Why institutions must begin treating leadership development and institutional memory as strategic priorities
Dr. Flavius A. B. Akerele III
Adapted from a keynote presentation delivered at the 12th Annual California International Conference on Management and Leadership at Alliant University (May 2026).
Higher education institutions excel at developing disciplinary expertise, academic knowledge, and professional specialization. Yet many institutions still rely upon surprisingly informal systems for developing leaders.
Faculty, staff, and administrators are frequently promoted into leadership positions based upon technical expertise, longevity, or operational success without receiving structured leadership preparation beforehand. Leadership often develops reactively rather than intentionally.
I refer to this as the “accidental leadership” model.
This approach may have evolved naturally over time, particularly during periods when institutions were smaller, organizational structures were simpler, and employees often remained within the same institution for decades. However, today’s higher education environment is far more complex.
Modern colleges and universities face growing pressures related to accreditation, enrollment management, technology integration, operational sustainability, workforce development, and student success outcomes.
At the same time, many institutions are experiencing significant generational transitions as long-serving administrators and faculty leaders retire. Without intentional systems for mentorship and knowledge transfer, institutions risk losing critical operational continuity and institutional memory.
One of the most overlooked challenges in higher education today is the loss of institutional knowledge.
When experienced personnel leave, institutions often lose far more than individual employees. They lose historical context, accreditation expertise, informal problem-solving networks, and operational insight accumulated over years or decades of service.
The consequences are not merely administrative. Students are affected when institutions struggle with inconsistent processes, unclear communication channels, delayed decision-making, or operational inefficiencies caused by fragmented organizational knowledge.
This issue frequently becomes visible during accreditation reviews. Institutions that struggle during accreditation visits are often not failing because of a lack of effort or commitment. Rather, they struggle because critical institutional knowledge is fragmented, undocumented, or concentrated within too few individuals.
In many cases, personnel simply do not know where information is located, which office owns a process, or who has the institutional knowledge necessary to answer questions effectively.
By contrast, institutions with strong mentorship structures and operational continuity are often better positioned to navigate organizational transitions, accreditation processes, and leadership turnover.
The good news is that higher education institutions already possess many of the resources necessary to begin addressing this challenge immediately.
Most colleges and universities already offer MBA, leadership, public administration, or organizational management coursework containing many of the exact competencies leadership pipelines require: communication, strategic planning, conflict resolution, organizational behavior, knowledge management, and leadership theory.
Institutions do not necessarily need entirely new departments or expensive external programs to begin developing intentional leadership pipelines. Existing resources can be adapted into leadership academies, mentorship cohorts, professional development certificates, and cross-functional leadership initiatives.
Equally important, institutions can begin viewing mentorship not merely as professional courtesy, but as a strategic continuity mechanism designed to preserve institutional knowledge and prepare future leaders before leadership gaps emerge.
Higher education has long invested in developing academic expertise. The next challenge may be developing equally intentional systems for cultivating the next generation of institutional leaders.
Selected References
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CUPA-HR. (2023). Exploring the leadership pipeline in higher education.
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Johnson, W. B. (2017). On being a mentor: A guide for higher education faculty (2nd ed.). Routledge.
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Mullen, C. A. (2017). Mentorship in higher education. In The handbook of formal mentoring in higher education.
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Wiig, K. M. (2008). People-focused knowledge management: How effective decision making leads to corporate success.
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WASC Senior College and University Commission. (2023). Accreditation handbook and institutional effectiveness standards.
