Organizational catalysts bring together the individuals from different institutional locations
who otherwise would not connect and whose participation is necessary to address
cross-cutting problems, such as lack of child care or partner placement challenges. They
also focus attention on recurring problems and effective strategies for addressing them.
Their insider/outsider status enables the organizational catalyst to capitalize on the
opportunities for change, to inject diversity considerations into ongoing decision making
and long-term planning, and to bring together the mix of people needed to produce concrete
results. For example, a diversity provost meets individually with department chairs
to learn about the difficulties they have confronted in identifying and recruiting diverse
candidates. When family responsibilities and partner placement issues emerge from these
conversations as a recurring priority, the organizational catalyst is in a position to raise
these concerns at a policy level, with the legitimacy of the chairs’ mandate behind her.
This negotiating posture can be buttressed by the results of a faculty survey underscoring
the impact of child care, partner issues, and work–family conflict on faculty satisfaction
and retention. Because she is part of the strategic planning process, she can place these
items on the agenda at crucial points in both individual and systemic negotiations: when
a faculty decision turns on resolving work–family issues and when building projects
open up possibilities for integrating child care into architectural design (Freudenberger,
Howard, Jauregui, & Sturm, 2009).