EDUCAUSE 2014 is here and the first meeting of the entire Hawkins Leadership Roundtable kicks off today at 12:30pm in room W209 A/B in the Orlando Conference center. Though this is the first time that the council will meet together as a group, participants should have already scheduled some time with their assigned Council members who will act as their mentors for the program. Many participants will have met with their mentor yesterday or today before the first lunch. As a council member myself I am meeting with my first protégé before Tuesday's lunch.
It’s up to the participants in the program to contact their assigned Council member for mentoring activities. This one-on-one collaboration is one of the most important benefits of the Hawkins Leadership Roundtable. Participants that have not yet contacted their assigned mentor should do so as soon as possible, for the conference will come and go in the blink of an eye.
Here’s what participants can look forward to during Tuesday’s lunch.
- Remarks by Mike Duffield, General Manager for Education and Government at Workday, one of the sponsors for this year’s roundtable.
- An icebreaker activity, facilitated by the Council members sitting with participants at their tables, where each will be asked to share three things about themself that is not commonly known by others. Participants should think about three things that they would like to share during this activity.
- A brief conversation about IT leadership roles and their relationship to credibility. After a few opening remarks, the council will turn to table discussions facilitated by Council members directed at the following questions:
- What are the different roles that IT staff play across an institution? What knowledge, skills, and perspectives are critical for the IT organization’s ability to successfully perform these roles? How are IT leaders developing these competencies in their staff?
- What are the sources of credibility that support IT performance in multiple roles across an institution? What behaviors reinforce IT credibility and what behaviors detract from it? Are there any gaps in credibility that prevent participant's IT organizations from maximizing their potential impact on campus?
- How are participants positioned in regards to elevating the impact of their technology services in support of strategic initiatives at their institution? Are participant's organizations positioned to play more than a transactional service delivery role? What gaps in skills or credibility might be holding them back?
Participants should do some thinking about these questions and come prepared to discuss them during the lunch.
About the Hawkins Leadership Roundtable: The Hawkins Leadership Roundtable is a leadership development program for new CIOs and individuals actively seeking a CIO role. The roundtable provides a 10-hour networking and mentoring experience integrated over three days of the EDUCAUSE Annual Conference. The program includes lunch sessions on Tuesday and Wednesday, an evening reception on Wednesday, and a hosted breakfast on Thursday with general session speaker Nancy Zimpher, as well as activities and information sharing before and after the conference week. For more information visit http://www.educause.edu/annual-conference/cio-and-executive-it-leader-experience/hawkins-leadership-roundtable on the Web.