POLICY PROTOCOL
Many institutions have developed a policy on policies—a framework to ensure that every policy clearly indicates what it does, the process for review and adoption, who can change it, and who must follow it. (See an example, the 2017 policy framework for Northeastern University in Boston, at UBmag.me/northeastern.)
poli-cy \pä-lo-sē\ n, pl -cies 1. An essential component of a successful policy management effort is to define what rises to the level of a policy. This varies from institution to institution, but from the outset, consider what everyone needs to follow based on law or administrative regulation. A true policy tends to have broad implications across campus. Internal standards, procedures, instructional documents and job aids used by individual departments or across campus don't generally meet the policy criteria.
Policy process tends to be siloed, as institutions are by nature. To address this, some colleges establish a policy management office, department or team to serve as the backbone of the effort. Most often, this isn't a body responsible for writing or approving policies, but rather one that includes liaisons from various departments who can provide expertise, give feedback, encourage action and spread the word across campus about the effort.
While some team members at Emory University were self-selected, others were assigned by department heads, says Sara Dicker, senior associate for BPI. "People were excited and grateful to have a process that would get us to a cleaner place," she says. "They recognized it would be a lot of work, but everyone was willing to do that work to get a better result."
Members of the James Madison University policy committee have reported
An institution's leadership team plays an important role in elevating the need for campuswide policy management. To determine whether a policy management effort is right for your college or university, consider the following questions.
Is it easy for administrators, faculty, students and other stakeholders to quickly find a policy? ☐YES ☐NO
Does someone have responsibility for periodic policy reviews and updates? ☐YES ☐NO
Are your policies standardized, and does everyone have a general understanding of their purpose and who needs to follow them? ☐YES ☐NO
Have you conducted a robust, institutionwide policy review in the past few years? ☐YES ☐NO
Have there been recent campuswide changes to regulations, mission direction and research expectations, or changes in law? ☐YES ☐NO
Reflection: If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, you're already on your way to getting the right policy management structure in place. If you answered "no," your leadership team should start talking about
how a policy management effort can support the institution.
that the work is interesting, meaningful and important, says Rick Larson, assistant vice president for HR, training and performance at the Virginia institution.
Jennifer DeNeal, associate director of The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's Office of Ethics Education and Policy Management, says that UNC has continued to struggle with a balance between the right people and the necessary people. There, and at many other schools, deans, vice chancellors or designees are required to sign off on policy changes. However, they may not be policy subject-matter experts and tend to be busy, so documents can sit for a long time awaiting approval—an issue that is still being worked through.
As with other committees, policy management teams have members whose core roles tend to include pressing deadlines. Campus officials should discuss with campus stakeholders the necessity of the policy management effort to help ensure managers and department heads understand how they can benefit from a more organized system and why they should allow their staffers time to complete policy management tasks. Setting a deadline for measurable progress can help.
At the University of California, Davis, leaders recently implemented a technology-based policy management system to complement an existing policy management effort. Policy Coordinator Maria Eynon says success depends on top leadership; vice chancellors at UC Davis are “taking ownership and seeing the importance of policy and advocating for it.”