Leading in pairs: Why dyad models are the future of higher education leadership

Higher education institutions face growing complexity, from evolving student behaviours to technological disruptions, shifting funding landscapes, and increasing demands for student support. As these dynamics intensify, traditional models of siloed academic and administrative leadership struggle to address these interconnected challenges effectively. 

In this context, the dyad leadership model offers an effective solution. Borrowed conceptually from the health sector, dyads pair leaders with complementary expertise – the dean-level academic matched with an administrative strategist – to work in equal partnership. Despite being well-rooted in healthcare, this model is relatively novel in higher education. It promises a powerful mechanism for marrying the operational rigour of administration with the intellectual depth of academia to optimise responsiveness and impact. But such a model brings both opportunity and barriers, and the University of Alberta’s experiment provides lessons for institutions considering similar initiatives. 

The University of Alberta started considering the benefits of the dyad model three years ago while integrating academic and administrative leadership under one portfolio. It viewed this duality – academia as traditionally responsible for intellectual authority and administration for operational effectiveness – as critical to an institution’s ability to address the changing landscape of higher education collectively. 

The universities of the future that will be successful will be those that are able to bridge the academic and administrative divide. The dyad model addresses structural inefficiencies head-on. Leadership within silos perpetuates barriers to collaboration, stymieing decisions informed by both a pedagogical vision and an administrative bedrock. 

In the case of the University of Alberta’s pilot, the Student Success and Experience portfolio, a space blending academics with the operational reality of student support, emerged as the ideal testing ground. Crucially, this dyad leadership model is governed by a principle of complete equity. Neither the academic nor the administrative leader is hierarchically superior, an intentional choice to ensure decisions leverage the full power and expertise of both disciplines. 

The dyad model’s design rests on three cornerstones: true equity, complementary expertise, and mutual accountability. The administrative leader and academic leader must share all major decision-making processes, hold equal accountabilities, and receive clear guidance and support from the overarching institution. The mode gives both leaders the opportunity to sharpen her decision-making skills and accelerate the outcomes for students, employees, and the institution. 

Imagine two gardeners in charge of a single garden. These gardeners work at different speeds, one focusing on long-term health, the other cultivating what needs immediate attention. But because they’re working together, the garden thrives more holistically. The mutual trust underpinning dyads not only reinforces individual strengths but builds systems resilient to leadership transitions and complex challenges. 

In practice, the dyad model brings benefits to both academic and administrative development. For academics, it alleviates the steep learning curve associated with managing intricate university operations. Conversely, administrators gain deeper insights into academic priorities, creating richer decision-making frameworks. 

The University of Alberta’s experience demonstrates both the opportunities and friction inherent in introducing dyad leadership. While this model offers distinct benefits to shared leadership, alignment between partners remains critical. If pairs are poorly matched – whether due to misaligned values, incompatible speeds, or unresolved biases – the dyad can falter. 

Hiring two leaders demands intentionality. Hiring committees involved must consider the dynamic of dyadic leadership beyond individual roles, echoing the process seen in partnerships within healthcare. 

Equally important is extending the model through the organisation systematically. The process of resolving tension and clarity may be seamless, but that may not always explicit to the rest of the organisation. The ambiguity of two seemingly overlapping roles requires deliberate outreach to partners and staff to clarify operational flows. 

An additional challenge is retaining equity in leadership, a cornerstone of the model. Without commitment to this principle, the dyad risks becoming a framework for hierarchical masking: an academic leader’s authority being undermined by administrative management, or vice versa. This requires both conceptual clarity and institutional courage, especially if the model is to more broadly applied within faculties and departments. 

Launching dyad models can generate productive tension that strengthens organisational decision-making and outcomes. However, the University of Alberta’s experience has led us to identify the following as prerequisites for success. 

Commit to equity. Institutions must ensure both leaders have equal authority and accountability. A model built on equity reflects mutual respect and guarantees partnership synergy. 

Prioritise compatibility. Selecting leaders whose values, goals, and communication styles have complementarity and alignment is critical. Your first hire determines the second. You’re building a partnership, not hiring in silos. 

Create clarity. Dyads must foster clear decision-making processes and role segmentation to prevent confusion within their teams and stakeholders. Regular communication with staff is critical. 

Look for immediate wins. Evidence that this model works, and why it matters, needs to emerge quickly. Pilot contexts should give dyads the chance to demonstrate their added capacity early in experimentation. 

Build a support network. Each dyad pairing needs institutional support. At the University of Alberta, the Deputy Provost (Students & Enrolment) serves as the “third leg of the stool,” providing- critical feedback, balance, and accountability to the dyad while championing their successes across the wider system. 

Set time aside for the partnership. Tensions will surface in dyads, especially early on. The team at the University of Alberta discovered the crucial role of semesterly retreats, shared learning moments, and deliberate processes for resolving conflicts constructively. 

Hire courageous leaders. Experimenting with dyad models demands vulnerability and humility. By nature, dyads make individual strengths and areas for growth highly visible to the other partner. This openness, while at times uncomfortable, strengthens leaders’ ability to learn collaboratively, challenge assumptions, and refine their approaches. 

Dyad leadership is taking root within the University of Alberta’s Student Affairs unit. Enhanced collaboration, increased precision in decision-making, and greater sustainment of energy and ideas lets the dyad trust each other more fully, making decisions faster by leveraging what each excels at. 

While the dyad partnership is proving effective in student affairs, questions arise about whether it can transfer to other areas of higher education, like faculties or academic departments. This may well prove essential. Higher education faces structural threats – shifting social licences, new technologies, changing patterns of enrolment – that cannot be tackled solely by academic or administrative leaders alone. Dyads can accelerate responsiveness and resilience within academic units, not just administration. 

Courage and integrity while implementing dyad models is crucial: it takes bold leadership to confront biases, radical shifts in hierarchy, and structural resistance. But done properly, interdisciplinary dyads have the power not to erode academia but to accelerate and enhance its ability to work effectively within modern systems. 

As higher education evolves, facing disruptions from AI, shifting enrolment patterns, funding adjustments, and changing social pressures, the need for shared vision across academia and administration becomes more pressing. Dyad leadership not only offers an innovative pathway in this regard but is a chance to lead boldly, ensuring alignment, agility, and meaningful community impact.

Get in touch to discuss how your institution can benefit from adopting a dyad leadership model.

Connect with Tessa Dehring and University of Alberta Deputy Provost (Students and Enrolment) Melissa Padfield on LinkedIn.