Community | Diversity | Equality | Accountability | Success for Students | Suggestions
Accountability was a frequently mentioned topic of concern among interviewees. The challenge of living up to a vision as ambitious as the Campus Compact has been translating the words into concrete action that individuals and the organization can be measured against. Concerns were expressed about the ambiguity of the language involved in the Compact which makes it challenging for all individuals within the division to commit to the ideals to the same extent.
"This is what I hold people accountable to and this is what I hold myself accountable to. It gives us accountability in how to operate and when we are not doing that we can acknowledge that we aren't. Sometimes people get afraid of having to look at themselves and to see how they have acted in the pass. If people aren't living up to it, it is difficult recognize those faults."
"The initiative stage was meant to realize things into action. I felt that there was whole lot of talk going on there and very little resulting action. It is important to hear voices and come up with ideas, but a stake in the ground actually has to be placed so that we can move into the reality of it. The leadership provided wonderful opportunities to voice opinions, but at some point the end of the school year comes and all we have done is talk... I think one of the great downsides of the initiative process is that it seems to based solely on volunteers who are coming to these meetings in addition to their work. While volunteerism is a necessary action, where is the accountability? Where do you have the ongoing sustenance of the program? Somewhere these things need to be attached to position descriptions, from the initiative standpoint, where the idea is now being realized. I think that the values need to written into the philosophical component of the position description."
"People need to be held accountable on all different levels to the extent that people are sat down and evaluated on these principles. If we truly feel that this is a vision and ideal we need to help people to get to that. People need feedback. For example, in the case of all of the department heads, people under them should be able to give them a score on where they are in achieving vision. People need to be able to give feedback . That way people can learn what behaviors they need to work on to achieve the vision. Without feedback, it cannot become the living document that it needs to be."
"Most people strive to meet the standards of the Compact, but in every organization there are always some people that are not invested. Some don't care, but if you get them on board there going to go for it."
