Tag Archives: team building

New Department Chair – You’ve Got the Stuff!

A quick Google search and I found many hits for department chair. Most of these “hits” were job descriptions from a number of colleges and universities. Most start job descriptions include the statement. “The position of Chair is important and one of the most difficult in any college environment.” If you are a Department Chair this is no surprise.

Some chairs are elected and others appointed and the job comes with built in term limits. What is certain is that many are unprepared for the move from greatest educator in the classroom to the new role of go between.

Reading some of the job descriptions is like reading the script for a CBS show titled CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.  Only a forensic sleuth could wind their way through these job descriptions and know how it happened and who did it before big reveal.

The Chair position is one of great importance and sounds impressive to the lay person. To the Chair, it is a personal journey of participation and excitement as well as the opportunity to develop leadership skills. Neither faculty nor management, the department chairs that I have known usually share the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Our new Show DCI: Department Chair Institute

Solving the impossible

Scene of the Crime

Our gullible and innocent faculty member is either selected or elected to the position of Department Chair. The DC is an honor as the faculty member is recognized and respected by their peers and the college leadership.  This is a spring rite of passage for the new chair. They are welcomed into the new position. Their friends and family are so excited that they have been recognized for their hard work. It is a glorious time of excitement for the New Year. As graduation fades and the faculty begin their summer journey, the new chair realizes that summer for them is no longer a time of renewal, of travel, no opportunity to learn, to research or to write. This is the time for scheduling classes, hiring faculty, and there is usually a budget to begin to understand and maybe, just maybe program review or accreditation responsibilities.

The Investigation Begins

From an actual job description found on the web “The Dean ….will listen sympathetically to suggestions about such [training] opportunities. This is a major shift in the drama. The new chair isn’t automatically provided training to do their job? How, What and Who?

From the start, this DC will identify the evidence at the scene of the crime (no budget), hit the high tech lab (also known as business services) and apply the most scientific techniques used today by DC’s to crack this case also known as building a team.  This is definitely for someone who likes to learn on the job.

  • Communication
  • Motivation
  • Hiring Faculty
  • Managing Time

The Finale

I will admit that I have never been a chair but I have worked with Department Chairs for nearly 30 years. My knowledge comes from these department chairs as well as those who have attended the Department Chair Institute. All good employees who wanted to do a service for the college.

Christopher Szecsey

Christopher Szecsey

Christopher Szecsey (pronounced “say-chay”) has over 38 years of worldwide experience across more than 48 countries in capacity-building of individuals, teams, community groups, organizations, & projects. For the past 15 years, he has worked as consultant, trainer, & facilitator with international nonprofits & local nonprofits (NGOs) as well as with government & multilateral agencies in the USA & around the world.

His international clients include: the Center for Disease Control in Ethiopia, Carter Center, World Wildlife Fund, American Red Cross, Save the Children, CARE, PACT, PATH, Family Health International, Pathfinder, Counterpart International, The Asia Foundation, FAO/UN, UNDP, & UNICEF as well as international consulting firms, foundations, & government agencies. Prior to consulting, he served nine years as a Country Representative/Field Office Director for Save the Children/US on three international assignments in Asia & the Pacific Islands; two years as a Project Director for UNDP in Nepal; & three years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador.

His USA clients, mostly in the Northern California, include: the Volunteer Center & its Nonprofit Resource Center, Community Action Partnerships, West County Community Services, Santa Rosa Symphony, Habitat for Humanity, RECOURSE, Restorative Resources, Sonoma County Repertory Theater, Next Generation, Lifeschool, Osmosis, Southwest Community Health Center, La Luz, foundations such as Levi Strauss & West County Healthcare, school districts, & local city & county government agencies.

Key areas of Christopher’s consulting experience include building the capacity of the nonprofit sector around the world including in the USA; providing technical assistance, training & facilitation in collaboration/partnerships; organizational assessment & development, leadership & team strengthening;  program assessment, design, planning, & management; & board & staff development as well as work with local government agencies.

Christopher has significant experience & skills in training & facilitation with boards, senior staff, & diverse stakeholder groups, using learner center participatory, interactive, & collaborative learning processes to ensure client & stakeholder involvement, engagement & ownership for positive change efforts.

He has served on the board of three nonprofits as well as the chair of one, and as a nonprofit executive director. He graduated from the University of the Pacific/Callison College, and successfully completed the Executive Certificate Program in Global Change & Social Innovation/Appreciative Inquiry, Global Excellence in Management (GEM) Initiative, Case Western Reserve University. His three languages are: English, Spanish, and Indonesian.

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Specialties:

  • Appreciative Inquiry
  • Board Training & Development
  • Community Development/ Mobilization & Community Partnerships
  • Consulting
  • Facilitating
  • Facilitator Training
  • High-Impact Strategic Planning
  • Leadership Training & Development
  • Management Training & Development
  • Organizational Assessment
  • Organizational Development
  • Participatory Learning
  • Participatory Management
  • Partnership Building & Strengthening
  • Program/Project Development & Management
  • Staff Training & Development
  • Team Building
  • Visioning & Futuring

Jeanie Cockell

Jeanie Cockell Profile Picture

Dr. Jeanie Cockell, is president of a consulting company based in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Jeanie is a dynamic facilitator who is known for her creativity, sense of humour, sensitivity, and ability to get diverse groups to work collaboratively together. She is a leader in Appreciative Inquiry as an organizational and community development process, a research methodology and foundation for fostering collaboration in groups. Jeanie has been certified by Company of Experts.net as both an Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator and an appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Training (AIFT) Trainer.

Since 1999 Jeanie has worked as an educational and organizational consultant with organizations in the private, public and social-profit sectors. She has extensive experience in facilitating, presenting, training, coaching, conflict resolution, leading and collaboratively designing strategies for individuals, groups, organizations and communities to build positive futures and to respond effectively to change.

Her background includes teaching, presenting and delivering workshops in a variety of areas: appreciative inquiry; team building; leadership; diversity; mathematics; adult learning; instructional skills, planning and design; instructor and program evaluation; and facilitator training. As well Jeanie has had formal leadership roles at Vancouver Community College as Mathematics Department Head, Associate Dean; at the Institute of Indigenous Government where she consulted as Dean in the senior executive team; and at the British Columbia Ministry of Advanced Education as Project Officer leading a large provincial project.

Her consulting work is based on the expertise that she developed and continues to enhance as an educator and leader, as well as the theoretical/research background she developed in doing her Masters research on “Power and Leadership: A Perspective from College Women” (1993) and her Doctoral  research on “Making Magic: Facilitating Collaborative Processes (2005).

Jeanie has a BA in Mathematics, an MA in Higher Education and an EdD in Educational Leadership and Policy all from the University of British Columbia. She is also an Instructional Skills Facilitator Trainer, Gender and Diversity Facilitator Trainer, Sociocultural Competency Trainer, and Appreciative Inquiry Facilitator Trainer.

Publishing includes:

  • Cockell, J. (1999). Power and leadership: A perspective from college women. In Gender and Diversity: Facilitator Guide, 115 – 120. Victoria, BC: Ministry of Advanced Education and Centre for Curriculum Transfer and Technology.
  • Cockell, J. (2006). Making magic: Facilitating collaborative processes. In Research in Action, Proceedings of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (Atlantic Region) conference.
  • Cockell, J. contributor to Reed, J. (2007). Appreciative Inquiry: Research for Change (p. 143, 144, 145). Sage Publishers.
  • Cockell, J. (2007). Making Magic Doing Research. In AI Practitioner: The International Journal of AI Best Practice, 47 – 48, November 2007.
  • Cockell, J. (2008). Appreciative Inquiry. In Four Arrows Don Trent Jacobs (Ed.), The Authentic Dissertation: Alternative Ways of Knowing, Research, and Representation (pp.201 – 205). NY,NY: Routledge.
  • Cockell, J. (2010). The AI Circle. In AI Practitioner: The International Journal of AI Best Practice, 43 – 46, February 2010.

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Specialties:

  • Appreciative Inquiry
  • Building Teams
  • Change Management
  • Collaborative Learning
  • Communication
  • Conflict Resolution
  • Developing cultural inclusion in teaching and training
  • Diversity in the Workplace
  • Facilitating
  • Great Teaching or Great Teachers Seminars
  • Instructional Skills Workshops
  • Leadership Training and Development
  • Organizational Development
  • Participatory Learning
  • Presentation Skills Workshops (PSW)
  • Spirit in the Workplace
  • Strategic Planning
  • Teacher or Trainer training and development
  • Visioning and Futuring
  • Women in Leadership