1. Big Picture Ideas for New Beginnings Questions to Frame our Discussion:
Identify three constituent groups that you have relationships with in your current role.
Identify at least one constituent group with whom you want to establish a relationship or change your current relationship.
What do power and politics look like for you in your current position?

2. Big Picture Ideas for New Beginnings
Angela Branson, M.S., Rush University
Jennifer Harvey, M.A., University of Nebraska-Kearney
Gail Sims-Aubert, M.A., University of Wisconsin-Green Bay
Kelly Wesener Michael, Ed.D. Northern Illinois University

3. Introduction of Presenters and Roles
Angela Branson Director of Student Life and Engagement Jennifer Harvey Director of Thompson Scholars Learning Community Gail Sims-Aubert Director of Residence Life and Housing Services Kelly Wesener Michael AVP for Student Affairs and Dean of Students

4. Learning Objectives Participants will be able to…
identify Gilley’s five roles for administrative competency.
evaluate their level of competency within the five administrative roles.
analyze success strategies for navigating the five administrative roles at various levels of leadership in higher education.
identify additional pathways for building competency in administrative/leadership roles.

5. Share with a Partner In the next 60 seconds:
Introduce yourself and share your role at your current institution.
What do power and/or politics look like for you?

6. Gilley’s Roles for Navigating Politics
J.W. Gilley highlights five roles that are important to incorporate into our work as administrators in order to be viewed as political navigators:
Relationship Builder
Assertive Communicator
Negotiator
Organizational Expertise
Partnership Builder

7. Gilley’s Roles for Navigating Politics
Relationship builder
is responsible for establishing positive relations with individuals throughout your unit, across unit boundaries, and across institutional boundaries.
- Kretovics, Mark (2011)

8. Gilley’s Roles for Navigating Politics
Assertive Communicator
begins with being a good listener. You will need to recognize that conflict is part of organizational life, and that handling conflict in an assertive manner will garner far more respect and admiration than being aggressive or passive.
- Kretovics, Mark (2011)

9. Gilley’s Roles for Navigating Politics
Negotiator
must be able to separate the individuals from the problem at hand, focus on common goals not problems, generate a set of reasonable alternatives, and ensure that the result is based on an objective standard.
- Kretovics, Mark (2011)

10. Gilley’s Roles for Navigating Politics
Organizational expertise
understands the organization, its people, and their needs and expectations.
- Kretovics, Mark (2011)

11. Gilley’s Roles for Navigating Politics
partnership builder
needs to have strong communication skills and be confident in the work of your unit and your abilities as an administrator. Partnerships are developed within an organization to improve the effectiveness or efficiency of the organization.
- Kretovics, Mark (2011)

12. Share with a Partner In the next 60 seconds :
Of these five roles, identify the one in which you are the most skilled.
In which role are you the least skilled?

13. Examples From Our Roles
Relationship Builder Establish positive relationships across boundaries Assertive Communicator Listen and focus on issues Negotiator Find common goals Organizational Expertise Research structure, culture, mission, and goals Partnership Builder Communicate effectively and proceed with strategy and good intentions

14. Share with a Partner In the next 3 minutes:
In the context of your current position, give an example of how you utilize one of Gilley’s roles within your responsibilities.

15. Strategies of Political Navigators
Observe
Learn as much as possible – do your homework
Recruit a mentor
Develop allies slowly and purposefully
Form opinions gradually
Focus on being proactive not reactive
- Kretovics, Mark (2011)

16. Strategies of Political Navigators
Make sure you have evidence
Don’t publicly criticize others
Choose your friends carefully
Don’t make comments you aren’t comfortable reading on the front page of the student newspaper
Don’t panic
- Kretovics, Mark (2011)

17. Strategies of Political Navigators
Learn to manage conflict
Understand and manage the resources you and your department contribute to the greater organization
Identify needs and gaps you can fill
Find common ground and work from there
Use your position and power for good
Don’t think you have to be the content expert to lead an initiative
Bring the right people to the table

18. Action Steps as a Political Navigator
What is one lesson or strategy learned that you can implement from this session?
Which of these five roles do you want to strengthen to be more effective at your institution?
What strategy could you use to do so?
By what date you plan to have attempted the strategy?

19. Primary Sources
Kretovics, M. (2011). Business Practices in Higher Education: A Guide to Today’s Administrators. New York: Routledge.
Area of most relevance:
Politics and Power (Chapter 9) Pages:
Gilley, J.W. (2006). The Manager As Politician. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.

20. Additional Resources ACPA/NASPA Professional Competencies
Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS)
Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2008). Reframing organizations. (4th ed). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Areas of most relevance:
Part 3: The Human Resource Frame (Chapters 6,7,8) Pages:
Part 4: The Political Frame (Chapters 9, 10, 11)
Pages:

21. Questions? Thank you for attending this session! Please
check the NASPA website for additional materials.