As we continue our conversation about faculty development, let’s recap. I suggested five key capacities and competencies your faculty members should they possess in increasing measure: self-awareness, scholarly currency, interdisciplinary engagement, teaching and learning proficiency, and biblical/theological worldview integration. Having begun with a discussion of the importance of self-awareness, we now turn to what we might call subject matter awareness.

Sentiment or substance? A familiar Negro Spiritual rightly muses, Everybody talkin’ ‘bout heaven ain’t goin’ there. The truth is, a great deal of lip service is paid in Christian higher education to “integration of faith and learning” or “Christian worldview formation.” These are admirable sentiments but they will remain just that—sentiments, not substance—unless faculty members acquire the requisite knowledge and develop proficiency in the intellectual pursuits that make true integration possible. Your faculty ain’t goin’ there unless you sustain the vision for it and provide the necessary encouragement and opportunities.

Alignment is simple “bus” logic Leaders align people and resources for the optimal achievement of mission. As Jim Collins puts it, they get the right people on the bus, the wrong people off the bus, and the right people in the right seats on the bus [Good to Great]. In terms of educational mission achievement (notice I did not say institutional sustainability), there is no more consequential alignment priority than your faculty. Alignment begins—but by no means ends—with rigorous selection criteria and processes. It continues through the commitment to ongoing faculty development delivered in a manner that resembles coaching more than training. Having previously considered coaching as the manner in which we engage in faculty development, what then are some key means by which we can foster faculty development? There are many, but I have chosen two to get you started: think in terms of inquiry and investment.

In addition to inquiry, a second means available to you in your quest to enhance educational mission accomplishment through faculty development is investment. This should be obvious, but you know as well as I how easily we cave on investing in faculty development when budget crunch time comes around.

So, now you’ve bought into the idea that faculty development is the shortest route to increasing the extent of educational outcomes achievement. How then may you best go about the business of faculty development? In this post, I submit the most effective manner of faculty development is coaching.