Taking a Stand

As a leader you will find yourself challenged on a daily basis.  Whether you are confronted by stiff competition, the vagaries of the economy, or your chief organizational antagonist (read: pain in your butt), you need to temper your response. When you feel that you are under attack, the natural reaction is to counterattack.  This approach might feel right and good in the short term.  But in the big picture, it is often more effective to take a stand that establishes your position beyond the immediate situation. Look past the battle to the war.

As an example, my institution was approved by multiple accrediting agencies.  On one occasion we had successfully passed all of the requirements for accreditation with an agency after a great team effort.  The agency informed us that although we would be accredited, it was not going to make a formal announcement of our status because it thought we were too controversial, and an announcement would unsettle their ranks.

My team’s (and my) immediate inclination was to file a protest and out the agency for its intended pusillanimous behavior. However, as we discussed the matter, we agreed that inciting conflict was a lose-lose proposition.  The accrediting agency would look bad, to be sure.  But so would we, in that the rest of the world would wonder why the agency was reticent to recognize our achievement, and further, why we were already battling an agency that had just approved us.

So rather than attack, we contacted the accrediting agency and took a stand. We informed the agency that it was widely known that we had applied for approval, and that the education community expected some resolution.  Consequently, we intended to issue a press release immediately, explaining that we had received approval from the agency, but had decided to decline the approval.  This way the agency would not have to either explain itself or conceal its decision to approve but not announce its action.


Within 24 hours the agency issued a list of newly-accredited institutions.  Ours was listed along with the other acknowledgements.  Our stance sent a clear message to the agency, as well as to our own institution.  Specifically, we were proud to be a member of this organization, but we expected to be treated just as any member would be.  In the long run this tactic proved quite successful.  We eventually shared resources with the agency, and our faculty took leadership roles in a variety of activities.  This would have been an unlikely scenario if we had made the choice to fight.

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