Strategic Governance 89
- Is a strategy process a familiar method of campus decision making?
- Will the role of the SPC be consistent with the formal policies, rules, and
documents that define the system of shared governance? - Will the SPC create another layer of authority in a system that may already be
too complex? - Does the proposed SPC help to integrate the institution’s fragmented systems of
decision making and serve as a vehicle for collaborative leadership? - Have the appropriate groups had, or will they have, a chance to express their
views and influence the provisions of the report before it is acted on by the
governing board? - Are its membership and other operating assumptions and responsibilities
appropriate? - Can the SPC effectively guide a complex process to completion in a reasonable
period of time? - Will the institution be able to implement the goals that the strategy process
establishes? - Will the organization be able to create a continuous loop of quality improvement
by linking assessment to the development and implementation of strategy?
There is a series of other questions and issues about the effectiveness of an SPC
that go beyond the formal issues of governance and authority. From a cultural
perspective, an SPC needs to serve as a vehicle to bring talented people with
good ideas from across campus into productive relationships with one another in
teams, subcommittees, and study groups. One dimension of strategic leadership
is for those with authority to bring those who have innovative and promising
ideas into fruitful relationships with one another. Good leaders are followers of
good ideas. A central role of an SPC is to draw upon, encourage, and strategically
connect the best educational and administrative practices that are emerging in
different parts of the organization.
Analysis of the Flagship Case
As we take our leave of Flagship, we are left with a number of impressions
and conclusions. The work of strategy ultimately can be effectively translated
into the methods of leadership and the governance processes of institutions
of higher learning. When this occurs, it can make a decisive contribution
to collaborative and integrative leadership. An SPC, regardless of what it is
called, offers a critical point of reference to achieve effective strategic lead-
ership. Although the proposed model will not fit every circumstance, the
burden shifts to those who would not choose to pursue its possibilities. At the
very least, the question that must be answered is, if it is not to be a strategy
council, then what should it be? When this question has been answered and
the debates have ended, the focus shifts to decisions that reside in the author-
ity of the governing board.