The Role of Mid-Level Leaders in Equity-Focused Transformation
Observations from the Frontier Set
Publication Date: 2021
Format: Brief (PDF)
This brief highlights the essential role that mid-level leaders such as deans, directors, and department chairs, played in advancing equity-centered transformation within Frontier Set institutions. It surfaces how these leaders served as integrators and strategy carriers, translating high-level vision into daily practice. Drawing on real-world examples, the brief explores how mid-level leaders coordinated cross-functional teams, used disaggregated data to guide implementation, and helped build a culture of equity across the institution. Institutions will find actionable insights on how to structure, support, and empower mid-level roles to drive sustained student success.
Connections to the Transformation Journey
and How Institutions Transform
Stages of Transformation
- Act with Purpose: The brief offers concrete examples of mid-level leaders launching and managing institutional reforms. One example describes how a mid-level leader facilitated cross-divisional collaboration to realign advising practices using disaggregated student data.
- Sustain and Evolve: Institutions embedded leadership development and role clarity into onboarding, succession planning, and professional learning—building continuity for long-term transformation and reinforcing equity-minded leadership practices.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Evidence-Based Practices
- Advising Reform: The brief illustrates how mid-level leaders led implementation of advising redesign efforts—shifting to assigned caseload models, aligning support with academic pathways, and embedding performance metrics to track impact.
- Holistic Supports: Institutions used mid-level leadership to coordinate wraparound supports including financial aid, wellness, and academic services—into cohesive systems that prioritized the full student experience.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Core Institutional Capacities
- Catalytic Leadership: The report emphasizes how mid-level leaders, when trusted and supported, become cultural stewards and operational leaders. Their ability to align people, data, and processes across units made them critical to sustaining transformation.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Continuous Improvement
This resource is most relevant to the following cross-functional roles:
- Senior Leaders: The brief outlines how senior leaders must empower mid-level teams with decision-making authority, protected time, and clear priorities to support institutional equity work.
- Mid-Level Leaders: This resource centers mid-level leaders as key drivers of transformation, leading strategy execution, fostering cross-departmental collaboration, and translating student needs into actionable plans.
This resource connects to the following phase(s) of the PRPAM framework:
- Act: Institutions relied on mid-level leaders to turn priorities into action by managing reform execution, supporting team learning, and coordinating implementation across departments.
- Monitor: These leaders played a key role in tracking outcomes, analyzing equity gaps, and feeding insights into institutional decision-making processes to inform adaptation and scaling.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Stages of Transformation
- Act with Purpose: The brief offers concrete examples of mid-level leaders launching and managing institutional reforms. One example describes how a mid-level leader facilitated cross-divisional collaboration to realign advising practices using disaggregated student data.
- Sustain and Evolve: Institutions embedded leadership development and role clarity into onboarding, succession planning, and professional learning—building continuity for long-term transformation and reinforcing equity-minded leadership practices.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Evidence-Based Practices
- Advising Reform: The brief illustrates how mid-level leaders led implementation of advising redesign efforts—shifting to assigned caseload models, aligning support with academic pathways, and embedding performance metrics to track impact.
- Holistic Supports: Institutions used mid-level leadership to coordinate wraparound supports including financial aid, wellness, and academic services—into cohesive systems that prioritized the full student experience.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Core Institutional Capacities
- Catalytic Leadership: The report emphasizes how mid-level leaders, when trusted and supported, become cultural stewards and operational leaders. Their ability to align people, data, and processes across units made them critical to sustaining transformation.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Continuous Improvement
This resource is most relevant to the following cross-functional roles:
- Senior Leaders: The brief outlines how senior leaders must empower mid-level teams with decision-making authority, protected time, and clear priorities to support institutional equity work.
- Mid-Level Leaders: This resource centers mid-level leaders as key drivers of transformation, leading strategy execution, fostering cross-departmental collaboration, and translating student needs into actionable plans.
This resource connects to the following phase(s) of the PRPAM framework:
- Act: Institutions relied on mid-level leaders to turn priorities into action by managing reform execution, supporting team learning, and coordinating implementation across departments.
- Monitor: These leaders played a key role in tracking outcomes, analyzing equity gaps, and feeding insights into institutional decision-making processes to inform adaptation and scaling.
Learn more about the Transformation Journey and How Institutions Transform.
Recommended Citation: VentureWell & American Institutes for Research. (2021). The role of mid-level leaders in equity-focused transformation. Observations from the Frontier Set.
