For some time now, ISM has been writing and speaking about the need for the “department chair” role to change from an “honorary” or “figurehead” role to that of an active manager, coach, and mentor. (For lower schools, this includes “coordinators” or similarly named quasi-administrator roles). This perspective will take on more relevance as we introduce our new evaluation and growth cycle model in the coming months. If you agree with this assertion, the question becomes, “Are your current department chairs well-equipped for taking on new “management” duties?
More Than Choosing Textbooks
Under old models, department chairs were often either appointed on a rotating basis, or went to the department’s senior member. While ostensibly the “head” of the department, in many schools the role is actually not much more than a figurehead—making decisions on textbooks, completing some paperwork, and chairing occasional department meetings, but not much more. Under this model, department chairs don’t “manage” faculty (i.e., faculty members would consider that they “report” to the Division Director or Head of School, not to the department chair), and they certainly don’t evaluate faculty nor do they get involved in performance issues, warnings, or terminations.
A New Approach: Department Chairs as Managers, Coaches, and Mentors
What if the school took a different approach and empowered department chairs to actively manage the performance of faculty members? By “manage,” we mean that they would be responsible for evaluating the performance of faculty in their department, and for coaching and mentoring these members to higher and higher levels of performance. Do your current department chairs have the skills—and the interest—to do so?
New Skills Required
In changing their role, it is likely that some current chairs would “opt out” and rescind their chair roles – based on not wanting to (or not being skilled to) manage and evaluate their department peers. Those who remain in the role need to be trained, then, on evaluation, feedback, coaching, and mentoring techniques. Their professional development plans need to receive significant attention and support from school leadership (the head and division heads). This can’t happen by osmosis (“I want to know how to manage … and therefore I do”), but rather through a thoughtful program of training and mentoring from both external (i.e., workshops and books) and internal (i.e., head and division heads) sources.
We’ll be writing more about the skills required in the coming months. For now, though, we support and encourage all involved to reflect on the skills needed in the newly-configured department chair role. As the new year approaches, it can be a “whole new world” for your department chairs—a bright, new, and exciting world, indeed!
