’ve learned so much from each other, and that has helped us move forward more quickly and determine the necessary action steps for campuses to embrace the program.”
“In practical terms,” Riddell adds, “it’s also enabled us to phase in certain program elements while others were still on the drawing boards. For example, we’re about nine months away from publishing a complete guidebook, but most of the content is already available in notebook form. More importantly, we’re putting the finishing touches on the new 360 Skills Inventory – probably the most anxiously awaited tool – and we anticipate making it widely available around the start of the new year.”
In fact, Riddell says, two other community college systems in addition to SUNY are already considering administering the Skills Inventory in anticipation of having subsequent elements of the program – workshops and mentoring processes – in place by the time the Inventory results have been compiled and analyzed.
"So, we're not ready to say 'Go!' just yet,” Riddell notes, “but it's not too early to say, 'Get ready.' In fact, this is a good time to get in touch and start a dialogue with ICCD about your college's needs and resources, goals and objectives. And to talk over what you can do to start laying the groundwork for your own Gravitational Leadership program."
And, Riddell adds, once you're in touch, stay in touch. Get on ICCD's email list and watch for newsletter coverage and special announcements.
"The whole idea behind the new generation of Gravitational Leadership is putting the right tools and the knowledge of how to use them in your own hands,” Riddell says. “That's worth waiting for just a little bit longer, and planning for right now."
