50 Conversations to Have with Sophia

Your AI Leadership Coach for Higher Education

Sophia is designed to meet you where you are and support you through the complexity of leading in higher education, where all of us have more responsibility than authority. She works best when you’re specific.  

The more honest you are with Sophia, the better she’ll be. Sophia does not store your responses. Nothing you share is logged, tracked, or traceable back to you. This is a completely confidential space. You can bring the real situation, not the polished version. 

To access Sophia, log into your Academic Impressions membership, and go to My Path.

To give you a way to start, here are 50 conversations you can start with Sophia. Feel free to modify these to suit your context.

Navigating Difficult People & Relationships 

1. I have a tenured faculty member who openly undermines me in meetings — eye rolls, sighing, challenging my credibility in front of others. I’ve avoided addressing it but it’s getting worse. What do I do? 
2. I have to give a performance review to a long-time employee who is well-liked but genuinely not performing. I’ve never given critical feedback before and I’m dreading it. Walk me through how to approach this. 
3. One of my direct reports told me in confidence that another direct report has been creating a hostile dynamic on the team. I can’t reveal the source, but I need to act. How do I handle this? 
4. I’m a new department chair and I’ve inherited a faculty member who was passed over for the chair role and clearly resents me. How do I build a working relationship? 
5. I supervise someone who I genuinely like but who has stopped growing. They’re comfortable, I’m not. How do I light a fire without burning the relationship? 
6. I have a brilliant colleague who is also deeply cynical and drains the energy out of every conversation about change. How do I work with (or around) them? 
7. My supervisor gives me almost no feedback and I can’t tell if I’m doing well or poorly. How do I get what I need from someone who is emotionally unavailable as a manager? 

1: I have a tenured faculty member who openly undermines me in meetings — eye rolls, sighing, challenging my credibility in front of others. I’ve avoided addressing it but it’s getting worse. What do I do? 

2: I have to give a performance review to a long-time employee who is well-liked but genuinely not performing. I’ve never given critical feedback before and I’m dreading it. Walk me through how to approach this. 

3: One of my direct reports told me in confidence that another direct report has been creating a hostile dynamic on the team. I can’t reveal the source, but I need to act. How do I handle this? 

4: I’m a new department chair and I’ve inherited a faculty member who was passed over for the chair role and clearly resents me. How do I build a working relationship? 

5: I supervise someone who I genuinely like but who has stopped growing. They’re comfortable, I’m not. How do I light a fire without burning the relationship? 

6: I have a brilliant colleague who is also deeply cynical and drains the energy out of every conversation about change. How do I work with (or around) them? 

7: My supervisor gives me almost no feedback and I can’t tell if I’m doing well or poorly. How do I get what I need from someone who is emotionally unavailable as a manager? 

1: I have a tenured faculty member who openly undermines me in meetings — eye rolls, sighing, challenging my credibility in front of others. I’ve avoided addressing it but it’s getting worse. What do I do? 

2: I have to give a performance review to a long-time employee who is well-liked but genuinely not performing. I’ve never given critical feedback before and I’m dreading it. Walk me through how to approach this. 

3: One of my direct reports told me in confidence that another direct report has been creating a hostile dynamic on the team. I can’t reveal the source, but I need to act. How do I handle this? 

4: I’m a new department chair and I’ve inherited a faculty member who was passed over for the chair role and clearly resents me. How do I build a working relationship? 

5: I supervise someone who I genuinely like but who has stopped growing. They’re comfortable, I’m not. How do I light a fire without burning the relationship? 

6: I have a brilliant colleague who is also deeply cynical and drains the energy out of every conversation about change. How do I work with (or around) them? 

7: My supervisor gives me almost no feedback and I can’t tell if I’m doing well or poorly. How do I get what I need from someone who is emotionally unavailable as a manager? 

Team Dynamics & Culture 

8: My team is deeply siloed. People do their own thing, there’s no sense of shared purpose, and they only talk to each other when there’s a problem. How do I build actual team cohesion? 

9: I’m about to do an all-staff retreat and I want it to actually matter, not be the kind of thing people roll their eyes at. Help me design something meaningful. 

10: I have two high-performing employees who genuinely don’t like each other and it’s starting to affect the whole team. I’ve been hoping it would resolve on its own. It hasn’t. 

11: My team is burned out. I know it. They know it. But the work isn’t slowing down. What can I realistically do as a leader? 

12: I promoted someone from within my team and now their former peers are treating them poorly. The new supervisor is struggling with authority and I’m not sure how to support them. 

13: We have a toxic “that’s not my job” culture on my team. How do I shift that without being preachy or issuing mandates? 

14: I lead a team of mostly introverts and our meetings are dominated by one or two loud voices. How do I design better participation? 

Leading Change 

15: I need to restructure my division and it will mean some people lose supervisory responsibilities. There are no layoffs, but people will feel demoted. How do I manage this? 

16: We’re launching a major new strategic initiative and I can already see the resistance forming. How do I approach them proactively?  

17: I’ve been tasked with merging two departments that have completely different cultures and a history of conflict. Where do I even start? 

18: My institution just went through an accreditation review with some significant concerns raised. Morale is low and people are looking to me for direction. How do I lead through this? 

19: I need to discontinue a program that faculty have deep emotional investment in. The data is clear but the politics are not. Help me think through the process. 

20: I’m trying to build a culture of innovation in a division that has always valued stability and predictability. How do I make change feel safe? 

Communication & Influence 

21: I’m preparing for a conversation with my provost in which I need to advocate for a significant budget increase. I have good data but I struggle to be assertive in high-stakes conversations. Help me prepare. 

22: I need to send a message to my entire division after a difficult semester. There will likely be layoffs and leadership changes, and we are already struggling with morale issues. I want to be honest without being alarming. What should I say? 

23: I’m about to facilitate a faculty meeting about a decision that’s already been made but is going to be very unpopular. How do I run this meeting? 

24: I gave a presentation to senior leadership and I got feedback that I “lacked executive presence.” I don’t even know what that means. Can you help me understand and work on it? 

25: I have a faculty governance body that I need to work with but they see themselves as adversarial to administration by default. How do I build a more collaborative relationship? 

26: I need to deliver bad news to a candidate we were very excited about but ultimately couldn’t hire due to a budget freeze. This person is respected in the field and I don’t want to damage the relationship. 

Career Development & Self-Awareness 

27: I’ve been a director for five years and I keep getting passed over for VP roles. I’m not sure what’s holding me back and I’m afraid to ask. Help me think through this. 

28: I’m considering leaving my institution for a role at another university. I feel guilty about it but I’m not growing here. How do I think through this decision? 

29: I’m a high-achiever who struggles to delegate. I know it’s limiting my team and my own leadership ceiling, but I can’t seem to let go. Why is this so hard and what can I do? 

30: I just got a 360 feedback report and one theme is that I can come across as dismissive, which genuinely shocked me. How do I make sense of this and start to change it? 

31: I’ve been told I’m “too nice” to be an effective leader. I don’t want to become someone I’m not. How do I find the balance between warmth and authority? 

32: I’m an introverted leader in an extroverted culture. I feel like I have to perform in ways that exhaust me. Is there another way? 

33: I’m about to step into my first senior leadership role and I want to make a strong start without overreaching. What should my first 90 days look like? 

Managing Up & Sideways 

34: My dean is a micromanager and it’s affecting my ability to lead my own team. I need to address this without damaging our relationship or my standing. 

35: I have a peer who takes credit for collaborative work including work my team has done. I haven’t said anything but I’m getting increasingly resentful. How do I handle this? 

36: I sit on a leadership team where the senior leader dominates every conversation and no one challenges them. Including me. How do I start to change this dynamic? 

37: I disagree with a decision my supervisor made that directly affects my team. How do I express my concerns while still being a team player? 

38: Two of my senior colleagues are in open conflict and both are lobbying me to take sides. I’m trying to stay neutral but the pressure is intense. 

Faculty Relations & Shared Governance 

39: I’m a dean who needs to make a significant curricular change and I know faculty governance will push back hard. How do I engage shared governance in a way that is genuine and not just performative? 

40: I have a faculty member who is a research star but a terrible colleague. He’s dismissive of staff, unreliable on committees, and demoralizing to junior faculty. My leverage is limited. What can I do? 

41: My department is divided between faculty who were hired decades ago under a very different institutional vision and newer faculty who want to take things in a new direction. I’m caught in the middle. 

42: A faculty member came to me informally to complain about a colleague. They don’t want to file anything formal but the behavior they’re describing sounds serious. What are my obligations and options? 

43: I need to build a stronger relationship with my faculty senate but every interaction feels transactional and tense. How do I shift this? 

Personal Leadership & Well-Being 

44: I’ve been in a senior leadership role for three years and I’m starting to feel genuinely depleted. I still care about the work but I don’t recognize myself anymore. How do I think about this? 

45: I tend to absorb the stress and anxiety of my team and institution. By the end of most weeks I feel like I’m carrying everyone. How do leaders create healthy boundaries without becoming detached? 

46: I’ve realized I’ve built my entire identity around my job. When things go badly at work, I go badly. I know this isn’t sustainable but I don’t know how to change it. 

47: I’m a leader who has always projected confidence but lately I’m experiencing real self-doubt. I’m not sure my instincts are right anymore and it’s affecting my decision-making. How do I work through this? 

48: I find it very hard to ask for help. I see it as weakness and I know that’s limiting me both as a leader and as a person. Where does that come from and how do I start to shift it? 

Strategy & Organizational Effectiveness 

49: My division has a strategic plan that no one actually uses. It sits on a shelf. How do I build something that actually guides decision-making and energizes people? 

50: I keep getting pulled into operational details and I’m struggling to lead strategically. How do I shift my role, and my team’s expectations of me, so I can lead at the level I’m supposed to? 

Sophia is at her best when you bring her the real situation. The more context you give, the more specific and useful her guidance will be. 

How will you use Sophia today? Go to My Path to use one of these prompts or ask another question. Reach out to your Partner Success Manager to explore your membership.

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