CASE UMF (January 2026)-Recording

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The video is a detailed session from a CASE UMF webinar featuring Vicky Hayhurst, CEO of Hayhurst & Co, focusing on leadership, influence, and collaboration within UK universities. After initial technical issues with the online platform, Vicky outlines key models and tools that support high performance in university teams, emphasizing mindset, culture, and prioritization. She highlights the importance of understanding formal and informal power structures to effectively influence stakeholders, noting that building relationships beyond immediate hierarchies is crucial, especially in a hybrid work environment.<br /><br />Vicky introduces Stephen Covey’s Circle of Influence model to encourage focusing energy on controllable factors and discusses the “trust equation” from The Trusted Advisor book, stressing credibility, reliability, intimacy, and low self-orientation as essential to building trust. She also presents a partnership versus predator-prey model to promote balanced, adult-to-adult professional interactions, particularly between professional services and academics.<br /><br />Further, Vicky shares the COIN communication model (Context, Observation, Impact, Next steps) as a tool for structuring clear proposals and difficult conversations, and presents Kim Scott’s Radical Candor framework, which fosters psychological safety by combining care with direct feedback, warning against manipulative insincerity and obnoxious aggression.<br /><br />The session encourages participants to use these frameworks to enhance influence, engagement, performance management, and team culture. Vicky stresses the importance of preparation, understanding colleagues’ perspectives, and building trust as foundational to effective leadership in the current complex and changing higher education landscape. The webinar concludes with upcoming UMF event announcements.

Keywords

Leadership in Higher Education

University Team Performance

Influence Strategies

Stakeholder Engagement

Stephen Covey Circle of Influence

Trust Equation

Partnership vs Predator-Prey Model

COIN Communication Model

Kim Scott Radical Candor

Hybrid Work Environment