This article appears in The Best of the 2022 Leadership in Higher Education Conference (Magna Publications, 2023).
Headlines in the media regarding staffing have been bleak. Phrases like “The Great Resignation” and “quiet quitting” point to the same phenomenon: personnel shifts and changes abound in higher education. Although higher education is typically a bastion of employment stability (Brantley & Shomaker, 2021), many institutions have seen increased numbers of staff and faculty depart since 2020. More gravely, many institutions have had to make difficult decisions to downsize employees. As leaders, how can we most effectively navigate personnel changes in this climate with the hope of transformational outcomes?