Reimagining shared governance for today’s higher ed landscape

Change is never easy, especially in higher education. While designed to give a voice to faculty, staff, and students, shared governance can often hinder progress in low-trust environments, particularly when institutional leaders have not outlined clear decision-making rules and taken the time to build support for key strategic initiatives.

With a growing list of competing priorities that demand they innovate and adapt across multiple fronts simultaneously, leaders are looking for ways to make shared governance work for the institution’s long-term success. By evolving leadership and cross-campus deliberation to be more inclusive, transparent, and adaptable, institutions can create a culture that is more receptive to change and equipped to implement it effectively.

We’ve highlighted five tactics to help institutions balance agility, clarity, and consensus in decision-making.

1. Articulate a clear strategic direction for the institution that both inspires and constrains ambitions

Institutions without a clear sense of identity and direction often struggle to build consensus around difficult decisions. They’re defined by their constituent parts (academic departments, administrative divisions, external constituencies), each with competing demands for resources, attention, and status. The president, board, and executive leadership teams must articulate a strategic direction for the institution as a whole that helps its faculty and staff understand how decisions, initiatives, and investments fit into a larger, animating vision.

How to strategy plan the right way

2. Share a transparent, consistent, and digestible narrative about institutional finances frequently

Few faculty or staff members are trained to understand institutional finances in depth—the intricacies of annual budgeting, endowment management, tuition discounting, financial aid, and indirect cost recovery are too often grasped only by a small number of dedicated professionals. The annual budget presentation institutions often provide to their community rarely solves larger trust issues relating to resources, which can lead to a (mis)perception that the institution has significantly more financial flexibility than it can actually afford. Effective leaders join their Chief Financial Officers in educating the campus community about their institution’s financial health and ground the data in a narrative that helps individuals see their role in driving long-term sustainability.

Align your budget models to your institutional finances

3. Agree on discrete decision rules and roles for important, cross-functional decisions

Established sector guidelines on the distinct roles that boards, administrators, faculty members, and staff play in institutional governance often assume clear “swim lanes” between each group. Boards are charged with fiduciary oversight, long-term mission and strategy, and the appointment of the president; administrators are tasked with managing the operations and policies that keep the institution running, as well as managing external communications and public affairs; faculty are in control of the curriculum and modes of instruction, research, and the recruitment and promotion of faculty members. Many important issues, however, require close (and messy) collaboration across constituencies and would benefit from detailed decision-making frameworks (like RAPID or RACI) that clarify the role that each individual and collective will play in moving a process forward.

4. Foster an institutional mindset and elevate leadership potential within academic units

Faculty members often identify much more with their discipline and home department than with the institution at large, which can make cross-departmental or pan-institutional collaboration a challenging cultural effort (particularly when resources are in short supply). Further, departmental leaders (typically chairs) rarely receive the training or positional authority to make difficult decisions. It’s often more common to avoid “ruffling feathers” during one’s short stint as chair, knowing that in a year or two, a new chair will be in seat. Engaging and empowering this layer of management is critical to advancing complex institutional goals that concern the faculty, such as considering major curricular revisions, changes to academic policies, or advancing interdisciplinary research. Consider a competitive, full-year appointment for chairs with longer, renewable terms and employing a “rising leader” fellowship for faculty members interested in exploring challenges outside their normal purview.

5. Ensure the board is proactively informed and engaged, and not distracted by minutia or industry hype

Fewer than 10% of higher education board members have professional experience in higher education, according to the Association of Governing Boards (AGB). Board dynamics vary widely from institution to institution—many public boards are gubernatorially appointed and politically driven, while many private boards emphasize individual philanthropy or religious affiliation. In all cases, leadership teams can struggle to keep their boards focused on appropriate issues, at an appropriate altitude. Educate board members proactively on their role in shared governance, the key trends and challenges facing your institution and the sector at large, and where they can provide a unique value-add to your team’s decisions.

Evaluate your change management approach

Leading a higher education institution through strategic change can feel like an overwhelming goal, especially when navigating the complexities of shared governance. By evolving shared governance to be more agile and collaborative, higher education leaders can strengthen their approach to strategy and planning, fostering a culture that embraces sustainable change. For more information on how our Strategic Advisory Services can help you adapt current structures to your strategy, visit us at eab.com/advisory-services or email [email protected].