Building a Collaborative University Culture

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of ACUPA or NOSM University.

Welcome to the ever-changing world of university governance, where policy development meets cultural alchemy, and every decision is both a strategic move and a playful dance. As a governance professional, you hold the magic wand that can shape the very culture of your institution. In this blog, we’ll explore the delightful intricacies of policy culture, the significance of understanding your institution's unique ethos, and the tools at your disposal to craft policies that foster an inclusive and collaborative environment.

Policy Culture: More Than Just Words on Paper

When we talk about "policy culture," we’re diving into the collective mindset and behaviors that influence how policies are created, implemented, and perceived. Think of policy culture as the secret sauce that flavors every decision and action within the university. It's not just about the rules themselves but the spirit in which they are embraced.

Shaping the Culture You Want and Need

To shape the policy culture your organization needs, start by understanding the current cultural landscape. Is your university a haven for innovation, or does it cling to tradition like a cat to a warm laptop? By recognizing these traits, you can craft policies that resonate and inspire. Remember, policies should not be seen as rigid commandments but as living documents that evolve with the institution.

Guiding Documents and Tools

As a governance or policy professional, you’re not navigating this journey alone. You have an arsenal of guiding documents, tools and people!

• Policy Frameworks: These provide the backbone for developing coherent and consistent policies. They ensure that every policy aligns with the university’s mission and values.

• Consultation Processes: Engage with stakeholders across the university. From faculty and students to the board and senate, inclusive consultation fosters buy-in and enriches policy development.

• Feedback Mechanisms: Implement systems to gather ongoing feedback on policies. This helps in refining them and keeping them relevant.

• People: Your greatest asset is the people involved in the policy process. Build a network of policy champions across the university who can advocate for and help implement new policies. These individuals, ranging from faculty and staff to students and board members, bring diverse perspectives and drive cultural change through their everyday interactions and influence.

The Cultural Compass: Why Understanding Culture is Crucial

Understanding the culture of your institution is akin to having a reliable compass; it guides every step of the policy cycle. Culture impacts how policies are received, interpreted, and enacted. A policy that thrives in one university might flounder in another due to differing cultural contexts.

The Inclusion Imperative

In today’s world, inclusivity isn’t just a buzzword; it’s a necessity. An inclusive culture ensures that diverse voices are heard and valued, leading to richer and more effective policies. Here’s how to proactively create an inclusive culture:

1. Broad-Based Engagement: Include a wide array of perspectives in policy discussions. This includes staff, faculty, students, and the board or senate.

2. Cultural Competency Training: Equip everyone involved in policy development with the skills to understand and appreciate diversity.

3. Transparent Communication: Maintain open channels of communication where individuals feel safe to express their views and ensure that the message is being received – which means you may have to use different methods to achieve your purpose – be open to variety.

The Role of Governance Professionals

Your role is to act as a bridge, connecting various groups within the university to ensure that policies are inclusive and reflective of the institution’s values. Think of yourself as the university’s cultural gardener, planting seeds of inclusivity and collaboration that will bloom into robust policies.

Tools for a Collaborative Policy Culture

Creating a strong and collaborative policy culture is like assembling a well-coordinated orchestra. Here are some practical suggestions to support this harmonious environment:

1. Policy Management Software: Invest in technology that simplifies policy creation, distribution, and tracking. This ensures that everyone is on the same page and that policies are easily accessible.

2. Workshops and Training: Regularly conduct workshops to educate stakeholders on policy processes and their roles. This fosters a sense of ownership and accountability.

3. Pilot Programs: Before rolling out new policies, run pilot programs to test their effectiveness and gather feedback. This iterative approach leads to more refined and accepted policies.

4. Celebrating Successes: Recognize and celebrate the successful implementation of policies. This reinforces positive behavior and highlights the value of collaborative efforts.

In Conclusion

Navigating the world of policy development in a university setting is both an art and a science. By understanding the cultural underpinnings of your institution, promoting inclusivity, and leveraging the right tools, you can craft policies that not only guide but also inspire. Together, let’s cultivate a vibrant, inclusive, and collaborative university culture! 

An Untapped Potential

In the past few years, crisis, cultural shifts, and financial woes have led to a rise of complexity in maintaining our policy systems within our institutions. Meeting all the regulations can be challenging, as they are constantly changing. In addition, institutions are feeling the pressure from regulators, internal staff and faculty, and the community at large to maintain the regulations. Challenges faced yesterday are not the challenges we will face tomorrow or next year. Do you have the confidence that your policies could stand up to regulatory scrutiny? Does this mean that we need to become even more resilient and inventive – is there any untapped potential out there?

As policy leaders we have learned that we need systems and processes to get things done. But is that enough? Even the most skilled person today is challenged with the immense workload of continuous changes and updates required for policy management. Even the way we distribute, collect, account for and present changes has undergone enormous change. It is not just a check list and process – we need to manage risk, ensure data security and privacy while balancing access and inclusiveness and external influences – it all seems daunting, and to top it all off, failing to comply with the ever-evolving regulations can lead to costly fines and lawsuits.

We are looking virtually everywhere for indicators of change, racing with time to have key policies, procedures and training completed to be compliant. Today, no one is standing waiting for the next change to come down the hall, which makes it even more important that we work with synergy across the institution.

We must support and arm ourselves with the tools, processes and technology that facilitate clear communication. We need to define the review and reflection process of our policies, cultivate open discussion and dialogue all while engaging with other departments and units about the need for change, seek an understanding of the barriers for everyone and then provide the necessary follow up to make the needed changes for lasting growth and compliance.

In September, I wrote “Don’t wait for a crisis to create an efficient policy management system.” That ‘safety net’ is one great way to engage a team to ensure compliance, a tool that builds structure – whether you are a small scale operation or a larger scaled institution, a system and a plan is critical. A plan gives both leaders and others a path forward and provides the principles needed to navigate change. In December 2022, Michele Gross (University of Minnesota) wrote “The First Element: Meeting at the Intersection of Policy and Compliance” - outlining the first of seven elements of a compliance program and the importance of the system to frame our compliance at our institutions. For those who may not be aware, the seven elements of a legally effective compliance program are:

1. Policies & Procedures
2. Chief Compliance Officer/Compliance Committee
3. Education & Training
4. Reporting
5. Monitoring & Auditing
6. Enforcement
7. Responding To Issues

GRC 20/20 Research, LLC wrote “A Tsunami of Change Overwhelms Compliance,” which states that some institutions have broken processes and insufficient resources to manage compliance. I know that there is not one size fits all -- there can’t be. This is why we must continue to evolve – we should rearrange our priorities when we have too much of anything as Sara Gigeroff (University of New Brunswick) wrote in her blog What’s In Your Closet? (Feb 2023). More importantly she states that communicating, setting boundaries, purging, and revaluating are all key elements in managing our policy framework…and our closets!

There's no time like the present to simplify. Legacy systems are expensive and difficult to use. Manual processing is far too time-consuming and in a hybrid environment its not effective. I say m ake retention simple for users and administrators, so they don’t have to interact with files in a separate, siloed repository or go through cumbersome, manual processes. We must invest in this process for it to be effective. Who can remember five-sheet carbon paper? Now that was cumbersome! We have evolved since carbon paper, but some institutions are still stuck in the dark ages when it comes to making a compliance program a priority.

Who is your untapped potential – identify them and get them on board. This process, more than ever, needs support and buy-in from our leadership and other stakeholders across the institution to be successful (more hands make less work). Beware of analysis paralysis – encourage administrators to work with broad strokes. Show them how proactively setting the boundaries for document lifecycle management, rules for sharing and record management classifications can make work simpler, more consistent and save money. If it was possible to make policies ‘fun’ I would say do that too!

Other areas that untap that potential are field experts like our colleagues at ACUPA . They are an excellent way to leverage all our tools – garner support and encourage others to join in the conversations and become members.

It only takes one incident, one mistake, one error to mark an institution’s reputation and erode trust. In my opinion, our untapped potential may simply be harnessing the power of workplace collaboration and an ability to accelerate the processes to protect our most valuable information.

A Practical Look at Committee Efficiency and Development

Think back to a time when you were on a committee that was poorly run or just plain bad. How did you feel?

An important and productive tool for an association, board or council is the work of a committee. Committees are indispensable, enabling work to get done in the most efficient manner. It is also true that committees (and meetings) can eat up countless hours while not accomplishing the intended goals and outcomes. A committee: “A group of people who talk for hours to produce a result called minutes.” (A. D., quoted in READER'S DIGEST, 5/76.)

Like that of policy creation, how do you create an effective committee? Is it the people? Is it the meetings? Is it the directive?

Committees don’t work well when there is:

1. Lack of goals both short and long term
2. Reliance on bad information (not enough)
3. Inability to focus on the right issues
4. Poor involvement or incorrect membership
5. Lack of clear purpose

Committees can benefit from many of the same approaches and tools that make board meetings more effective---an overview by the committee chair at the beginning of each meeting, a strategic focus for discussions, prioritized agendas, annual calendar of committee meetings and major decisions, consent agendas, and evaluation of the committee and the meetings.

For me its all that and a little bit more. Committee creation, development and maintenance is no different than that of creating a policy or procedure. First, I ask why (sometimes a few times)? Then I begin the development phase and population stage, then there is review and maintenance.

Like a policy or procedure, many times lack of attention or attendance is due in part from lack of review and reflection of the purpose and mandate.

What makes a term of reference effective?

• Does it clearly describe the purpose?
• Does it define the roles and accountabilities for everyone---members, administration, and support?
• Is it collaboratively developed with input and approved by the authority body?
• is it easy to read and understand?
• Is it fluid and does it evolve with the nature of the work and organization?
• Do you use a consistent template and process as the rest of the organization?

For me, the basic purpose of a committee is to determine, through a collective wisdom and research, the best solution to assist leadership in the decision-making process. There are many elements that will directly impact a committee’s ability to be successful.  Once you have the overall purpose and function of the committee, a key is the right membership and understanding of the purpose.

Have you thought about the different experiences and diversity that are needed to do the work of the committee and how the members will be recruited? Are the members on fixed terms or will there be opportunities to refresh the membership to offer a balance of experience and fresh perspective?

Have you provided roles and accountabilities for the committee and the members so that they can know what to expect?

What is the role of the chair, do you have a vice chair (co-chair) to help with responsibilities? Leadership is important, with a chair, having a back up, each position has a role to avoid the situation of ‘cracks in the sofa cushions,’ which could happen in situations where there are changes.

With a clear mandate and function, the committee should align itself with the overall strategic initiatives and follow a clear and transparent path. It’s not all about the terms of reference document, but it’s the start.

As you can see, the important details of developing strong, functional committees are like that of developing policies, having efficient and effective terms of reference can help set your committee and organization for success. Have you looked at the terms of reference lately? Is your steering committee steering?

Get to know new members of the Policy Matters team

ACUPA’s professional blog, Policy Matters, began as a quarterly newsletter in 2013 and transitioned to the blog format in 2018 to reflect changing methods of communication. Read on to learn more about new members of the Policy Matters editorial team in their own words.

Gina Kennedy

Governance Practitioner, Policy Wonk, disAbility Advocate, Good listener-Hear differently #cochlear bionic (ear) 2020 and gifted napper.

After 16 years in the university corporate governance sector, I want to “rumble with vulnerability,” so when I saw the call out to be a member of this committee, I thought this was an excellent way to start a longstanding desire on my endless list of ”must do”! I also asked myself, if I was new to the sector or to the board, where would I start? A blog is a great way to share knowledge, insight and try something new.

Rosalynn Feagins

Rosalynn Feagins from Texas here. Currently serving the University of Denver as assistant treasurer and formerly a banking professional. My first love is traveling, using unusual words and learning something new every day! I’m excited to share and add to my policy knowledge.

Dr. Lisa Biagas

I am the current Senior Vice President of Human Resources at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts (PAFA). A strategic and hands-on leader, I have proven experience developing and executing impactful people strategies and DEIB programs. I am a thought partner, a change agent, and a consensus builder.

On a personal note, I am grandmother to 6-year-old, Cassidy, and her dog, Taco. When not losing to Cassidy in a marathon game of Uno, I spend my Saturdays as an amateur landscape architect. I get great joy in planning the design, then toiling the soil and planting new trees and shrubs. When not in the yard, I can be found reading a mystery novel, specifically crime fiction and thrillers, and watching British detective TV shows.

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