Dear University President, I Quit…those words appear on a sheet of paper rolling upward from an old manual green typewriter on the front cover of a workbook created by Jeffrey L. Buller for ATLAS leadership training which addresses the Great Resignation that is currently being experienced in higher education. In the following pages, Buller shares strategies for dealing with the trend “for employees to quit their jobs either because they’ve found more attractive possibilities or because they’ve decided to retire early. In higher education, the Great Resignation is a challenge for department chairs who devote a great deal of time and other resources to recruiting the best faculty they can find only to have some of their most valuable colleagues leave within a year or two.”

The six strategies that Buller outlines are specifically targeted at higher education leadership; however, I would offer that his wisdom, which often utilizes the concepts of Appreciative Inquiry and Relational Equity, can be applied to most industries who desire to attract, engage, equip, and retain their valuable human capital. His strategies lead to the idea that employees stay when they are: paid well, mentored, challenged, promoted, involved, appreciated, valued, on a mission, empowered, and trusted. All of these aspects are directly connected to the eight dimensions of wellness which include being healthy (flourishing) in the following interconnected categories: emotional health, physical health, occupational health, intellectual health, financial health, social health, environmental health, and spiritual health. Rather than having to face the frequent words of I Quit, what if we were to follow Buller’s six strategies?

Strategy #1: The Faculty First Year Experience – what Buller outlines here connects directly with the concepts presented in posts related to what I call the First Day Experience (FDE).

Strategy #2: Know Your Team – this idea connects directly with cultivating a Habit of Awareness and includes simple exercises for engagement.

Strategy #3: Help Members of the Team to Know One Another Better. See cultivating the Habit of Awareness.

Strategy #4: Apply Fusion Theory – this idea correlates with the mission, purpose, and values of the department.

Strategy #5: Take the Pulse of the Program – Buller provides the ATLAS Campus Climate and Morale Survey to use here.

Strategy #6: Time the Mentoring Right – here Buller connects to the Seasons of a Professional’s Life as he addresses the differing needs of newer, mid-career, senior, minority, and contingent faculty.

To me, each of these strategies sound like common sense, but unless organizations and leaders are intentional about cultivating these strategies, it won’t happen on its own. Just as a healthy body does not happen on a diet of junk food and little physical activity, a culture, and its people, must be nourished, encouraged, appreciated, and valued. Perhaps there is simply a disconnect between what leadership is already offering and what is communicated to the faculty, but if the assessments utilized to take the pulse of the program are not providing the desired results, then an organization must choose to make a Pivot and investigate what changes might be necessary.

Would it not be encouraging to rarely hear the words “I Quit” mentioned in your organization? Perhaps we can no longer be a society where people remain employed and engaged for twenty and thirty years, but wouldn’t it be wonderful to try? Would it not be amazing to be the place where individuals flourish and are able to fulfill their God-Given Space to the best of their ability without the distractions that an unhealthy and Hustle Culture create?

Reference:

Buller, J.L. (2022). Addressing the great resignation in higher education. Academic Chairpersons Conference Proceedings. Retrieved from https://newprairiepress.org/accp/2022/trends/5/