TEACHING FACULTY TO COPE WITH CHANGE BY TAKING THE EMOTION OUT OF IT

Working in higher education, whether within the ranks of administration or as faculty, one quickly learns the old adage is true; “The only thing constant in life is change” (Heraclitus). Making structural changes to better align programs with accreditation standards, enhancing curricula to meet evolving industry trends, and developing new operating procedures are the norm within academia. Despite the prevalence of such frequent and necessary adjustments, some – faculty in particular – manage change with significant difficulty.

Much of the literature regarding change management informs us that resistance is often an underlying roadblock to acceptance and implementation. Simply put, people do not want to step outside of their comfort zones and therefore will resist any requests to do so. However, presented in this paper is a different perspective; the notion that psychological factors and emotional undertones are the debilitating elements that impede forward movement. It may not be the case that faculty feel excluded from the process or disagree with the need for change; they instead struggle with maintaining the appropriate level of emotional grounding when transitioning through such experiences.

Malek and Yazdanifard (2011) describe transition as “an internal psychological re-orientation that people go through as they come to terms with a change” (p. 2). It is here that application of emotional intelligence principles can be quite useful. Of particular relevance are self-awareness and self-management (Goleman, 2001); the ability of faculty to demonstrate a high degree of personal competence.

In this paper, the author will discuss empirical experiences of guiding faculty through institutional changes and use those examples to explain the benefits of incorporating emotional intelligence training into faculty development programs. Finally, recommendations for practical implementation will be shared. The sooner academic administrators can help faculty cope with change by taking the emotion out of it, the more adequately prepared our teams and institutions will be to remain agile in the face of an often changing environment.