The Chronicle’s Women Leading Change Program

Strategies for Leading Teams Through Shifting Priorities, Points of Friction, and Resistance to Change

How do you lead effectively when there’s no clear roadmap? When stakeholders have competing priorities and every decision seems to trigger strong reactions? This intensive tackles the real challenges of navigating complexity in today’s higher education landscape. We’ll explore practical approaches for anticipating conflicts before they escalate, expanding your influence beyond formal authority, and helping your team take smart risks even in risk-averse environments. Throughout our session, we’ll have candid conversations about how these leadership challenges uniquely affect women and what that means for your own leadership journey.

Key Themes:

• Navigating Complexity and Change: Practical approaches for making progress when there’s no clear playbook
• The Steep Climb: Navigating the unique opportunities and challenges women encounter as they advance
• The Art of Conflict Foresight: A model for identifying stakeholder concerns before they derail progress
• Influence in Every Direction: Concrete tactics for leading up, across, and beyond your formal authority
• Making Change Safe: Creating environments where people feel empowered to take necessary risks
• Your Next Steps: Practical strategies for implementing what you’ve learned in your unique context

This intensive is right for you if:

• You’re working on issues where multiple stakeholders have different—sometimes conflicting—priorities
• You’re facing situations where bringing up necessary changes often triggers strong reactions
• You need to influence people outside your reporting line or across different departments
• You want to empower your team to test new solutions without fear of failure
• You’re looking for ways to maintain clarity and direction when there’s no established playbook
• You’re looking for a community to discuss how gender dynamics intersect with leadership challenges as women advance in their careers

Practical Tools for Navigating Double Standards, Owning Your Voice, and Making Time for What Matters Most

How do you stay true to yourself as a leader when navigating persistent double standards and biases? How can you distinguish between the expectations worth meeting and those that pull you away from your authentic leadership path? This intensive creates space for honest reflection about the realities women leaders face in higher education today—both the visible and invisible barriers—and the power you have to chart your own path. We’ll examine the “Goldilocks Dilemma” and other biases that create everyday challenges, explore strategies for reclaiming your time and energy, and discuss how to trust your leadership instincts even when external pressures push you in different directions.

Key Themes:

• The Persistence of Double Standards: Understanding the “Goldilocks Dilemma” and other biases that affect women leaders in higher education
• Leading from Your Values: Connecting your leadership approach to what matters most to you
• Practical Strategies for Reclaiming Time and Energy: Tactics for ensuring the urgent doesn’t constantly overtake the important
• Strategic Boundaries: Why boundaries are a leadership necessity and how to overcome the hidden ways we self-sabotage
• Challenging Internalized Bias: Recognizing and interrupting patterns that affect how women view themselves and other women
• Your Next Steps: Practical strategies for implementing what you’ve learned in your unique context

This intensive is right for you if:

• You sometimes feel caught between conflicting expectations about how women leaders “should” behave
• You find yourself stretched thin by the emotional labor and invisible work that often falls to women
• You’re leading at a pace that feels like a treadmill and need strategies to make space for what truly matters
• You want to set clearer boundaries without apology or excessive explanation
• You’re seeking a supportive space to reflect on your leadership journey with others who understand
• You’re interested in supporting and empowering other women while interrupting gender biases in everyday interactions

How Everyday Practices Build Trust, Inclusion, and Belonging

What does it take to foster psychological safety when everyone is feeling the emotional weight of today’s challenges? How can you create an environment where people feel valued and heard, especially during times of uncertainty? This intensive explores how every leader and team member—regardless of title—contributes to building inclusive culture through daily actions and interactions. We’ll examine how stress and change affect engagement and belonging, identify practical ways to strengthen trust, and discuss specific approaches for supporting colleagues across different perspectives, identities, and experiences. This special session is open to all genders and can be taken as a stand-alone or as part of the Women Leading Change program.

Key Themes:

• Culture at a Crossroads: Understanding the invisible currents that shape culture—and the different needs that emerge during times of uncertainty
• Everyday Actions for Psychological Safety: Simple, consistent practices that build trust, morale, and engagement when teams are stressed and strained
• Allyship Beyond the Buzzword: Concrete actions for supporting colleagues across different identities and experiences
• Keeping the Long View: Building toward our highest aspirations for culture and values even in turbulent times
• Your Next Steps: Practical strategies for implementing what you’ve learned in your unique context

This intensive is right for you if:

• You’re concerned about team morale and engagement during times of tension, fatigue, or change
• You’re supporting colleagues who are disengaged or feeling the emotional weight of uncertainty
• You’re looking for practical ways to create belonging through your everyday leadership behaviors
• You need fresh language and perspective to lead inclusively in today’s complex environment
• You want to connect your values to tangible actions that build the culture people need to thrive—regardless of your formal role

All-Access registration is designed for women leaders working to truly transform their leadership capacity. In addition to gaining access to all of the workshop intensives at a reduced per-session rate, we have designed a Leadership Integration Pathway to ensure that All-Access participants can make the most of the program.

Our Leadership Integration Pathway includes:

• 3 months of biweekly 15-minute reflection prompts on Slack, with the opportunity for personalized responses from Program Leader Melanie Ho
• A 75-minute Leadership Integration Lab on November 5 at 12 PM ET to help carry the concepts from all three intensives forward in your daily work

Dear Colleague,

Leadership in higher education today can feel like an unrelenting sprint—an ever-growing list of challenges, expectations, and crises to manage. Stepping back, even briefly, can seem impossible. But what if that pause wasn’t just a luxury? What if it was essential?

That’s what makes Women Leading Change so special. It’s not just about leadership strategies—it’s about taking a rare moment to reflect, connect, and gain clarity alongside peers who understand the complexities of higher- ed leadership. And it’s not just about individual growth. When we step back together, we strengthen leadership across the sector.

Too often, conversations about gender equity in higher ed feel like they’ve already been had, making it difficult to speak openly about ongoing challenges. But the reality is that many women in leadership still find themselves navigating double standards and unseen barriers. Having a space to engage in honest dialogue with others who understand can be transformative.

And in a year that feels especially uncertain—societally, institutionally, and personally—we’ve shaped this year’s program around what women leaders have told us they need most: timely conversations, space to reflect, and tools to lead with clarity and resolve, even when everything around us keeps shifting.

I hope you’ll join us.



Warmly,

Melanie Ho



About the Program Leader
Dr. Melanie Ho has advised hundreds of college and university presidents, vice presidents, and deans on a wide range of strategic and operational issues. She is also an acclaimed speaker, author, and comic artist focused on the challenges women face in the workplace. Her book, Beyond Leaning In: Gender Equity and What Organizations Are Up Against, received a silver medal in the 2022 Axiom Awards, honoring the world’s best business books.