UMass Donahue Institute

Similar to how a chef dedicates their life to perfecting the art of cooking, Dana has spent the past 30 years of her career learning and fine-tuning her skills – developing leadership-focused programs for working professionals looking to acquire the knowledge and tools needed to be effective leaders.  

As a Leadership Excellence faculty member at the UMass Donahue Institute, over the course of the pandemic one of the most frequently asked questions I have been asked is, “how can I be an effective leader when my employees are remote?” It is no surprise why this is top of mind for many organizational leaders.

In a recent blog post, Dana Henry, Director of Organizational Development & Learning Solutions at the UMass Donahue Institute, shared her top ten tips for being an effective leader with organizational change.

Meet Som Seng, a full-time marketer, and mother who shares her experience as an online student in UMass Donahue Institute's online Leadership Excellence certificate program.

Leading organizational change often starts from an internal perspective of “What is the problem and how can we fix it?”

Design Thinking offers an alternative approach to instead put ourselves in the shoes of our customers. This is the main focus of the second module in the 8-week online Leadership Excellence certificate program titled, "Driving Innovation."

Now more than ever, UMass Online believes advocating for and supporting economic opportunities for women is critical.

Over the past year, covid-19 has had a disproportionate economic impact on women. Nearly 3 million American women have left the labor force over the past year in response to the pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, women made up more than 50% of the United States’ workforce, however this number has dropped severely[1].

Leading organizational change requires many skills. Some of the more well-known skills include:

• Having a business case for change

• Aligning key stakeholders

Not all leaders are created equal.

The difference a great leader can make within an organization is insurmountable. From inspiring employees to work hard and do their best to achieve business goals, attracting high-caliber talent and keeping them, to creating new opportunities for innovation and organizational change, effective leaders have a big influence on an organization’s success.