Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs Steven Lerman joined a PAF weekly meeting in mid-October to lead a case study on decision-making quality. The Provost distributed a case study to the PAFs before the meeting, and each Fellow was assigned a role to speak on behalf of a specific stakeholder group such as Alumni, External Relations, General Counsel, Faculty, Student Affairs, and Parents. During the meeting, the Fellows discussed the case study with Provost Lerman, identifying challenges with developing and instituting a new sexual harassment and violence policy. The Provost took the time to explain skills needed to effectively work with all stakeholder groups, touching upon many of the professional competencies the cohort learns over the year. The PAF cohort engaged in a debrief session after the case study, and is looking to engage more senior level leaders during a meeting in early December.
Overall, the exercise taught me that it is crucial to understand the multiple perspectives and interests that come into play when making decisions. At the onset, a decision may not appear to affect such a wide range of stakeholders. I learned it is necessary to think creatively in order to appropriately evaluate all the possible repercussions of a policy. Taking the time during the decision-making process to think about the policy's short-term and long-term affects on each stakeholder allows us to make changes to the policy before issues arise. The case study with Provost Lerman was a perfect exercise on how to think creatively and view an issue through multiple lenses.