Support for Higher Ed Leadership Teams Seeking Cohesion and Alignment
We help leadership teams move from tension to clarity and from misalignment to shared purpose.
We provide confidential facilitation, mediation, and strategic guidance for colleges and universities needing leadership cohesion and strategic alignment, high-stakes conflict resolution including governance disputes, and navigating institutional change or transitions. We also help with faculty-administration conflicts, shared governance breakdown, and new cabinet member integration.
Understanding Academic Leadership Complexity
Academic institutions are unique communities. They operate through shared governance, balance competing faculty and administrative perspectives, and navigate decisions that affect students, staff, and institutional mission. Academic leaders face pressures that few outside higher education fully understand. When leadership teams struggle with communication, when disputes arise between faculty and administration, or when institutional change creates tension, you need an experienced partner who understands academic culture and can provide neutral, confidential support.
WHY CHOOSE US
WHAT SETS US APART
In a crowded consulting marketplace, here's what makes our approach different:
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We understand higher education, shared governance, faculty perspectives, and institutional complexity. We respect institutional traditions and decision-making processes.
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We've worked within higher education for over four decades. We understand what leaders at all levels face. We have worked within presidential cabinets, led academic affairs leadership teams, and other senior institutional teams. We understand the unique challenges and dynamics at each level.
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While many higher education consultants focus on strategy and change management, we specialize in the relational and conflict dimensions of institutional leadership. This is our core expertise.
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We don't apply one-size-fits-all approaches. We tailor our support to your institution's mission, culture, size, and specific challenges.
“Institutional transformation happens when campus leaders plan and execute together.”
CORE SERVICES
How We Help
We specialize in three interconnected service areas that address the relational, structural, and strategic dimensions of institutional leadership challenges.
Leadership Team Cohesion
Dispute Resolution
Academic Affairs Strategic Support
Our Comprehensive Approach
We apply a problem-solving approach and help teams participate effectively in challenging conversations that lead to alignment and collaboration.
OUR METHOD
PHASE 1
Confidential Interviews
We meet individually with each cabinet member or academic leader to understand their perspective, concerns, hopes for the team, and observations about team dynamics.
PHASE 2
Team Assessment & Diagnostic Report
We analyze patterns in communication, decision-making, trust, and alignment and deliver a confidential diagnostic report with findings and recommendations.
PHASE 3
Facilitated Retreat or Session
We design and facilitate a structured retreat or series of sessions where the team can:
Address tensions and underlying concerns
Clarify roles, responsibilities, and decision rights
Reset communication norms and expectations
Align around shared institutional priorities
Strengthen relationships and trust
Establish effective meeting practices
Develop action plans for moving forward
PHASE 4
Follow-Up Coaching & Implementation Support
We provide follow-up support to help leaders.
Typical Support:
2-4 follow-up coaching sessions
Email/phone consultation as needed
Check-in meetings to assess progress
Coaching for specific leadership challenges
We pride ourselves on our specialized expertise and confidentiality in the high-stakes nature of the work we do.
Meet Our CEO and Founder
Titilayo Ufomata, Ph.D.
A celebrated teacher, distinguished professor, Fulbright awardee, and a British Academy Visiting Fellow, Titi Ufomata has served as provost at multiple institutions and most recently as Senior VP for Academic Programs at the Council of Independent Colleges. She received a Ph.D. and M.A. in Phonetics from the University College London; an M.A. and B.A. (Hons) in English from University of Ibadan, Nigeria.
CONNECT
How We Help
CORE SERVICES
We specialize in three interconnected service areas that address the relational, structural, and strategic dimensions of institutional leadership challenges.
Leadership Team Cohesion
Institutional leadership teams, whether a president’s cabinet or a provost’s academic affairs team, are the backbone of institutional effectiveness. When these teams struggle with communication, role confusion, or trust, the entire institution feels the impact. We help leadership teams at all levels move from tension to clarity and from misalignment to shared purpose. Our work spans presidential cabinets, academic affairs leadership teams, and other institutional leadership teams.
Dispute Resolution
Conflict resolution is one of our areas of core expertise. We focus on workable solutions that people can implement and help teams strengthen relationships, not damage them. We have no stake in the outcome, only in helping your team move forward constructively. This neutrality creates space for honest dialogue that might not happen internally. What's discussed in our consultations, interviews, and facilitation stays confidential. We protect privacy and institutional reputation.
Academic Affairs Strategic Support
When academic leadership teams are cohesive, communicate well, and trust each other, academic quality improves, faculty engagement increases, and institutional effectiveness strengthens. Academic leaders can navigate shared governance more effectively and implement academic change with greater faculty buy-in. Our deep and varied experience in academic affairs prepares us well to provide strategic support for these areas as well as in others including professional development, leadership development, and academic restructuring and reorganization.
LEADERSHIP TEAMS AT DIFFERENT LEVELS
Who We Serve
We primarily work with two types of institutional leadership teams and we are open to working with other leadership teams as well.
Presidential Cabinets & Senior Leadership Teams
Common Challenges:
Cabinet members have competing priorities and perspectives
Communication between silos is difficult
Decision-making processes are unclear or contentious
Trust between cabinet members is low
The president's vision is not clearly understood or embraced
Institutional priorities are not aligned across divisions
Cabinet meetings are unproductive or contentious
New cabinet members struggle to integrate into the team
Leadership transitions create uncertainty about roles and direction
What We Help With:
Clarifying the president's vision and ensuring cabinet alignment
Improving communication across institutional silos
Clarifying roles, responsibilities, and decision rights
Building trust and psychological safety among cabinet members
Establishing effective meeting norms and decision-making processes
Managing competing priorities and resource allocation
Supporting leadership transitions and new cabinet member integration
Strengthening institutional effectiveness and strategic alignment
Academic Affairs Leadership Teams
Common Challenges:
Academic and administrative leaders have different perspectives
Communication between academic units is siloed
Shared governance processes are unclear or contentious
Faculty and administration have different priorities
Decision-making is slow or unclear
Trust between leaders is low
Policy implementation disagreements
Strategic planning and alignment challenges
Academic reorganization is creating tension
Leadership transitions are creating uncertainty
Morale among academic leaders is declining
What We Help With:
Clarifying academic priorities and strategic direction
Improving communication across academic units
Strengthening shared governance processes
Building trust between faculty and administrative leaders
Clarifying roles and decision rights in academic governance
Managing academic change and transitions
Supporting department chair effectiveness
Strengthening academic leadership team cohesion