Using this workbook, create your unique 3-6 month roadmap to guide your decisions and identify the most critical tasks to accomplish first in your new role.You have attended leadership workshops before that give you the theory without discussion of your specific skills and experience. Other workshops help you focus on your skill set, but without discussion of the specific context in which you will lead. Context is everything.
Running the Race is an intensive workbook designed to guide you in creating your own unique roadmap for your first three to six months in your new leadership role. Leaders new to their roles have very little time to lay a strong foundation for their tenure. Much like a sprint relay, your time in the role is short—and it is dependent on the history you inherit. Don’t squander this precious time at the start; once you accept your new position, be prepared to ‘hit the ground running’ from the moment you begin, and to use your brief honeymoon period to create the greatest possibility of success.
Running the Race will assist you as you grapple with:
- The complex power dynamics at your new institution or surrounding your new role
- Relationship building during these crucial early days
- Team building
- Essentials of shared governance
- Operating essentials
- Planning ahead for the legacy you’ll leave when you pass the baton to the next leader
The authors—a retired university president and a former university provost—bring decades of experience leading institutions of higher education and guiding other higher-ed leaders in their pursuit of their careers. Use their case studies, activities, self-reflection questions, and close examination of your macro and micro context in this workbook to set goals, establish plans of action, and identify clearly the most important tasks to accomplish in the first six months following transition into your new role. Your roadmap can then serve as an organizing touchstone for your entire leg of the race, from receiving to passing the leadership baton, and will increase your likelihood of winning that gold medal and leaving the legacy you desire.
Reviews"When you plan to start a new leadership position and are determined to be outrageously successful,
Running the Race is a must read and reread. It powerfully presents foundational information, practice-based exercises, and activities that take you quickly from ideas to action. This is a workbook that you should use again and again throughout your career. Drs. Thompson and Turell have given all of us the roadmap to courageous and confident leadership." - Karen M. Whitney, Ph.D., Advisor/Interim-Leader/Consultant and President Emerita, Clarion University
"
Running the Race is an indispensable guide for higher education administrators, especially those about to enter a new position. The workbook’s interactive format encourages users to probe their own experiences and to situate themselves within the new institutional role they will assume. Although written primarily for job-changers, the volume’s many case studies include dilemmas that can arise at any point in an administrative career. What sets this book apart from competing professional development guides for higher education administrators is its steady focus on the interaction of gender, ethnicity, and power within institutional relationships." - Nancy Kleniewski, President Emerita, State University of New York at Oneonta
