The IDEA Center: Feedback for Department Chairs

This one-of-a-kind system is the only nationally available tool for evaluating chairpersons and providing a basis for their further development. The IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs system recognizes that different management styles and strategies come into play when addressing different responsibilities. The system measures effectiveness by soliciting faculty input on how well the chairperson has used different administrative methods to meet identified goals for the department. Combined with the Chair’s self-assessment, the resulting gap analysis can further guide the chair’s personal reflection. Chair and faculty responses are collected online and analyzed by The IDEA Center. The resulting report provides direction on specific areas of strength and strategies for improvement. Custom questions are available to further assess unique departmental and personal goals.

While the instrument’s feedback is useful at any time, ideally its first administration would occur early in ones’ appointment (at the conclusion of the third or beginning of the fourth semester) to provide formative feedback. Then, it can be used in later terms to address both formative and summary evaluation questions (see Best Practices for IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs). The system combines ratings by both faculty members and the chairperson to yield reliable and relevant information. It is unique in higher education today and provides specific feedback to guide professional reflection. Both the Chair Information Form and the Faculty Survey are administered through the Internet by The IDEA Center for convenience, speed, efficiency, and respondent confidentiality.

Once the IDEA Feedback for Department Chairs instrument has been completed, The IDEA Center provides several coaching options to extend and enhance self-reflection and leadership development, through consultation with respected and experienced higher education administrators. The IDEA Department Chair Coaching Service guides chairs through an individualized process of professional discovery and reflection, with flexibility in pricing and structure.

Features of the Survey System
Allows the chairperson to identify the relevance of 21 responsibilities in his or her role as chair, identifying 3 to 6 as highest priority
Provides faculty ratings of administrative responsibilities, personal characteristics, and administrative methods
Includes opportunity for chair to provide self-ratings on performance, personal characteristics, and administrative methods
Results in a gap analysis allowing chairs to reflect on comparisons of their self-ratings to that of their faculty
Assesses strengths and weaknesses associated with success for each duty
Highlights specific recommendations for areas of improvement
Includes detailed statistical information about how faculty responded to each question, permitting an in-depth analysis of specific concerns
Summarizes faculty ratings of overall effectiveness
Provides a report of responses to open-ended comments
Includes the option to add up to 20 custom questions

The IDEA Center: Feedback for Department Chairs