EP 29. How leaders cope with incivility by academics

This episode has Karl and Martin joined by Professor Lynn Bosetti of UBC in Canada who gives insights into how Australian leaders in universities encounter academic workforces using incivility as behaviour to resist change and attempts at strategic direction. She draws on experience in both countries as an academic leader and her research of VCs and Deans around the world, to outline how the emotional labour of leading universities is exposed to smart bullying upwards by independent academics that has accentuated during the pandemic. A topic of great interest in many Australian universities as change programs, returns to work, and continued financial pressures make these the most difficult times to lead. They contrast with different experiences in Australian business which offer lessons university leaders might need to learn from, and quickly.