Patrick Farrell Email Address

Professor

Entrepreneurship, Creativity and Innovation.

I recently stepped down from serving as Provost at Lehigh University to return to teaching. I am excited to get back in a classroom, but also would like to share some of what I learned in university leadership positions at two great institutions. I served as Provost at Lehigh for 11 years and prior to that as Provost at the University of Wisconsin-Madison for almost 3 years. In those positions, I focused significantly on leading and supporting organizational change. Changes in higher education come from external demands as well as internal ones; changes are often substantial, complex, and continuous. In addition to managing change, I have developed approaches to increasing the change capacity of my organization so we can implement change with less drama, and confidently taken on ever-larger ones. My approach is somewhat different from conventional change management, in that I have found most success by emphasizing: •Modest planning •Early Implementation •Iteration •And integration This approach suggests starting with whatever scale of change is in play; plan some, but focus planning on including a broad and diverse group; do something that moves part-way towards the goal; assess, incorporate what you learning, and iterate. Integration involves the inevitable realization that any change engages and impacts a broader group than first assumed—expand and keep going. I think this approach could help others in the midst of leading change to make progress and build capacity. You can look at my website to see more (https://patrickfarrellconsulting.com/ ).