Governance
The process and roles below are designed to support collaborative and data-driven governance. This framework defines clear decision boundaries and requirements to ensure all campus and district stakeholders are effectively engaged.
Process Model for Decision-Making
Recommendations are evaluated, governed, and approved through the following process.
Develop Recommendations: Working Teams prepare recommendations and decision packages.
Assess Local Impacts: College President Cabinets and Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs) evaluate impacts at the campus level.
Conduct Enterprise Review: The Districtwide Leadership Team aligns cross-college interests and conducts a district-level/enterprise review.
Executive Check: The Chancellor's Cabinet serves as Executive Steering Committee responsible for strategic oversight, prioritization, financial stewardship, risk review, implementation readiness, and endorsement of recommendations.
Final Approval: The chancellor makes the final decision.
Decision Package Requirements
The elements below are required in each decision-making package.
Executive Summary: High-level overview of the proposal.
Problem Statement: The core issue or opportunity being addressed.
Current-State Assessment: The existing baseline situation.
Options Analysis: Evaluated alternatives and choices.
Stakeholder Feedback: Perspectives and inputs from key groups.
Organizational Impact Assessment: How this affects people, processes, and systems.
Financial Analysis: Budget, ROI, and cost breakdowns.
Governance & Decision Rights: Accountability and approval structures.
Risk Assessment: Potential risks and mitigation strategies.
Implementation Readiness: Timeline, resources, and phased deployment plans.
Success Measures: KPIs and metrics to track outcomes.
Decision Rights
To maintain organizational momentum and transparent oversight, decision-making authority and issue resolutions are distributed across four distinct institutional tiers:
Operational issues resolved at sponsor level
Cross-college issues resolved through Districtwide Leadership Team
Enterprise tradeoffs reviewed by Cabinet (CEC)
Strategic direction and major organizational decisions reserved for Chancellor
Key RACI Roles & Responsibilities
This framework clarifies institutional decision rights by defining who executes the work, who holds final authority, and who must be enegaged throughout the governance process.
Responsible (R)
Working Teams: responsible for data analysis and drafting decision package recommendations.
Accountable (A)
- Chancellor: Holds ultimate decision-making authority and final approal sign-off for all strategic packages.
- Executive Advisor: Facilitates compliance, workflow adherence, and integrity of overall governance process.
Consulted (C)
- College Cabinets/Executive Leadership Teams (ELTs): Provide institutional impact reviews and campus-specific feedback.
- Districtwide Leadership Team (DLT): Conducts cross-functional enterprise reviews to ensure system-wide alignment.
- Chancellor's Executive Cabinet (CEC): Evaluates portfolio prioritization and provides formal recommendations, prioritization and endorsements.
Informed (I)
- Seattle Colleges Community: kept updated on approved changes, project progress, and institutional impacts.
- Board of Trustees: Receive formal updates and final briefings on strategic outcomes and cabinet recommendations.