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Rebecca Largent
CCHE 600
This assignment will review a phone interview conducted with Nydia Nittmann, Director
of Northern Arizona Universitys (NAU) Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid. First, a
description of the interview questions as well as Nittmanns response will be presented. Second,
an analysis of the applicable leadership theories and approaches described in Peter Northouses
Leadership, Theory and Practice (2016) will be discussed. Last, there will be a review of the
Interview
(1) What is your position title and the name of the institution at which you are employed? Where
does your position fit within the organizational structure or hierarchy? Nydia Nittmann shared
that she serves Northern Arizona University in two key roles. First, she serves as the Director of
NAUs Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid (OSFA) and second, she serves for the
Enrollment Services Functional Team as part of the Admission and Enrollment Analytic Team.
She reports directly to the Enrollment Management and Student Affairs Vice President Jane
Kuhn.
(2) How were you selected for the position you currently hold? Nittmann was asked to serve as
interim director during a time of transition for OSFA. The previous interim consultant director
was not welcomed back and Kuhn had asked her to fill the position in order to get the department
thought the fall term. Kuhn has also asked Nittmann to oversee the Enrollment Services
(3) What are the three areas of responsibility on which you spend the greatest amount of your
time as a leader? Nittmanns main areas of responsibility that require most of her time are
compliance, outreach and staff support. She described there are federal, state, institutional and
tribal policies that dictate where her focus is and it changes depending on the time of year.
Outreach is an important part of her responsibilities as the flow of new and continuing students is
shifting. She stated she spends a lot of time talking with students and handling their complaints
while sometimes they are not related to financial aid issues. She gets pulled in to deal with
situations as needed by Kuhn. Supporting her staff is an important part of Nittmans position.
She makes sure her staff has what they need due to the burden of the nature of the financial aid.
She has an open door policy for her staff and shared while its an important part of her leadership
style, it is seen as both a good thing and a bad thing. Probing Questions: What is good about
having an open door policy? What is bad about having an open door policy? Nittmann said her
open door policy allows her to be approachable and available. She described the previous
interim director as being closed off to their staff and would shut their door forcing staff to make
an appointment to speak with them. Nittmann wanted her staff to have confidence and feel
comfortable coming to her for support. The downside to her open door policy is the difficulty in
juggling her work load. Sometimes it leads to interruptions in the middle of projects and she
works hard to not project the frustration of this towards her staff.
(4) Which aspects of your education and prior experience have best prepared you to lead
effectively in your current position? Nittmann has a Bachelors of Science in Training and
Development. She says it has served her well in planning and organization. It helped her learn
how to organize how staff is trained. She also has a Masters in Educational Leadership and
while it helped make good connections, the courses werent useful. Previously, Nittmann
served as a Business Analyst (BA), Lead in OSFA. In this role, she managed projects.
Specifically, she helped build in financial aid module in PeopleSoft, the software system used by
NAU. She managed the system and monitored the timeline as well as the implementation of the
module. This makes her feel very confident in her role and has first-hand knowledge of what
her staff can do with PeopleSoft. This also allows her to speak with Kuhn about PeopleSoft and
the reality of whether stuff can be done. She likes that she doesnt have to bring in someone
else to talk about PeopleSoft and she doesnt have to use a developer. Her experience also allows
her staff to have confidence in her because she does know the system that they are working with
on a daily basis.
(5) What led you to pursue your current leadership position? Nittmann was placed in the
position by Kuhn. She shared that she would have never applied to it on her own due to her
challenges with prior administrators. She shared that once the permanent position had open she
(6) Describe past and current influences on your leadership style (e.g., authors, mentors, role
models, etc.) Nittmann has been fortunate with past supervisors. Her first phone call when she
accepted the director position as OSFA was to past director, Jim Pritchard. She couldnt wait to
practice some of the things that she had learned from him. However, Nittmann noted that
Pritchard had a difficult time working with staff from a disciplinary perspective but he did
provide a positive example of having confidence in his staffs ability to do their job. The main
(7) What is your preferred strategy for continuing to develop as a leader (e.g., leadership
conferences, books, journals)? Nittmann does not utilize leadership courses to develop her skills.
She believes that she has been doing this long enough that her habits are pretty set. She does
fine tune her strategy as learning situations arise. When she is informed that she hasnt handled
a situation well, she allows for feedback and evaluates what others tell her in order to learn. She
believes that leadership courses are nice for ideas. Keeping up with financial aid is a different
(8) How would you describe your approach to leadership or your leadership style? Is there a
particular leadership theory, approach, or model that resonates with you? There is not a
particular approach that resonates with Nittmann. She described that she is not a micro-manager-
something she learned from Pritchard. She hires staff and trusts her leadership to hire the skills
the department needs. While she does like to be informed in case she gets asked about things by
administration, she mostly trusts her staff and allows them the freedom to make decisions. If
staff makes a bad decision, she hopes that they learn from it but feels like important for them to
(9) What do you consider to be your strengths as a leader? Are there aspects of leadership in
which you'd like to grow or develop? One of Nittmans strengths is that she has thick skin and
doesnt take things personally. If someone critiques her, she feels that she handles it well. She
also addresses issues with staff right away. She doesnt put off talking with staff and is
straightforward with them. To her, its important that they always know where they stand with
her. Shes honest and is open to honesty from her staff as long as its respectful. Nittmann also
does not expect her staff to do anything she is not willing to do herself. If she expects her staff to
stay late or work weekends in order to complete projects, she is willing to do the same.
(10) What is your biggest challenge as a leader? Nittman again touch on the challenges with her
open door policy. She feels like to her staff that she needs to be available, however, she cannot
get a lot done with continual interruptions. She reported she has trouble balancing that.
(11) In your experience, what is unique or distinctive about leading in an institution of higher
education? To Nittmann, constant change is invigorating. She enjoys the opportunity to work
with younger students. There is a big responsibility in playing a role in student development. She
views students as still forming their persons and believes staff contribute to developing the
BA, Lead for the OSFA. Specifically, the development of the financial aid module in PeopleSoft
being implemented without issues. It was a project that took over two years to complete. As the
director, her greatest accomplishment has been getting her department on a steady track. When
she transitioned to the interim position, there were 11 unfilled positions and morale was low. She
described her staff as having no respect or confidence. Nittmann shared currently, she has a
fully staffed department and observes her staff as enjoying their work. Her department is back
(13) What are a few of your goals and aspirations as a leader, things you'd like to accomplish in
the future? Nittman shared that she is not far retirement. She believes that in about five years she
will make that transition. The aspirations she shared are geared more towards her department and
staff than herself. She wants to make sure that when she retires, they [her staff] dont regress to
where they were. Nittman hopes when she leaves the transition is seamless and hopes her staff
wouldnt notice the change. Due to the complicated nature of financial aid, she also is working
towards the development of documentation in her department. She shared that the past 5-6 years,
there has not be a focus of this in her department and she will support her staff in accomplishing
this goal.
Discussion
While Nittmann does not identify with a specific leadership approach, she does display
and describe behaviors that align with situational approach, transformational leadership,
authentic leadership and servant leadership. Northouse (2016) describes a situational approach of
leadership as the leader adapt[ing] his or her style to the demands of different situations (p.93).
Nittmans response that indicated the ever changing compliance policies, it seems that the
outside demands contribute to the different situations that her and her staff face. The way she
described her behavior as learning from every situation she faces, this approach can be
applicable to her leadership style. Specifically, she seems to display the supportive behavior and
takes a high supportive-low directive style (Northouse, 2016, p.95). She supports her staff
within an arms length, while she doesnt micro-manage she still maintains her involvement by
being in the know but trusting their skills to meet the goals of the department. Nittman described
that she allows her staff to make decisions without her input and like Northouse (2016) mentions
a leader using this style remains available to facilitate problem solving (p.95) and that is
exactly what Nittman does. While the commitment level of Nittmans staff is unclear, there
seems to be a high level of competence expectation placed by the leader. The development levels
of her staff would be around D3 and D4 meaning there is a moderate to high level of competence
and a variable to high level of commitment (Northouse, 2016, p.95). Nittmans staff does have
the skills to get their job done based on the information she provided and she does have a high
position during a time of transition and she has worked hard to develop her staff away from a
under staffed, low morale standpoint. Ghasabeh, Reaiche, and Soosay (2015) describe the critical
role that employee attitudes and values play when implementing change (p.464) and Nittman is
aware of this impact. Her focus is more on transformational leadership factors rather than
positive example as a role model because she has experience with PeopleSoft and has been in the
shoes of her employees. She has put in the same hard work and dedication that she expects of her
staff. Her idealized influence factor is strong because she is a positive role model for her staff
(Northouse, 2016, p.167). Nittman also exhibits intellectual simulation based on her
description of allowing her staff to make their own decisions. This factor encourages followers
to think things out on their own and engage in careful problem solving (Northouse, 2016,
p.169). By practicing this approach, Nittman is providing a space for her staff to feel confident
the fact that she report she addresses issues with her staff immediately and ensures they always
know where they stand with her. Due to the nature of financial aid and the importance of
compliance to the department as well as the university, this is an important practice. This
leadership style has allowed her organization to build a shared and inspiring vision for future
Nittmans responses support an authentic leadership approach. She mentioned trust many
times during the interview and her responses surrounded the importance of her staff as they
relate to her leadership traits. Her self-awareness is key to her development as a leader. She
recognizes were she is in the leadership development process, but knows that it is a practice that
must be maintained. She also was very aware that while she practices positive leader behaviors it
can sometimes conflict with goals of the department. Nittman also displays the internalized
moral perspective component of authentic leadership. Her moral standards surround the trust
and honesty she shares with her staff and she allows this to guide their [her] behavior rather
than allow outside pressures to control them (Northouse, 2016, p.203). This is manifested in the
fact that she sometimes set aside projects in order to support her staff. Due to the nature of her
position, it can be assumed that there are many pressures from upper administration, however,
her open door policy aligns with her morals and provides her an opportunity to continue to build
In higher education, service to students play a large role to the leadership styles of
administrators. While Nittmans approach focuses on students, much of her service is to her
staff. By using servant leadership, Nittman is constantly putting the needs of her staff above her
own, and uses empathy to support them. From her experience as a BA, Lead, she really does
understand the expectations of her staff and understand what it is like doing the type of work she
is asking of them. Every time that Nittman sets aside a project to support or listen to her staff she
is displaying servant leadership. She is putting her followers first and by doing this, it can have a
direct impact of morale and job satisfaction which contribute to the success of her department.
Her open door policy supports her servant leadership style as this style rely[s] on one to one
communication with [their] employees in order to understand their potential and bring out the
best out of them (Maden, Gzta, & Topsmer, 2014, p.2). She also has focuses on creating a
sense of community amongst her team. When she assumed the role of interim director, it was a
time of uncertainty and low morale, the sense of community was low. By using her trust and
support of staff, she observed the community of her staff as stable and views them as enjoying
their work. Based on Maden, Gzta, & Topsmers (2014) analysis, using servant leadership
towards her staff can trickle down and have a direct impact of the type of service her staff is
vary. Specifically, trust is a key trait that she displays but that can be applicable to multiple
approaches described by Northouse. The fact that she was with the department as a BA, Lead is
unique because she was a co-worker of some of the individuals she now leads and this seems to
work to her benefit. What I found interesting is that she did not just talk about her leadership
traits, she provided examples of her leadership behaviors. This is interesting because leaders can
talk all day about their traits but implementing and showing them in practice is a true description
of their style. Nittmans awareness of where she is as a leader was humbling. She recognized
where she is at in her career (close to retirement) and while she does not assume that leadership
development halts, she emphasizes that it does evolve into a maintenance process. Nittman is a
positive example of a leader in higher education with unique experiences as well as a unique
blended style.
References
Northouse, P. (2016). Leadership: Theory and practice (Seventh edition). Thousand Oaks,
Ghasabeh, M. S., Reaiche, C., & Soosay, C. (2015). The Emerging Role of Transformational
Maden, D., Gzta, A., & Topsmer, F. (2014). Effects of Service Standards Communication
and Servant Leadership on Strategic Competence and Customer Orientation. Proceedings of the