Description
The Change Leadership Toolkit for Advancing Systemic Change in Higher Education project aims to develop a set of tools and resources to help campus leaders and teams develop strategies and leadership competencies that contribute to implementing, scaling and sustaining campus systemic change and transformation initiatives.
Campus Leaders and Organizations — Join the CLT Implementation Project! Learn More Here:
Change Leadership Toolkit-Implementation (CLT-I) Project
Overview
Campus teams or national organizations working on systemic change projects are invited to apply to be part of a two-year program of free project planning, coaching, and implementation support. With the guidance of national experts on change and leadership in higher education, you and your team will use the Change Leadership Toolkit (CLT), a research-based guidebook for leaders who are working to make meaningful, systemic changes at their institutions. Your team will work through the resources of the CLT, learning about key contexts, levers and specific change leader moves you can use to enhance the effectiveness of reaching your change project goals.
Participating teams will have access to the following:
- Asynchronous video modules describing key elements of CLT
- Support/expertise in completing CLT worksheets and developing a change leadership plan, assessing progress, and making revisions to your plan
- Coaching through two 9-month rounds of implementation of your plan with the goal of making significant progress on systemic change goals
- Ability to provide feedback on the asynchronous modules, coaching and other supports provided to teams using the CLT
- Engagement with other teams working on systemic change projects
Eligibility and Criteria
This project is for you if you are:
- A leader in higher education (faculty, staff, administrator or national organization leader) working with a team or teams to make change
- Involved in leading a project designed to make systemic change on campus or across multiple campuses (we define systemic change as one that involves multiple leaders at different levels all across campus in creating change that spans departments, units, or divisions and addresses core systems issues, such as policy, practices, and culture)
- Interested in learning about and applying research-based strategies that support change leadership in higher education
- Available to participate–with your team–in the project from April 2025 through May 2027
- Willing to provide feedback and insights on your learning experience
Timeline
- February 21, 2025: Application Closes
- March 2025: Notifications Sent
- April 2025: Virtual Orientation Session
- May - August 2025: Asynchronous CLT Modules
- September 2025: Present Implementation Plan
- September 2025 - May 2026: Implementation Round 1 (monthly meetings)
- May - July 2026: Assess and Revise Implementation Plan
- August 2026 - April 2027: Implementation Round 2 (monthly meetings)
- May 2027: Assessment and Reflection, Project Ends
About
There is an increasing need to build leaders’ capacity to facilitate systemic institutional change and transformation that improves student success as well as other important campus goals. Campus leaders play critical roles in helping facilitate and support the institutionalization of policies, programs and changes to infrastructure, processes and culture that are necessary for institutional transformation efforts. Successful institutional transformation involves multiple levels, from grassroots faculty engagement to presidential vision and support – essentially shared or team leadership across campus.
This project, initially funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, fills a major gap — there are no research-based models of change which are focused on leader roles, moves (or actions), and competencies that are accessible and user-friendly. This project also provides a comprehensive set of tools that details how to lead, not just what to lead, in ways that connect leaders to the entire process of change.
Change Leadership Toolkit 2.0
We are excited to release the next version of the Change Leadership Toolkit (CLT)! The CLT 2.0 was informed by a two-year research project funded by the Sloan Foundation working with 12 campuses on their systemic change projects. Through our latest research, we were able to refine the toolkit and worksheets. Here is a snapshot of some of the new content in the CLT 2.0:
The latest edition includes:
- Revised pre-planning resources on the What, Why and Who of Change to help leaders define their change goals, clarify their leadership roles, and build their change leadership team
- Streamlined planning and implementation worksheets with new, clearer instructions
- Re-ordered worksheets to facilitate stronger understanding of the systemic change planning process
- Created a new ecosystem mapping tool to bring all the concepts together
- Refined change levers — which are mechanisms to accelerate change
- Published more Case Studies to show the CLT working in different contexts
The Change Leadership Toolkit 2.0 (published July 2024), our Case Studies and online Resource Library will enable change leaders to facilitate more effective institutional change and transformation.
The Next Phase for the Change Leadership Toolkit
Thanks to a recent $600,000 expansion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, we will continue to enhance and expand the Change Leadership Toolkit. This new round of funding will focus on the expansion and enhancement of the Toolkit content and engagement with users in higher education. Principal Investigator Adrianna Kezar and her team, which includes Co-PI Susan Elrod and Elizabeth Holcombe, will work with selected higher education campus teams as they utilize the new resources for two years to obtain feedback and better understanding usage of the toolkit during implementation. In addition, the project includes development of asynchronous, interactive webinars as well as enhancing and expanding the Toolkit itself.
Webinars
We have produced two webinars that share details about the CLT, and campuses' experiences with creating and implementing systemic change at their institution.
Watch the webinar, "Meeting Higher Education's Most Pressing Challenges with the Change Leadership Toolkit' recorded on February 13, 2024.
Watch the webinar, "Change Leadership Toolkit 2.0 — Change Leader Stories and What's New' recorded on October 24, 2024.
Project News
Pullias Center Continues to Enhance and Expand the Change Leadership Toolkit Project with New Funding
An Updated Change Leadership Toolkit (2.0) – What’s New?
“Meeting Higher Education’s Most Pressing Challenges with the Change Leadership Toolkit” Webinar set for Tuesday, February 13
How Leaders Can Implement Systemic Change: the Change Leadership Toolkit
Pullias Expands Change Leadership Toolkit Project with Support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Pullias Center for Higher Education at the University of Southern California (USC) is launching an expansion of the Change Leadership Toolkit, with a $250,000 grant...
Project Team
Adrianna Kezar
Director
Susan Elrod
Chancellor, Indiana University-South Bend
Elizabeth Holcombe
Senior Postdoctoral Scholar
Angel Gonzalez
California State University, Fresno
Publications
Change Leadership Toolkit 2.0: A Guide for Advancing Systemic Change in Higher Education
California State University, Monterey Bay Case Study
University of Portland Case Study
San Francisco State University Case Study
University of LaVerne Case Study
CU Boulder Case Study
Dallas College Case Study
Amarillo College Case Study
Change Leadership Toolkit: University of Georgia Case Study
Change Leadership Toolkit: Forsyth Technical Community College
Change Leadership Toolkit: College of the Muscogee Nation
Funders
The ALFRED P. SLOAN FOUNDATION is a not-for-profit, mission-driven grantmaking institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge. Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-President and Chief Executive Officer of the General Motors Corporation, the Foundation makes grants in four broad areas: direct support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics; initiatives to increase the quality and diversity of scientific institutions and the science workforce; projects to develop or leveragetechnology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepenpublic engagement with science and scientists.
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people’s health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, Washington, the foundation is led by CEO Mark Suzman, under the direction of Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates.
National Science Foundation‘s mission is to advance the progress of science, a mission accomplished by funding proposals for research and education made by scientists, engineers, and educators from across the country. Grant ##2017799.
