One institutional priority. Six different agendas.
Published 19 days ago • 2 min read
Hi, Reader,
Remember playing telephone as a kid? One person whispers a message into someone's ear.
By the time it reaches the end of the circle, "The cat is sleeping on the porch" has somehow become "The astronaut ate a grilled cheese sandwich."
Sometimes I think colleges and universities play a remarkably sophisticated version of the same game.
Only instead of playground gossip, the message sounds something like this: "We need to improve career outcomes."
It's a clear institutional priority. Everyone agrees it's important. But then the message starts traveling across campus.
Enrollment says, "We should feature employment outcomes more prominently in recruitment."
Academic Affairs says, "Departments should do more to prepare students for life after graduation."
A Department Chair says, “The career course the Career Center runs? That’s a good idea. We’ll do it in our department.”
Career Center says, "We need to expand employer partnerships and increase internship participation."
Advancement starts thinking about alumni mentoring and networking.
Student Affairs wonders how the residential experience can better support career development.
None of these responses are wrong.
In fact, they're exactly what you'd hope talented people would do. Each group is applying its own expertise to an important institutional priority.
The challenge is that every office is hearing the same message through a different lens.
Everyone is moving. Are we moving together?
One of the most interesting things I've observed over the past few years is that fragmentation rarely begins with disagreement. It begins with good intentions.
People get to work. Committees are formed. New initiatives emerge. Existing programs expand. Progress is made within individual areas.
But over time, something subtle happens. The institution accumulates activity faster than it builds alignment.
From the perspective of each office, meaningful progress is happening. But, from the perspective of students, employers, and executive leaders, the experience can still feel fragmented.
That's because collaboration alone isn't the same thing as coordination.
A different question
When campuses talk about improving career outcomes, the conversation often starts with questions like:
"What should we build?"
"What program should we launch?"
"What initiative should we expand?"
Those are important questions, but there's another one that deserves equal attention.
🎯How do all of these efforts fit together into one institutional strategy?
That's a much harder question to answer, and it's becoming more important as expectations around career outcomes, workforce alignment, experiential learning, and student success continue to accelerate.
Your action this week 🎯
The next time career preparation comes up in a meeting, pay attention to the conversation.
Notice how different groups interpret the same institutional priority.
Then ask one simple question:
"How does this connect to everything else we're already doing?"
Sometimes that single question changes the conversation from launching another initiative to building a stronger institution.
Coming up...
This idea is at the heart of our next free webinar:
When Institutional Systems Can't Keep Pace: Governance, Coordination, and Execution Challenges in a Changing Higher Education Landscape
We'll explore why so many institutions find themselves juggling fragmented initiatives, unclear ownership, and execution fatigue—and what the institutions making the greatest progress are doing differently.
If you've ever walked out of a meeting thinking, "We all agreed... so why are we still struggling to move this forward?" I think you'll find the conversation worthwhile.
