{"id":40246,"date":"2025-01-27T09:22:52","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T17:22:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=40246"},"modified":"2025-01-29T16:06:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-30T00:06:42","slug":"what-does-transition-look-like-and-who-will-lead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-does-transition-look-like-and-who-will-lead\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does Transition Look Like and Who Will Lead?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Illuminaire Volume One<\/em> was a refreshing publication to read.[1]<\/a>\u00a0 Karise Hutchinson effectively laid out the purpose of the publication<\/p>\n

\u201cI created Illuminaire Press<\/em> to provide a platform that harnesses the collective wisdom from research and practice, bringing science and strategy of leadership together through story and art.\u00a0 In my experience, it is the triangulation that comes from knowing the research data, applying the wisdom from tried and tested leaders, and listening to personal stories that provides a sound foundation for the leadership journey of becoming.\u00a0 And art? Well, because art is not only a source of beauty; it can inspire and speak without words\u201d[2]<\/a><\/p>\n

In this volume Hutchinson explored 4 themes of leadership, The Power of Influence, which the title alone brings Tom Camacho\u2019s Mining for Gold<\/em> book to mind as well as Simon Walker\u2019s The Undefended Leader<\/em>.[3]<\/a>\u00a0 Healthy Leadership is the second theme, again in title alone reminds me of Edwin Freidman\u2019s The Failure of Nerve<\/em>.[4]<\/a>\u00a0 The last two themes are Leading Transition and Creative Leadership.\u00a0 Leading Transition is what I am going to focus on for this post.<\/p>\n

Declining Births = Smaller Enrollment<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This week our campus community will be notified of change that is set to happen. Now to be honest, everyone on campus is aware of the situation, this is not what Annabel Beerel calls a \u201cNew Reality.\u201d[5<\/a>] For\u00a0years now the campus community has known that it was beginning to operate in a deficit mostly due to declining enrollment. COVID funds slowed the bleeding<\/em> for a couple years but those are all spent. This graph demonstrates a problem that is impacting universities nationwide. The birthrate in\"\"<\/a> the United States since the 1970\u2019s had a peak around dropped significantly until around 1975. Since then it fluctuated up and down with a peak around 1990 and again in 2007.[6]<\/a> Jon Marcus, says that since the Great Recession, which began at the end of 2007, birthrates have been declining, and this spring is when those born in. [7<\/a> This\u00a0means that on paper the existing decline in enrollment will continue to persist for the foreseeable future. Our board of trustees has commissioned the university president to balance the budget within three and a half years. To start things off, the big change that is coming is a reduction in force across campus. \u00a0Besides knowing that faculty size will be reduced by 9 -13 people, we (faculty) do not know how big this reduction is. People whose contracts are not being renewed are being notified this week.<\/p>\n

The Three Steps of Transition<\/strong><\/h3>\n

But this isn\u2019t about the change, this is about the transition. Hutchinson writes \u201cTransition is not another word for change.\u00a0 While change can be described as external, imposed on an individual or organization, transition is the state that puts people into the internal psychological process of adapting to a new situation.\u201d[8]<\/a> My question is how will our leadership lead this campus through its transition?\u00a0 Hutchison mentions the three steps of transition<\/p>\n

Step One<\/strong> \u2013 Saying Goodbye, goodbye to the way things were.<\/p>\n

Step Two<\/strong> \u2013 The Neutral Zone, the place where internal transformation takes place that readies people for the future.\u00a0 This can also be referred to as what Glenn Williams calls the \u201challway of transition\u201d<\/em> which he cautions people to realize that the hallway can be extremely long.[9]<\/a><\/p>\n

Step Three<\/strong> \u2013 \u201cMoving forward and reaching the new beginning.\u201d[10]<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saying Goodbye<\/strong> – How will our leadership help us say goodbye to the existing structure of the University?\u00a0 If programs or entire departments are cut, how will our leadership help us say goodbye?\u00a0 While all the reductions won\u2019t be formally announced, allowing people impacted to share the news with those they want, I do hope that as the academic year ends that there can be celebrations for what those programs and people brought to the university. Think of a funeral or celebration of life service for a loved one and the psychological processes involved with those transitions. At those events we reflect and celebrate how our lives were made richer by them, yet we also know that we must face the reality of a life without them.<\/p>\n

The Neutral Zone<\/strong> \u2013 As the current campus community walks down the hallway of transition, I have many questions, and the answers vary from person to person.\u00a0 How long is this hallway?\u00a0 How illuminated is the hallway?\u00a0 Who walks with us down the hallway?\u00a0 Every member of the current campus community is being impacted in some way and entering this transition. I appreciate how Williams talks about supporting someone in transition, how asking \u201chow are you feeling?\u201d is not the most helpful question but instead asking \u201chow can I help you right now? Or is there someone I can introduce to you to help you on this part of your journey? Or even, do you need a sounding board to bounce off some ideas with?[11]<\/a>\u00a0Will leadership step up and ask these questions?\u00a0 Will I be able to ask these questions of faculty, staff, and students? \u00a0I also appreciate how Hutchinson discusses the \u201cimportance of connection to something shared\u201d as a means of helping people through the transition.[12]<\/a> While our mission and vision remains the same, I wonder what leadership can do to produce a sense of unity as we walk down the hallway together?<\/p>\n

Moving Forward<\/strong> \u2013 Because I do not know as I write this what the full reduction will look like, I really do not have a vision for what moving forward entails. However, our leadership does know, and I will be interested to see what they do to help the campus community to internally embrace the new beginning (an interesting event occurred last week, our entire academic affairs office and CFO resigned effective immediately).<\/p>\n

We know that life is full of transition, and they are not always easy.\u00a0 I have no idea what this t\"\"<\/a>ransition will look like, how I will be impacted; I pray that God would give me the words to say and a Christ-like attitude as I navigate this transition with the rest of the campus community.<\/p>\n

Because as Hutchinson says, Art \u201ccan inspire and speak without words,\u201d Microsoft Copilot created this image for me including the misspelled word.[13]<\/a> I give you the freedom of interpreting this hallway of transition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Karise Hutchinson, Iluminaire: Bringing Life & Light to Leaders across the World<\/em>, Volume One, (Antrim, Ireland: Illuminaire Press, 2024).<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Hutchinson, 10.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Camacho, Mining For Gold<\/em> (London: Inter-Varsity Press, 2019); Walker, The Undefended Leader<\/em>, (Carlisle, CA: Piquant Editions Ltd, 2010)<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Edwin Friedman A Failure of Nerve: Leadership in the Age of the Quick Fix.<\/em> (New York: Church Publishing, 2007).<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Annabel Beerel, New Realities.\u00a0 Coffee With a Purpose,\u00a0 July 18, 2022. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=XhYKuXagBuA<\/a><\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Births: Final Data for 2022, National Vital Statistics System 73,(2) April 4, 2024.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/nchs\/data\/nvsr\/nvsr73\/nvsr73-02.pdf<\/a><\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Jon Marcus, A Looming ‘Demographic Cliff’: Fewer College Students and Ultimately Fewer Graduates, NPR. January 8, 2025.\u00a0 https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2025\/01\/08\/nx-s1-5246200\/demographic-cliff-fewer-college-students-mean-fewer-graduates<\/a>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Hutchinson, 85.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Hutchinson, 95<\/p>\n

[10]<\/a> Hutchinson, 86.<\/p>\n

[11]<\/a> Hutchinson, 98.<\/p>\n

[12]<\/a> Hutchinson, 89.<\/p>\n

[13]<\/a> Hutchinson, 10.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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