April 1, 2015
April 2015 – Planning Retreat Agenda
Thursday, April 9, 2015
8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Cedarbrook Lodge, Brightwood Boardroom
CALL TO ORDER
PUBLIC COMMENT PERIOD
PLANNING RETREAT: Terrence MacTaggart, Facilitator; Senior Fellow, AGB Consulting
“The best boards work with their presidents to build and sustain great universities.”
Leading Change: How Boards and Presidents Build Exceptional Academic Institutions
(AGB Press, 2011)
Introduction
The goal of the University of Washington to “be the greatest public University in the world, as measured by our impact on students, our state and the world” is at once inspiring, ambitious, and fraught with both potential and challenge. The paths to this goal are summarized in the University’s Four Foundations and Four Pillars which lay out key strategies and measures of success. The external challenges are many. They include diminishing state support; the struggle to sustain affordability; worldwide competition for the best faculty, students and resources; and the impact of disruptive innovations in education. Internally, the University faces the tension between legacy practices and the demands for change. Already one of the world’s preeminent public research universities, becoming the greatest as defined in the Foundations and Pillars will require that the Board and President perform as a team with different roles but a common goal.
The purposes of this retreat are to enable the Board:
1. To discuss what it means to exercise high functioning governance for the University of Washington,
2. To discuss with the Interim President the current strategic and financial position of the University followed by her plans for her time in this position,
3. To discuss the wisest approach to attracting, hiring and orienting a new President who will move aggressively to continue the University’s upward trajectory.
Background Reading:
• “3 Models to Consider,” MacTaggart, AGB Trusteeship Magazine, March/April 2014
• “Making the Difference: Applying a Logic of Diversity,” Scott E. Page, Academy of Management
• “In Praise of the Incomplete Leader,” Ancona et al, Harvard Business Review, February, 2007
• “What Makes Great Boards Great,” Sonnenfeld, Harvard Business Review, September, 2002
• Washington Futures, 2013 Report
Morning Discussion
8:30 a.m. to noon
Question 1: What is high performing governance in the world of today and going forward?
• The facilitator briefly presents a model of change leadership which distinguishes adequate from better from truly superior boards and invites discussion.
Question 2: What are the most important strategic priorities for the Interim President to pursue and what is the Board’s role in shaping and supporting that work?
• Interim President Cauce will outline and discuss with the Board how she wishes to use her unique opportunity in this interim period to both address selected functional issues and to advocate for the University among its many publics.
• Paul Jenny, Senior Vice President for Planning and Management, will summarize the University’s mid-and long-term financial outlook and discuss the strategic options available to the Board; he will also present a status report on capital planning. View Planning & Management Presentation.
Question 3: What expectations of and commitments to each other will the Board and Interim President make in order to ensure that the University continues to improve?
• In roundtable fashion, each Regent will indicate what they need from their executive to support their mutually agreed upon initiatives; Regents will also indicate their commitment to this work of shared leadership.
• Interim President Cauce will share with the Board what she needs from them and indicate the nature of her commitment to the Board and her work for the University.
Lunch Buffet in Tamarack Hall
Noon to 1:00 p.m.
Afternoon Discussion
1:00 to 3:30 p.m.
Question 4: In light of the morning’s conversation, what are the key leadership characteristics required of the next President?
• Facilitator coordinates discussion of a “leadership profile” for the next President.
Question 5: What kind of search process—timing; sequencing; search committee composition and role; selection of search consultant; open meetings/records; compensation; final selection, etc.—does the University need to ensure the hiring of a highly effective President?
• Facilitator coordinates discussion of these and other elements of the search.
Wrap Up
3:30 to 4:00 p.m.
DATE FOR NEXT REGULAR MEETING: Thursday, May 14, 2015
ADJOURN