The Department Chair Leadership Assessment

As a department chair, you navigate one of higher education's most challenging and impactful leadership roles. Whether you're three days or three years into your role, this assessment meets you where you are.

New chairs will discover frameworks for establishing credibility and managing early leadership challenges. Experienced chairs will uncover fresh approaches for reinvigorating their leadership and navigating complex institutional dynamics they've never encountered before.

The Department Chair Leadership Assessment draws from years of coaching hundreds of department chairs across diverse institutional contexts—from small liberal arts colleges to large research universities—and reflects the real questions and struggles chairs face in today's challenging higher education landscape.

Take this evidence-based assessment and receive personalized strategies to thrive as a department chair—without burning out.

If you're a new chair, you're likely feeling overwhelmed by the sudden shift from faculty colleague to department leader, managing competing demands without a roadmap. If you're a seasoned chair, you may find that strategies that once worked are no longer effective in today's rapidly changing landscape.

You deserve better than generic leadership advice that ignores the unique realities of academic leadership. You need strategies that work within the complex realities of academic institutions—strategies that account for faculty culture, shared governance, resource constraints, and the delicate balance between administrative responsibilities and academic leadership.

Take the Department Chair Leadership Assessment and discover your personalized development path. In just 5-7 minutes, you'll receive your complete leadership profile and evidence-based strategies to excel in your current challenges while anticipating what's ahead..

Your results will include:

✅ Personal Leadership Profile - Understanding your strengths and growth areas specific to academic leadership

✅ Targeted Action Strategies - Practical approaches you can implement immediately, not generic advice

✅ Experience-Level Guidance - Whether you're new to the role or a seasoned chair, strategies that match where you are

✅ Collection of Challenge-Specific Solutions - Addressing enrollment pressures, faculty engagement, resource constraints, and institutional change

✅ Sneak Peek (Early Access) - Exclusive preview of tools and insights from The Department Chair Playbook

Jennifer Scott Mobley, Ph.D.

Ph.D., Communication, Ohio University
Certified Executive Coach, Center for Executive Coaching Gallup-Certified Strengths Coach

As a former department chair who navigated these challenges for nearly a decade, I understand the isolation and complexity of academic leadership.

Now, as a higher education leadership coach, I've worked with hundreds of department chairs across diverse institutions including New York University, University of Chicago, University of Tennessee, Furman University, Case Western Reserve University, Colby College, Commonwealth University, Colorado College, Colby College, and Emory University.

My approach combines practical experience with research-backed strategies, focusing on sustainable leadership that transforms entire institutions rather than just individual development.

I created this assessment to give you immediate, practical tools for navigating today’s unprecedented leadership challenges — and to help build a support network for chairs like you.

My forthcoming book The Department Chair Playbook is currently in development, and your lived experience as a department chair is invaluable in creating resources that truly serve our community. Rather than developing this work in isolation, I'm inviting chairs like you to become collaborators in building the support system you need and deserve. Your insights, challenges, and solutions will directly shape the tools and strategies included in the final publication.

Your responses will contribute to new research on departmental leadership. Help shape my forthcoming book The Department Chair Playbook and build the support system department chairs need and deserve.

✺ Take the Free Assessment ✺

Your participation not only helps advance research on departmental leadership, but after the assessment, you’ll also receive an invitation to join a growing community of department chairs committed to advancing academic leadership effectiveness. This is more than data collection, it’s about the collaborative support system you deserve.

You’ll be able to choose your level of participation/engagement in one or more of the following:

  • Becoming a Virtual Discussion Participant: Join monthly virtual conversations with peer chairs to discuss specific leadership challenges and workshop solutions together. Commitment: 1 hour monthly

  • Beta Testing New Tools: Test new leadership tools and strategies in your department and provide feedback on their effectiveness and practical application. Commitment: 1-2 hours monthly

  • Getting Interviewed About Your Journey: Participate in deeper conversations about your leadership journey, challenges, and insights through structured interviews (for my podcast, upcoming book, and more). Commitment: 45-60 minutes