Time as institutional asset: frustrated with the snail's pace of business process on campus? This month's contributor borrows from a campus VP's good ideas—and comes up with some of his own - Controversy

University Business, Feb, 2004 by Eric Sickler

"THE WHEELS OF THE ACADEMY SPIN VERY SLOWLY." YOU'VE HEARD it, you've thought it, you may have cursed it, and you've probably said it out loud more than a few times during the course of your higher ed career.

During a thought-provoking presentation by Southern Oregon University's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Earl Potter at the recent AACRAO SEM Conference in Boston, it occurred to me that the time has come for us to challenge this commonly accepted, age-old, higher ed idiosyncrasy. Faced with double-digit budget cuts and high-stakes competition, most of the institutions that comprise The Academy can no longer afford to allow some of their process wheels to spin as slowly as we've allowed them to spin over the years.

"We need to make some decisions at the speed of business," Potter suggested. I couldn't agree more. While I recognized (and usually just chuckled about) "task forcing" and "committeeing" programs and projects to death during my administrative tenure, the many real costs of protracted decision-making processes became crystal clear after just a few weeks in the corporate ranks. Time really is money when it comes to striking a blow for establishing a competitive advantage. The need to demonstrate your school's distinctiveness has never been more essential, and at the same time, schools simply must identify as many opportunities as possible to maximize efficiencies in the face of present economic realities.

So, how might campus leaders attempt a cultural shift from traditional lethargic decision-making to making decisions at the speed of business? With thanks to Dr. Potter (and apologies for taking some editorial Liberties) here are a handful of suggestions:

Recognize that the quality of some outputs/decisions/programs may be compromised if their processes are accelerated. However, identify and challenge those facets of your institution's operation that are crawling at a snail's pace for no good reason.

Support the best ideas immediately. Reward those who think fast and smart. Doing so may encourage your turtles to pick up the pace.

Celebrate successful efficiency. Place innovators and their innovations in the spotlight on your campus, and never neglect to highlight unusually timely performance.

Collect data and put it immediately to work. Shelved research is the product of a foolhardy investment.

Nurture members of your campus community to resist the temptation to immediately address a challenge with a tactic. Demand a thoughtful strategic analysis before you entertain a tactical solution.

Respect the sanctity of consensus, but understand the difference between unanimity and functional consensus. The former can be a big black time hole; the latter will facilitate forward motion.

Identify leading-edge technologies at work on your campus and introduce them to the rest of the campus to accelerate the return on your technology investments. For example, Dr. Potter suggests that GIS (geographic information systems) technology in your geography department could also be an integral component in your political science area, and in your university marketing programming. Likewise, theater departments' design courses can benefit from CAD-CAM (computer aided design and manufacturing) technology at work in your engineering program.

Don't be a slave to hierarchy. Create a working environment that encourages members of your campus community to be interested in and informed on issues and duties beyond those Listed in their position descriptions. Only then can talented "underlings" enjoy having a positive impact on shaping the future of their institutions.

Is this pie-in-the-sky stuff?. Hardly. But it takes a confident administrative team to challenge the sacred status qua of a slow-moving decision-making train. In the spirit of turning lemons into lemonade, use prevailing economic challenges to bolster your own confidence--and do it quickly. There's no time to lose.