Three Sources of Power

IDSL 825 The New Leader

Reputation: Our campus, like many others, relies on their reputation to
assist in their operations. Without a strong reputation, our institution would
lack the support of the community and stakeholders. Our institution is
competing globally, particularly with for-profit and online institutions.
Reputation alone can negatively impact our success. While we can
successfully serve many stakeholders for years, which is ultimately
supported by their success and quality, it takes just one negative incident to
lose our reputation. Our campus is currently in great standing within the
community and the students, but we must always be aware that our track
record could be subject to scrutiny at any time if we are not diligently
working to maintain it. When students choose an institution today, it seems
to be based on reputation and value. We will always have a great value, but
maintaining our reputation could be the best investment we make as an
institution.
Alliances and Networks: Our campus is currently reconstructing our
committees and closely analyzing which of them truly serve the campus, as
well as which committees are not operating in the spirit of advancement. It
appears many committees are not achieving results due to differences in
philosophies, personalities, and also a lack of leadership. The networking
component of the members is lacking and needs rebuilt. We have now
looked at greatly reducing the size of a committee to encourage
cohesiveness. Working in ineffective groups within committees has greatly
reduced productivity on our campus and stalled the advancement of
initiatives that were once thought of as innovative and inspiring. Reinventing
these committees by constructing a strong and diversified team with a new
charge will promote advancement again. Time must be dedicated to these
critical networks.
Access and Control of Agendas: Informing others of decisions or action
items improves relations with stakeholders within the campus. Gaining
access to that information has been difficult for many on our campus. Have
a strong sense of transparency not only instills confidence from the
community, but it also reinforces that our campus values their input. Our
campus could greatly improve upon this by making more information
accessible to the general public and providing much of it on our website. We
are currently working on this initiative and believe strongly in the model of

shared governance. On a smaller scale, in an effort to restore our committee

work, as discussed above, we plan to share much more information about
their success and productivity. Disclosing this information not only informs
others, but it promotes the work and efforts they are dedicated to.