STRATEGIC LEADERSHIP CONVERSATIONS: AUSTRALIAN UNIVERSITIES, 1980-2020

There is no one right way to lead strategic planning. The approach needs to be crafted to the culture of the organisation and address the challenges of that particular time - Denise Bradley A culture that enables strategic planning is a culture that is open, transparent, frank and communicative … the engagement process is critical - Alan Robson Leaders should understand the people systems required for the effective running of their department, school, faculty or university. They must also be highly skilled in how they communicate with, and lead, their peers, staff, students and stakeholders. Getting this wrong can be disastrous - Ed Davis The difficulty for executive leaders will be trying to keep the connection between themselves and their colleagues, while remaining clear about the direction they are heading - Geoffrey Sherington You can't be a leader if nobody wants to follow you … you have to work hard to earn the respect and the trust you need to lead - Ian Chubb The Executive Dean … respected the old traditions and although he took on that managerial role, he tried to do it in a collegial way, in a way that respected people's expertise and autonomy - Jim Ife Effective leadership requires an appreciation of the culture and values of the organisation you are leading and if you do not or are not able to do this you are doomed for failure - Lynn Meek When we started strategic planning it was much more top-down … six years later, the process was more organic … a great deal of discussion came percolating up from the community - Peter Coaldrake The problem with strategic planning has always been its rigid nature and the fact that it becomes a kind of ideology that managers require everyone to adhere to … whether it is still working or not - Simon Marginson Every time a new Strategic Plan was released, we knew that money would be squeezed out of teaching … all that changed was less money for teaching and more bureaucracy and decreasing student satisfaction - Carolyn Noble