The Committee Structure | 045 | Reimagined
Strengthening participatory governance.
Have you ever left a committee meeting and think to yourself, “That was the biggest waste of time”? Yet, participatory governance is operationalized primarily through an institution of higher education’s committee structure.
We experience the negative aspects of the committee structure all the time.
Duplication
Redundancy
Unclear information flow
Unclear purpose
Unclear what committee is representational, operational, or both
Meetings that produce motion but not progress
Using a case study from one of my many projects, let’s learn how this campus reimagined their committee structure.1 This institution believed it had a well-organized committee structure. On paper and screen, it looked logical. There was a council at the center. Reporting lines were clean.
But when the college mapped its actual reporting relationships based on committee inventory data, the visual told a different story.
The First Step Is Courage
Before redesigning anything, a campus must admit something difficult: The current structure is not producing the results we expect. That doesn’t mean the people are broken. It means the structure may be.
Participatory governance was designed to be inclusive and deliberative. But when the workflow becomes convoluted, even the most passionate professionals lose clarity. When clarity is lost, energy gets dissipated.
Every new project, initiative, priority, etc., needs to start with a purpose statement. Here’s this college’s impactful statement.
We recognize that over the last few years, we have been working in a heightened state of transition, uncertainty, and instability and have often created structures in a reactive manner. Redesigning our governance structure is intended to enable us as a campus to re-ground ourselves in our values and priorities of inclusion, equity, and social justice. The magnitude of our passion should be reflected in the results we are achieving, and our outcomes should be commensurate with the amount of intellectual and emotional energy that we commit to our collective work.
The goal for this redesign is to give us the direction, support, and structure that will enable us to put our energies where they will produce the most value and impact for students. Clearer and more efficient processes and structures will improve communication and allow for productive engagement and participation from all constituent groups. This redesign will enable the campus community to engage in the intentional work and sound practices that are vital to serve our students.
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The Exercise That Changed the Conversation
At this campus, I asked a simple question:
“If you needed to move a policy through the committee structure, how would you do it?”
We turned it into an activity. Participants had to physically map how to get a “bill passed” through the existing governance system. Thirty-plus people from all levels of the institution participated.
Only one person figured it out.
That wasn’t a failure. It was a revelation. Without saying a word, the system revealed itself. And once the problem was visible, the defensiveness faded. People began to talk about solutions organically.
That’s the power of structured discovery.
This activity is what led to their powerful purpose statement.
Discover Before You Develop
One of the most important lessons in organizational change is this: College educators have a tendency to jump to thinking about implementation too quickly. When they do this they already start to think about all of the obstacles to change without taking quality time to think what might be possible.
When I work with institutional teams, I tend to use some sort of process. In this case study, I emphasized this cycle:
Discover → Develop → Implement → Evaluate → Communicate/Report2
The Discover phase is sacred. It is where imagination is allowed. It is where people are invited to ask: What might be possible if we weren’t constrained by yesterday’s structure?
Too often, educators shut down bold ideas prematurely because they are already thinking about implementation barriers. Implementation thinking belongs in the Develop phase.
Discovery requires courage and creativity.
Creative Redesign
In this particular redesign effort, the team proposed organizing governance around thematic “houses” centered on College Council:
The Student Journey
Planning
Curriculum
Professional Development
Funding
College Climate
I am not suggesting this is the model others should replicate. The model is less important than the mindset. The goal was not aesthetic improvement. It was alignment and clarity.
Structure Alone Is Not Enough
Here is the part most colleges miss: Even a lean structure can become dysfunctional.
If meetings lack purpose…
If committees lack a shared framework…
If information does not flow clearly…
If decisions are not tied to student-centered outcomes…
Then a prettier org chart changes nothing. Structure is necessary. But process is decisive.
Committees must operate within a common language and shared understanding of what they are trying to accomplish for students. Otherwise, governance becomes performative rather than productive.
When this college redesigned the structure, I trained most of the committee chairs on basic project management and guidelines for effective team meetings. Importantly, we had better clarity of which committees were representational, operational, or both. From there, it’s all about continuous improvement as the institution proceeds with the rest of the process cycle.
The Real Question
When college educators tell me they are tired, overwhelmed, or stuck, I tend to ask: Where is your energy going? Does your structure help or hinder the work?
The magnitude of our passion should be reflected in the results we achieve. If outcomes are not commensurate with effort, it is not because educators lack commitment. It may be because the system is absorbing their energy.
Working smarter is not about doing less. It is about designing structures that allow effort to convert into impact. That takes courage.
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Onward…
Dr. Al Solano
Founder, Continuous Learning Institute | About
Host, Student Success Podcast
A meaningful test of success is how helpful we are in contributing to our fellow human being’s happiness.
Adapted from Reimagining the Committee Structure, Continuous Learning Institute.
Integrated Planning Model, Continuous Learning Institute.
This hits home. So often are we appointed to committees and the first meeting is just blank stares as everyone questions, "What are we even doing here?" And year after year, the same status quo remains intake despite a change in personnel. Thanks for sharing.