How Coaches Help Faculty Thrive in Academic Leadership Roles

As faculty roles in universities expand in scope and complexity, leadership skills are ever more important. Executive coaching, or leadership coaching can play a critically important role in faculty development and career success.

At the Academic Leadership Group, one of our core focus areas is coaching faculty and senior administrators to support them in excelling in their roles. But coaching is only one type of relationship you need to advance in your career.

In this article we look at the roles of advisors, sponsors, and mentors and how they support faculty careers, then we take a deeper dive into the value that a coach can provide, and how to find a coach who is a good fit.

Benefits of Advisors, Sponsors and Mentors to Academic Career Growth

There is a great Harvard Business School case that features the career of Carla Ann Harris, a black woman who joined Morgan Stanley in 1987 and over 20+ years grew her career to top leadership roles.

Carla is famous for her “pearls” a collection of strategies, tools and lessons she shares to help others maximize her career success.  Our favorite is a short video she published on “Mentors, Sponsors, and Advisors.”

An advisor is someone you ask tactical and specific questions. In an academic context this might be “what do I need to set my lab up” or “does my book need to be published before my tenure case is reviewed.” Often faculty have many helpful advisors over the course of their career.

A mentor, is someone that, according to Carla, “you can tell the good, the bad, and the ugly to.” A mentor relationship requires a great deal of trust and your mentor should be only focused on your challenges and your success.  A mentor is someone that you might share your career aspirations with to get advice or get help in solving a difficult situation with a student or colleague. They need to fully understand your professional context and be able to give you tailored advice.

A sponsor, according to Carla, is someone who “carries your papers into a room.” They are the person who will, behind closed doors, argue passionately on your behalf for why you should be promoted.  Because of this critical role, Carla describes a sponsor as someone you tell “the good, the good, and the good” to. A sponsor is a key advocate who will argue on your behalf as to why you should get an opportunity or role. From a faculty perspective, sponsors write promotion letters, or reviews, or are on your tenure committee.  

How Does Coaching Support an Academic Career?

Like a mentor, a coach has one agenda: your success and growth. However a coach is an external and fully confidential sounding board.  Many clients find coaching meetings a great time to unpack their thinking, share challenges and anxieties, and form forward-looking solutions.

Coaches don’t have the deep expertise in your specific field to be able to offer tailored advice.  They support you to get clear on what you need and then to find the answers you seek.

Coaches facilitate professional growth by increasing self-awareness through assessing strengths, reflecting, and identifying blind spots and behaviors that might be holding you back.

Coaches help with goalsetting, including working with clients to clarify objectives and align these to personal values and aspirations.

Coaching is an opportunity to track and reflect on progress, and a skilled coach can offer constructive and unbiased feedback that supports learning and growth.

And coaches can offer tailored leadership advice and resources that support addressing challenges and sustaining long-term growth.

Finding a Great Coach

There are many types of coaches.  Life coaches span the personal and professional – they help you with self-improvement that spans career, relationships, and health.  Career coaches provide focus on career development and job transition.  Relationship coaches focus on personal relationships, and wellness coaches on health, nutrition, exercise and stress management. A spiritual coach helps with spiritual growth, purpose, and finding connections to a higher power.  Executive or leadership coaches specialize in supporting senior leaders.

If you are interested in finding a coach, here are some helpful questions to consider:

What are your goals for coaching?

What does a successful coaching relationship look like for you?

What expertise or background would you like your coach to have?

What type of investment (time, money) are you willing to put into coaching?

When you have an exploratory conversation with a potential coach, ask them what their approach to coaching is.

What brought them to coaching?

What challenges do their clients typically face, and how do they help them?

A great coaching relationship is a two-way fit.  After an initial call, you should feel connected with the potential coach and be excited to work with them.

At the Academic Leadership Group, our coaches have deep expertise in three areas, coaching, universities, and leadership development.  Leadership development expertise includes strategic thinking, vision setting, building your awareness and application of strengths, and related skills, including emotional intelligence, authentic leadership, and navigating conflict.

For more information on our coaching services, contact us!