Category Five addresses how the leadership and communication structures, networks, and processes guide the organization in setting directions, making decisions, seeking future opportunities, and building and sustaining a learning environment. It examines processes and systems related to:

Leading activities
Communicating activities
Alignment of leadership system practices
Institutional values and expectations
Direction setting
Future opportunity seeking
Decision making
Use of data
Leadership development and sharing
Succession planning
Measures
Analysis of results
Improvement efforts

Answer the following questions about Category Five.

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Context for Analysis (C)

5C1
Describe your leadership and communication systems. (A brief chart or summary of groups, committees, or teams and their functions may be useful.)

Your leadership system includes not only individuals who have day-to-day supervisory or decision-making responsibility, but also leadership groups within the organization and oversight entities such as institutional or state boards or trustees.

5C2
In what ways do you ensure that the practices of your leadership system—at all institutional levels—align with the practices and views of your board, senior leaders, and (if applicable) oversight entities?

5C3
What are your institutional values and expectations regarding ethics and equity, social responsibilities, and community service and involvement?

Specific community service and involvement activities may be addressed in Category Two, Accomplishing Other Distinctive Objectives. For purposes of Category Five, address the overall values and expectations set forth by leaders.

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Processes (P)

5P1
How do your leaders set directions in alignment with your mission, vision, and values that are conducive to high performance, individual development and initiative, organizational learning, and innovation? How do these directions take into account the needs and expectations of students and key stakeholder groups and create a strong focus on students and learning?

5P2
How do your leaders guide your institution in seeking future opportunities and building and sustaining a learning environment?

5P3
How are decisions made in your institution? How do you use teams, task forces, groups, or committees to recommend or make decisions and to carry them out?

Describe how decisions are actually made and implemented, even if this differs from your theoretical or procedural governance guidelines.

5P4
How do your leaders use information and results in their decision-making process?

By specific group, describe the key results reviewed and indicate the frequency. Key results are those results, from all organizational areas, that are critical to understanding whether the organization is succeeding—the kind of results described in the nine AQIP Categories.

5P5
How does communication occur between and among institutional levels?

Address downward, upward, and two-way communication, as well as how leaders and leadership groups communicate with one another.

5P6
How do your leaders communicate a shared mission, vision, values, and high performance expectations regarding institutional directions and opportunities, learning, continuous improvement, ethics and equity, social responsibilities, and community service and involvement?

5P7
How are leadership abilities encouraged, developed, and strengthened among faculty, staff, and administrators? How are leadership best practices, knowledge, and skills communicated and shared throughout your institution?

5P8
How do your leaders and board members ensure that your mission, vision, and values are passed on during leadership succession? How is your leadership succession plan developed?

Describe your leadership succession plan.

5P9
What measures of leading and communicating do you collect and analyze regularly?

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Results (R)

5R1
What are your results for leading and communicating processes and systems?

Results might include, for example, leadership effectiveness, satisfaction with leadership, leadership communication effectiveness, and value of decisions made.

5R2
Regarding 5R1, how do your results compare with the results of other higher education institutions and, if appropriate, organizations outside the education community?

For 5R1 and 5R2, address historical trends and patterns, as appropriate.

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Improvement (I)

5I1
How do you improve your current processes and systems for leading and communicating?

Address how you use student, faculty, staff, administrator, and key stakeholder feedback, as appropriate.

5I2
With regard to your current results for leading and communicating, how do you set targets for improvement? What specific improvement priorities are you targeting, and how will these be addressed? How do you communicate your current results and improvement priorities to students, faculty, staff, administrators, and appropriate stakeholders?