The nature of board responsibilities often makes their activities seem obscure to those involved in day-to-day operation of an institution. Boards scan the external environment, shape the vision for the future, initiate strategic planning, interface with external stakeholders, make recommendations for resource allocation to attain important goals, and supervise the chief administrator. The same commitment to lifelong learning that underlies faculty development also applies to members of governing boards.
Board Authority and Responsibilities
Boards of trustees, directors or regents have the legal authority and responsibility for oversight of post-secondary educational institutions. Unlike corporate boards, whose goals are primarily objective, educational boards need to consider both objective and subjective elements (SHEEO, 2005). Corporate boards act to ensure a profit for the stockholders while complying with laws pertaining to business operations and fiscal practices. Educational boards also ensure statutory compliance related to finance, personnel and workplace health and safety. However, they also need to ensure that the institution is effective at facilitating transformational learning and promoting mutually beneficial community/institution relations. This second set of goals is challenging to define and monitor. Achievement of these goals requires an understanding of the dynamics of organizational change (1.3.8 Successful Institutional Change—The Human Dimension).
Leadership of Learning Organizations
A variety of authors offer guidance and materials to help boards perform their work. Peter Senge, lays the foundation by describing the competencies required of all parties in a learning organization. These competencies include systems thinking (thinking beyond one’s personal responsibilities to understand how one’s work fits within the entirety of the organization), personal mastery (optimal performance within one’s defined role), mental models (a shared understanding of how work is accomplished), shared vision (providing a destination understood by all), and team learning (learning within cohorts for shared growth in functioning).
Stephen Covey outlined four key leadership roles for effective organizations. He identifies path finding (shared vision) as the first role. The second role is that of aligning the systems and work to be done (systems thinking and shared models). The third role is empowerment of all persons within an organization that reflects the appreciation of teams and team learning identified by Senge. The final role is that of modeling, or showing personal mastery of those things that are espoused. Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and Principle-Centered Leadership offer many recommendations for effective board communication and staying focused on the future of the institution and the realization of its mission and vision.
John Carver’s book, Boards that Make a Difference, has been widely used as a reference for board effectiveness. His governance model suggests that the board has only a few fundamental tasks: to hire and monitor the CEO, to determine its own operations, and to monitor institutional effectiveness and progress on the strategic plan. Anything outside of these is a management activity that is not the purview of the board per se.
Terry O’Banion helped boards and organizations recognize the need to make learning central to the vision, mission and operations of educational institutions in his book A Learning College for the 21st Century. He challenges all decisions to be measured against two questions. “How does this decision increase learning? How will we know?” He believes that every issue, whether CEO performance, facility use, or student fee increases should be considered in this light. As summarized in 1.1.4 Learning Colleges, the League for Innovation has offered significant leadership in fostering the movement of community colleges and community college boards toward becoming learning colleges.
Actions that Promote High Performance
The following four roles emerge from the thinking of the four authors examined above.
Establish Vision and Purpose (Path Finding). The external perspective of governing boards makes their actions extremely valuable in clarifying the future goal state of the institution in relation to its current state. It is essential to recruit and retain a CEO who can promote this vision. The following tasks support this role:
Using substantial community input, create and update the vision, mission, values and strategic plan
Define expectations for high quality educational programs
Set parameters to attract, retain, and develop high quality personnel
Engage in continuing education to be aware of changing trends and other factors that will affect the functioning of the college in the future
Align Policies and Systems to Monitor Institutional Performance. Governing boards are also expected to assure that the community and institutional input is comprehensive, authentic, and efficient. The strategic plan is a key vehicle through which the board may communicate with faculty as they respond to the expectations described in 1.2.3 New Faculty Roles for Institutional Effectiveness. The following tasks support this role:
Validate critical factors in measuring learning within the institution based on their relevance outside of academia
Ensure that core values are respected in the campus culture
Make decisions that enhance fiscal stability
Monitor activities that are intended to implement the strategic plan
Empower Staff Members. In order to achieve an institutional culture that nurtures prudent and synergistic decision making, everyone must have some understanding of board roles and responsibilities. If board members have a core role as learners and leaders, then staff members have a core role as mentors to the board. The following tasks support this role:
Select, retain, empower, and monitor the CEO
Define explicit expectations and constraints surrounding institutional outcomes
Support the CEO and his or her leadership team in creating an environment for success
Attend college functions and events within the community
Be thoughtful and positive in communication with staff in all venues, i.e., writing, formal speeches, or casual conversation
Exercise Self-Governance. Having the necessary under-standing and skill to do board work requires that board members model cooperative learning and collective decision making. Boards do not and cannot manage day to day operations of the institution. They need to stay focused on strategic issues within the control of the institution, but also stay connected with community and global needs. The following tasks support this role:
Understand and support the statutory requirements for the institution as well as rules of conduct by board members
Speak with one voice, supporting decisions once they are made, and recognizing that power lies with the board as a whole, not with individual board members
Establish annual goals for the board and publicly share them as well as the results
Model being engaged learners about college programs and services
Present a positive and optimistic presence when representing the college
Have courage to make decisions that will not be popular with current students, faculty, and staff, being secure in the knowledge that some choices must be made for a better future
Concluding Thoughts
It is a common saying that “colleges are like big ships, and ships take a lot of room and time to change direction.” This homily is trotted out to warn new board members that they will have to be patient. The real truth is that in times of stress and crisis, colleges are capable of extraordinary change. For example, during WWII many technical schools transformed themselves from the usual school day, usual school year, and usual student profile into 24/7 organizations committed to teaching women how to become machinists. Being prepared to bring about institutional and personal change of this magnitude requires that all members of a learning community commit not only to their own development but to that of other members, including governing boards.
References
Carver, J. (1990). Boards that make a difference: New design for leadership in nonprofit and public organizations. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Covey, S. R. (2004). The seven habits of highly effective people: Powerful lessons in personal change. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Covey, S. R. (1992). Principle-centered leadership. Tampa, FL: Free Press.
O’Banion, T. (1997). A learning college for the 21st century. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.
O’Banion, T. (1997). Creating more learning-centered community colleges. Phoenix, AZ: League for Innovation in the Community College.
Senge, P. M. (1994). The fifth discipline: The art and practice of the learning organization. New York: Bantam Doubleday Dell.
State Higher Education Executive Officers. (2005). Accountability for better results: A national imperative for higher education. Washington, DC: National Commission on Accountability in Higher Education.