Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionals
This collaborative opinion piece offers the perspective that senior leaders must move beyond their traditional places within the academic or professional services spaces to act as hybrid professionals or translators. We take five perspectives as senior leaders and build a collective opinion of our...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE)
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education |
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| Online Access: | https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/1204 |
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| author | Alison Purvis Beth Fielding-Lloyd Melissa Jacobi Dave Thornley Nick Woolley |
| author_facet | Alison Purvis Beth Fielding-Lloyd Melissa Jacobi Dave Thornley Nick Woolley |
| author_sort | Alison Purvis |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description |
This collaborative opinion piece offers the perspective that senior leaders must move beyond their traditional places within the academic or professional services spaces to act as hybrid professionals or translators. We take five perspectives as senior leaders and build a collective opinion of our view of the role of senior leaders as third space professionals. Senior leaders must move across boundaries, becoming third space professionals and by actively taking a liminal or neutral position between defined spaces, they share and communicate their expertise or service in a way that encourages collaboration and improved communication between groups. This conceptualisation of role and approach reinforces the notion of a single university community which supports individual, team, and organisational goals for the primary benefit of the student members of the community. Our collective opinion is that effective senior leaders in higher education will: actively occupy the third space; understand different needs to reach common goals; value all types of expertise; and communicate, communicate, communicate.
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| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-021370ee352346299d2c04e30080b214 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1759-667X |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Association for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education |
| spelling | doaj-art-021370ee352346299d2c04e30080b2142025-01-31T07:56:46ZengAssociation for Learning Development in Higher Education (ALDinHE)Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education1759-667X2025-01-013310.47408/jldhe.vi33.1204Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionalsAlison Purvis0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3581-4990Beth Fielding-Lloyd1https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6359-5281Melissa Jacobi2https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5086-1269Dave Thornley3https://orcid.org/0009-0000-7221-6837Nick Woolley4https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6844-4017Sheffield Hallam UniversitySheffield Hallam University, UKSheffield Hallam University, UKSheffield Hallam University, UKSheffield Hallam University, UK This collaborative opinion piece offers the perspective that senior leaders must move beyond their traditional places within the academic or professional services spaces to act as hybrid professionals or translators. We take five perspectives as senior leaders and build a collective opinion of our view of the role of senior leaders as third space professionals. Senior leaders must move across boundaries, becoming third space professionals and by actively taking a liminal or neutral position between defined spaces, they share and communicate their expertise or service in a way that encourages collaboration and improved communication between groups. This conceptualisation of role and approach reinforces the notion of a single university community which supports individual, team, and organisational goals for the primary benefit of the student members of the community. Our collective opinion is that effective senior leaders in higher education will: actively occupy the third space; understand different needs to reach common goals; value all types of expertise; and communicate, communicate, communicate. https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/1204Communitythird-space professionalleadership |
| spellingShingle | Alison Purvis Beth Fielding-Lloyd Melissa Jacobi Dave Thornley Nick Woolley Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionals Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education Community third-space professional leadership |
| title | Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionals |
| title_full | Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionals |
| title_fullStr | Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionals |
| title_full_unstemmed | Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionals |
| title_short | Stuck in the middle with you: the role of senior leaders as third space professionals |
| title_sort | stuck in the middle with you the role of senior leaders as third space professionals |
| topic | Community third-space professional leadership |
| url | https://journal.aldinhe.ac.uk/index.php/jldhe/article/view/1204 |
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