Delta College President Reports on Assessment's Benefits

By Lee Riddell
Institute for Community College Development
Spring 2008

Trustees, chancellors, presidents, vice presidents and deans, including representatives from England and Scotland, attended a session on leadership development at this year's American Association of Community College's (AACC) annual conference in Philadelphia, which examined strategies and tools for developing tomorrow's community college leaders.

Speakers described the evolution of the assessment, its accompanying personal development model, and how it is being used by individuals, colleges and professional organizations. The April 6 workshop focused on the Institute for Community College Development's (ICCD) 360º Community College Leadership Assessment, which is available online and is based on the AACC competencies for community college leaders.

Barbara Viniar, executive director of ICCD, began the session describing how the assessment was developed through the collaborative knowledge and skills of ICCD and the Human Resource Development Services of Cornell University Finance and Administration (CUFA).

"This instrument is designed for safety and authenticity," explained Chris Halladay, director of resource development, CUFA, Cornell University. "It has been tested for reliability by more than two hundred participants at over one hundred colleges, including all six accreditation areas, both urban and rural colleges, small to large size colleges, with data covering age, position and years in higher education."

Participants reviewed a sample assessment report which summarized a person's results in detail, sorted scores by their strengths, and highlighted their readiness and willingness to lead.

ICCD's online 360º Community College Leadership Assessment has been developed for use by individual leaders, senior or executive leadership teams, college leadership development programs, state college systems or professional organizations.

Lee Riddell, assistant director of ICCD, outlined additional opportunities available through a toolkit developed for leaders:

• a personal development model that assists participants in reflecting on the assessment results and developing a personal action plan;
• a seminar from Sept 24-26, 2008 at ICCD at Cornell University on how to develop effective leaders by facilitating 360º feedback;
• and web seminars and programs presented by ICCD which address specific topics in each of competency areas.
  

A member of the initial pilot group, Delta College in University Center, Mich., has received some surprising benefits from the assessment process. Jean Goodnow, the college's president, concluded the session by stressing the value of the instrument to her because of the specific feedback from her direct reports and executive council staff after she completed the assessment in 2006.

"As our staff participated in this assessment, they were getting reinforcement of the community college leadership competencies," Goodnow said. "I found the results of the open ended questions to be very valuable because it allowed me to reflect on areas for my professional growth as well as to affirm strengths in my leadership."

Goodrow shared the results of the 360º Community College Leadership Assessment with her board of trustees, allowing them to begin a dialogue about her interactions and leadership with her executive team.

For more information, visit the 360º Community College Leadership Assessment or contact ICCD@cornell.edu.

Lee Riddell is the assistant director of ICCD.