Shared Governance

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Shared Governance In Action CLCs AQIP Project
in Review
Dr. DeRionne Pollard Vice President for
Educational Affairs Ms. Ali OBrien Assistant
Director for Operations
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Objectives of Presentation
Share best practices and outcomes of CLCs recent
AQIP project with the intention that replicable
components will surface for other institutions to
apply.

• Overview of Governance Project
• The Process
• Recommendations and Outcomes
• Implementation and Long Term Sustainability

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Overview of Governance Project
A team of faculty and staff reviewed the
colleges governing systems and made
recommendations for improvements. The team
conducted focus groups with staff to assess
levels of satisfaction with the current system
and elicit suggestions for improvements. Feedback
was used to make recommendations for improvements
to CLCs governance processes and systems.

• Institutional Context
• The Team
• The Timeline

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Institutional Context

• New Leadership
• Transitional Crisis
• Current Structure
• 4 employee groups
• 1 student group
• 4 commissions
• ???? committees

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The Team
Co-chairs DeRionne Pollard, Vice President for
Ed Affairs Bob Kerr, Economics Faculty member
Faculty Senate Chair Coordinator Ali OBrien,
Asst. Director for Ed Affairs Operations

• Administrative Council Representative
• Classified Senate Chair
• Classified Senate Representative
• Faculty Senate Representatives (3)
• Specialist Senate Chair
• Specialist Senate Representative
• Student Government Assoc. Vice President

BEST PRACTICE Configure a small working team that
represents all areas of governance and employees.
Empower team members to represent their
constituents.
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The Timeline
Start Date October 2006 End Date May
2007 Implementation August 2007 May 2008
BEST PRACTICE Keep the project timeline to one
year or under to demonstrate progress and provide
the institution with a sense of accomplishment.
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The Process
The team reviewed the existing model of
governance through the governance system handbook
and governance organizational structure. Methods
to include the entire college community in the
process were extremely valuable.

• Communication with College
• Challenges

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Communication with College

• Conducted survey through employee groups
• Shared survey results in multiple venues
• Held town hall meetings
• Confirmed governance representatives were
  sharing project information with their
  constituents

BEST PRACTICE Maintain transparency throughout
the entire project by ensuring multiple methods
of communication are used.
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Challenges

• Part Time Faculty representation
• Benchmarking exercise not conducted
• Trust throughout the institution

BEST PRACTICE Acknowledge components that
present a challenge, but do not allow them to
derail the project. Find another avenue in the
institution for these difficult conversations to
take place.
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Recommendations and Outcomes
As a result of reviewing the survey results and
an analysis of the way issues process through the
system, revisions to the following components
were recommended.

• Organizational Structure
• Governance Handbook
• Charter Templates

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Organizational Structure

• 1 Governance Coordinating Council (GCC)
• 5 Employee/Student Senates or Councils
• 6 Commissions (w/advisory members)
• 21 Committees

BEST PRACTICE Be sensitive to the allocation of
faculty representatives required for each
commission/committee as smaller divisions will
have more difficulty in finding volunteers as the
commitments increase.
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Governance Handbook

• Emphasized responsibilities of active
  participation
• Clarified workflow for processing issues
  through the system
• Outlined how groups handle issues information,
  discussion, or action
• GCC changes open forum, ability to refer items
  back to originating body

BEST PRACTICE Make the handbook a living
document by sharing it with new governance
participants and revisiting it every academic
year as groups reconvene.
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Charter Templates
Core charter components were recommended to
ensure consistency and address several of the
communication issues raised by the college
community.

• Purpose statement
• Membership Parameters
• Duration of Governance Group
• Meetings
• Recommendations
• Committee Structure (applicable to commissions)

BEST PRACTICE Templates allow all participants
to know where to look for specific information
and become more comfortable participating in the
governance system.
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Implementation and Long Term Sustainability
As with any continuous improvement project, the
recommendations can not simply be implemented,
but need to be embedded in the institution for
long term sustainability.

• Communication and Document Maintenance
• Guiding Principles

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Communication and Document Maintenance

• Intranet Site
• Membership Lists
• Agendas
• Minutes
• Project Matrix

BEST PRACTICE Work the oversight of governance
documents and communications into a position to
demonstrate the importance it holds to the
institution.
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Guiding Principles

• Embrace the Governance Handbook and the spirit
  it conveys with regard to shared governance.
• Participation is what allows shared governance
  to function effectively. It is important for the
  executive level administration to convey this
  from the top down.

BEST PRACTICE Maintain separation between union
issues and governance issues.
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Thank you for your interest!
Dr. DeRionne Pollard Vice President for
Educational Affairs dpollard_at_clcillinois.edu Ms.
Ali OBrien Assistant Director for
Operations aobrien_at_clcillinois.edu