Beyond Authority: Rethinking Shared IT Governance and Stewardship
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Chapter 1
Imported Transcript
Timothy Chester
Recently, I've been thinking about two CIOs I deeply admired. Both had success in their penultimate roles, yet both found their final stops ending in frustration. It was not a lack of skill; it was a collision of cultures.
Timothy Chester
One came from a culture of decisiveness. He moved to an institution defined by total shared governance, where executive authority dissolved into dozens of committees. He spent his days negotiating for permission to do his job competently. The other believed in consensus, but she moved to a place that hired executives to decide. When she tried to implement a system of overlapping committees to share the burden of leadership, the institution stalled. No one wanted the vote; they wanted a decision. Both ended their careers disappointed.
Timothy Chester
In today's Dispatch, we want to take on the topic of shared IT governance. Regardless of institutional culture, these systems tend to fail when they focus on authority. To collectively protect our students and institutions, we must move beyond control and start talking about stewardship.