The Strategic Plan to Simplify Strategic Plans (Phase 9 of 12)

Office of Strategic Coherence, Strategic Alignment, and Future-Facing Simplification

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Executive Summary

The University recognises that strategic planning is essential to institutional success.

However, recent feedback indicates that the increasing number, complexity, and interrelationship of strategic plans may create challenges for staff seeking to understand strategic direction.

In response, the University has launched an ambitious new initiative:

The Strategic Plan to Simplify Strategic Plans (SPSP)

This initiative will reduce unnecessary strategic complexity by introducing a clear, streamlined strategic framework consisting of fewer, more focused strategic documents.

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1. Background

The current strategic environment includes:

• The University Strategic Plan

• The Faculty Strategic Plans

• The School Strategic Plans

• The Research Strategy

• The Education Strategy

• The Student Experience Strategy

• The Digital Transformation Strategy

• The Sustainability Strategy

• The Equity and Inclusion Strategy

• The People and Culture Strategy

• The Strategic Enablers Framework

• The Strategic Implementation Roadmap

• The Strategic Roadmap Implementation Alignment Plan

A recent review found that staff were experiencing difficulty understanding how these documents relate to one another.

The solution is therefore clear:

A new strategic document explaining the relationship between existing strategic documents.

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2. The Simplification Framework

The SPSP will introduce a hierarchy of strategic clarity.

Level 1: Strategic Direction

A high-level statement explaining where the University intends to go.

Example:

"Towards a future of transformative excellence through connected innovation."

---

Level 2: Strategic Priorities

A list of things the University considers important.

Examples:

• Excellence

• Impact

• Innovation

• Collaboration

• Transformation

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Level 3: Strategic Themes

A refined interpretation of priorities.

Examples:

• Excellence through impact

• Innovation through collaboration

• Transformation through excellence

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Level 4: Strategic Enablers

The mechanisms through which themes become priorities that support direction.

Examples:

• Culture

• Capability

• Digital maturity

• Agility

• Strategic alignment

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Level 5: Strategic Integration

The process by which all previous levels are demonstrated to be mutually reinforcing.

This level is currently under development.

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3. The Reduction of Strategic Documents

As part of simplification, the University will reduce the number of strategic plans from twelve to eight.

The four eliminated plans will be incorporated into:

The Strategic Plan Reduction Integration Strategy

This strategy will itself require:

• an implementation plan,

• a governance framework,

• and a review process.

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4. Strategic Language Optimisation

To improve accessibility, all strategic documents will now use a common vocabulary.

The following terms are recommended:

Previous Term	Strategic Replacement
Goal	Strategic aspiration
Target	Future-oriented milestone
Problem	Opportunity for transformation
Delay	Adaptive sequencing
Confusion	Emerging complexity
Failure	Learning outcome
Cancellation	Strategic reprioritisation

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5. Measuring Strategic Success

The success of the SPSP will be measured through:

• reduction in staff questions about strategy,

• increased confidence in strategic alignment,

• improved ability to identify which strategy applies,

• decreased production of duplicate strategic documents.

Progress will be monitored through the:

Strategic Simplification Effectiveness Dashboard

The dashboard will contain:

• 47 indicators,

• 12 categories,

• 6 reporting layers,

• and a summary page explaining why the dashboard cannot be reduced further.

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6. Strategic Consultation

Staff will be invited to contribute feedback through:

• workshops,

• surveys,

• listening sessions,

• strategic conversations,

• reflective alignment forums.

Feedback will be reviewed against strategic priorities.

Feedback inconsistent with strategic priorities will be retained as evidence of valuable diversity of perspective.

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7. Implementation Timeline

Phase 1:

Review of current strategic documents.

Phase 2:

Development of strategic simplification principles.

Phase 3:

Consultation on simplification principles.

Phase 4:

Revision of simplification principles.

Phase 5:

Development of revised strategic documents.

Phase 6:

Creation of implementation framework.

Phase 7:

Alignment review.

Phase 8:

Strategic coherence assessment.

Phase 9:

Strategic Plan to Simplify Strategic Plans launched.

Phase 10:

Review of Phase 9.

Phase 11:

Development of Phase 10 improvement strategy.

Phase 12:

Strategic reflection on whether strategic simplification remains strategically appropriate.

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Conclusion

The University remains committed to making strategy simpler, clearer, and more accessible.

The SPSP represents a major step toward reducing strategic complexity while ensuring that all important strategic considerations continue to be strategically considered.

Staff are reminded:

If you cannot identify which strategic plan applies, this does not indicate a failure of strategy.

It indicates an opportunity for further strategic alignment.

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Appendix A

The Executive has approved the establishment of a working group to examine whether the Strategic Plan to Simplify Strategic Plans should itself be simplified.

The working group will report in due course.

Subject to strategic review.

Most Pageviews by Country Since Blog Relocation

The Framework for Measurably Unmeasurable Impact

Office of Strategic Value, Transformative Outcomes, and Evidentiary Imagination

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Executive Summary

The University is committed to demonstrating the profound impact of its activities across research, teaching, engagement, innovation, and institutional transformation.

However, recent discussions have highlighted a significant challenge:

Many of the University’s most important impacts cannot be easily measured.

Rather than accepting this limitation, the University has developed a new framework to ensure that all unmeasurable impacts can be appropriately measured through advanced interpretive methodologies.

Introducing:

The Framework for Measurably Unmeasurable Impact (FMUI)

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1. The Problem of Measurement

Traditional measurement approaches have historically focused on measurable outcomes.

While useful, this approach fails to capture:

• subtle influence,

• emergent significance,

• transformative resonance,

• and impacts that have not yet occurred but may eventually become important.

The FMUI addresses this gap by recognising that some impacts are too valuable to measure directly.

They must therefore be measured indirectly through indicators of their possible existence.

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2. Categories of Impact

The University now recognises five primary impact categories.

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Category One: Visible Impact

Impact that can be demonstrated through:

• numbers,

• outputs,

• outcomes,

• evidence.

This category remains important but is considered incomplete.

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Category Two: Invisible Impact

Impact that cannot currently be observed but is believed to exist.

Evidence may include:

• stakeholder confidence,

• institutional narratives,

• perceived momentum,

• strategic alignment.

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Category Three: Emergent Impact

Impact that has not yet happened but is expected to arise through future conditions.

Assessment criteria include:

• plausibility,

• optimism,

• narrative coherence.

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Category Four: Transformative Impact

Impact so significant that conventional measurement frameworks are considered inadequate.

Successful identification requires demonstrating that:

"Something meaningful appears to be happening."

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Category Five: Absence of Impact

The impact generated by deciding not to pursue activities that may have produced undesirable impacts.

This category is currently under review.

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3. The Impact Measurement Process

All units seeking to demonstrate impact must complete the:

Unquantifiable Value Assessment Matrix (UVAM)

The UVAM requires applicants to assess:

Question	Response Required
What impact occurred?	Narrative description
How do we know?	Interpretive evidence
Can it be measured?	If yes, explain why this is insufficient
If not measurable, how significant is it?	Substantive reflection

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4. The Impact Confidence Index

To ensure consistency, all claims of impact will receive an Impact Confidence Index (ICI).

Scores range from:

ICI 1:

"We have evidence."

to

ICI 5:

"We have a strong feeling supported by extensive strategic reflection."

ICI 5 is considered the preferred level for transformative initiatives.

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5. Impact Dashboards

A new Impact Dashboard will provide real-time visibility of institutional impact.

Metrics will include:

• degree of stakeholder resonance,

• depth of engagement,

• strength of narrative alignment,

• potential for future significance,

• emotional sustainability of outcomes.

A traffic-light system will be used:

Green: Impact evident.

Amber: Impact emerging.

Blue: Impact conceptually significant but empirically unavailable.

Purple: Impact exceeds current measurement paradigms.

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6. Reporting Requirements

Annual impact reports must include:

1. Quantitative evidence where available.

2. Qualitative evidence where possible.

3. Interpretive evidence where necessary.

4. Confidence that the absence of evidence does not indicate absence of impact.

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7. Managing Negative Findings

Occasionally, evaluation may fail to identify measurable impact.

This should not be interpreted as failure.

Possible explanations include:

• impact has not yet emerged;

• impact emerged but was insufficiently recognised;

• impact occurred at a level beyond conventional detection;

• measurement itself created barriers to impact visibility.

All four possibilities should be explored equally.

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8. Conclusion

The University remains committed to demonstrating meaningful impact.

The FMUI ensures that activities which generate measurable outcomes can be recognised alongside activities whose outcomes are:

• developing,

• anticipated,

• intangible,

• transformational,

• or awaiting suitable conceptual frameworks.

In this way, the University can confidently demonstrate that its impact is not limited by what can be measured.

Indeed:

The inability to measure impact should never prevent us from evidencing it.

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Appendix A

Following publication of this framework, several stakeholders requested clarification regarding the distinction between impact and the appearance of impact.

A Working Group has been established to explore whether this distinction represents:

• an important analytical category,

• an unnecessary binary,

• or an opportunity for further impact generation.

The Working Group’s impact will be assessed using the FMUI framework.

A Theory of Strategic Confusion Management

Office of Organisational Clarity and Adaptive Communication

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Executive Summary

The University has long recognised clarity as a foundational institutional value.

At the same time, experience has demonstrated that excessive clarity may inadvertently constrain flexibility, reduce adaptive responsiveness, and create expectations of consistent implementation.

The purpose of this paper is therefore to articulate a balanced approach in which clarity is pursued strategically, while preserving sufficient ambiguity to support future organisational agility.

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1. The Principle of Productive Ambiguity

Research conducted across the University has consistently shown that staff value clear communication.

Accordingly, all institutional communications should strive to appear as clear as possible while avoiding commitments that might subsequently limit institutional options.

This principle is known as Productive Ambiguity.

Productive Ambiguity differs from confusion.

Confusion is an unfortunate consequence.

Productive Ambiguity is intentional confusion with governance outcomes.

---

2. Levels of Organisational Clarity

The University recognises four levels of clarity.

Level 1 – Operational Clarity

Staff know exactly what to do.

This level is strongly discouraged except in matters involving payroll or fire alarms.

---

Level 2 – Interpretive Clarity

Staff believe they know what to do.

This is considered the optimal governance state.

---

Level 3 – Collaborative Ambiguity

Multiple interpretations coexist simultaneously.

This encourages dialogue, consultation and the formation of working groups.

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Level 4 – Strategic Opacity

No one knows what the document means.

This allows every faculty to implement it successfully.

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3. Benefits of Strategic Confusion

Studies have identified numerous organisational advantages.

These include:

• fewer premature decisions;

• increased consultation activity;

• enhanced perceptions of collaboration;

• significantly reduced accountability through distributed interpretation.

In one pilot programme, a policy remained sufficiently ambiguous that no faculty could be shown to have implemented it incorrectly.

This was considered a notable governance success.

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4. Communication Guidelines

When drafting institutional communications, staff are encouraged to replace direct language with strategically resilient alternatives.

Instead of:

"Departments must submit reports by Friday."

Consider:

"Departments are encouraged to engage proactively with evolving reporting expectations within the current operational timeframe."

This preserves both urgency and deniability.

---

Similarly:

Instead of:

"The policy begins next month."

Use:

"Implementation will occur through a phased transition toward operational readiness."

This has the additional advantage of meaning almost anything.

---

5. Managing Questions

Occasionally staff may seek clarification.

Where possible, responses should:

• acknowledge the importance of the question;

• recognise the complexity of the issue;

• affirm ongoing consultation;

• avoid materially reducing uncertainty.

Examples include:

"That's an important point."

"We're still working through what that looks like."

"There isn't a single answer."

"The implementation pathway is continuing to evolve."

These responses have the advantage of remaining accurate indefinitely.

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6. Measuring Success

Success indicators include:

• declining numbers of definitive answers;

• increasing references to "ongoing conversations";

• sustained growth in cross-functional consultation;

• widespread confidence that someone else understands the policy.

Where all stakeholders believe another stakeholder possesses clarity, Strategic Confusion Management may be considered fully embedded.

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7. Long-Term Outcomes

The University ultimately seeks to become a Learning Organisation.

A Learning Organisation is one in which everyone is continually learning how the institution currently understands what it meant last week.

This process is necessarily ongoing.

Indeed, should complete understanding ever be achieved, the University would immediately establish a Taskforce on Emerging Complexity.

---

Conclusion

Strategic Confusion Management should not be understood as a failure of communication.

Rather, it represents a mature institutional capability through which certainty is carefully regulated to preserve adaptability, inclusivity and future policy resilience.

Staff are therefore reminded that, if at any point they believe they fully understand a newly released strategic document, they should await the Frequently Asked Questions document, the Revised Frequently Asked Questions document, and the Clarification of the Revised Frequently Asked Questions before acting.

Acting before this point may result in unnecessary certainty.

---

Appendix A

The publication of this paper has generated several requests for clarification.

To address these, the Office will shortly establish a Strategic Clarity Working Group to explore whether additional guidance on Strategic Confusion Management would be beneficial.

The Working Group's Terms of Reference are currently being refined to ensure they remain appropriately open to interpretation.

On Virtue, Measurement, and the Unintended Consequences of Good Intentions

The Senior Common Room at St Anselm's had rarely been so divided over a document that everyone agreed with.

This, Professor Quillibrace observed, was usually a sign that the document was interesting.

"The curious thing," he said, placing the paper upon the table, "is that every person involved appears to want exactly the same thing."

Mr Blottisham looked surprised.

"That cannot be right."

"Why not?"

"Because they disagree."

"Ah," said Quillibrace. "You have discovered one of the great mysteries of human affairs."

Miss Elowen Stray smiled.

"Perhaps the disagreement is not about values."

"Precisely," said Quillibrace. "It is about the translation of values into action."

Blottisham looked thoughtful.

"So everyone agrees on the destination, but they are arguing about the road?"

"A useful metaphor."

"Excellent. Then we need only build a better road."

Professor Quillibrace sighed.

"Unfortunately, Mr Blottisham, roads are easier to build than agreements about where they should lead."

---

Miss Stray lifted the conference proposal.

"What interests me is how quickly a question about climate becomes a question about identity."

"Explain."

"The community does not simply ask: 'What produces emissions?' It asks: 'What kind of community do we wish to be?'"

Quillibrace nodded.

"Yes. That is the deeper question."

Blottisham frowned.

"Isn't that rather dangerous?"

"Why?"

"Because once people start asking what kind of people they are, someone usually decides what kind of people everyone else should be."

There was a brief silence.

Professor Quillibrace looked at him.

"Mr Blottisham, that may be the most sensible thing you have said all afternoon."

Blottisham beamed.

"I have been practising."

---

"The difficulty," continued Miss Stray, "is that communities built around moral commitments face a particular challenge."

"Which is?"

"They must decide how to disagree."

"Surely that is easy," said Blottisham. "You listen carefully, then explain why the other person is mistaken."

Professor Quillibrace closed his eyes.

"An elegant summary of many committee meetings."

Miss Stray continued.

"When a community values responsibility, a disagreement about methods can easily become interpreted as a disagreement about values."

"So one side says, 'You don't care enough,'" said Quillibrace.

"And the other says, 'You are simplifying too much.'"

"Exactly."

Blottisham nodded.

"I see the problem."

Both colleagues looked at him.

"The first person thinks the second person has a moral deficiency."

"And the second?"

"Thinks the first person has an intellectual deficiency."

A pause.

"Remarkably," said Quillibrace, "you have described academia."

---

Miss Stray turned to the document.

"There is another issue here."

"The question of measurement?"

"Yes."

Professor Quillibrace smiled.

"One of humanity's favourite modern solutions."

"Measurement?"

"No. The belief that whatever is measurable is therefore important."

Blottisham looked alarmed.

"But surely numbers are useful."

"Of course."

"Then what is the problem?"

"The problem is not measurement. The problem is forgetting that measurement is a tool rather than a worldview."

Miss Stray nodded.

"We can count flights."

"We can estimate emissions."

"We cannot easily count a conversation that inspires a ten-year collaboration."

"Nor a doctoral student who decides to remain in research because someone took them seriously at a conference."

"Nor the intellectual confidence gained from discovering that one's work belongs to a global community."

Blottisham looked puzzled.

"But those things are real."

"Exactly."

"Then why don't we measure them?"

Professor Quillibrace smiled.

"An excellent question. Perhaps because the universe has not yet provided us with a convenient spreadsheet column for human flourishing."

---

The room became quiet.

Outside, the college gardeners continued their eternal struggle against weeds, a contest in which both sides had displayed remarkable persistence over several centuries.

Miss Stray spoke again.

"Perhaps the deeper danger is optimisation."

"Optimisation?"

"Yes. The desire to improve one variable without considering the whole system."

Quillibrace nodded.

"An ancient problem."

"Reduce carbon."

"Good."

"Increase access."

"Good."

"Preserve intellectual communities."

"Good."

"Lower costs."

"Good."

Blottisham smiled.

"That sounds easy."

"Does it?"

"All the goals are good."

"Exactly."

"So why is it difficult?"

Professor Quillibrace looked at him.

"Because, Mr Blottisham, the universe has an unfortunate habit of arranging good things in conflict with other good things."

Blottisham considered this.

"That seems rather unfair."

"Reality has rarely consulted administrative preferences."

---

Miss Stray picked up her teacup.

"I wonder whether the real question is not how we eliminate trade-offs."

"Because we cannot?"

"Because perhaps mature institutions are those that acknowledge them."

Professor Quillibrace nodded.

"A very unfashionable idea."

"Why?"

"Because modern organisations prefer dilemmas with solutions."

"And reality?"

"Reality prefers dilemmas with management."

Blottisham brightened.

"Perhaps we need a committee."

"No."

"A working group?"

"No."

"A strategic framework?"

"Absolutely not."

Blottisham looked wounded.

"How then shall we proceed?"

Professor Quillibrace looked at him kindly.

"By thinking."

Blottisham appeared disappointed.

"That seems rather inefficient."

"Indeed."

"How long does it take?"

"Usually longer than a meeting."

---

Miss Stray smiled.

"There is something almost paradoxical here."

"What is that?"

"A community committed to studying meaning has discovered that the meaning of its own practices cannot be reduced to a single metric."

Professor Quillibrace raised his cup.

"A rare moment when a discipline discovers that its own theory applies to itself."

Blottisham looked pleased.

"So the solution is more linguistics?"

"No, Mr Blottisham."

"Less linguistics?"

"No."

"Precisely the right amount?"

"Perhaps."

Blottisham nodded.

"Excellent. I shall form a committee to determine the precise amount."

Professor Quillibrace looked horrified.

"Please do not."

"Why?"

"Because I fear you will accidentally create the first bureaucracy devoted to measuring the optimal quantity of bureaucracy."

Miss Stray laughed.

"And then we shall need another committee to evaluate whether the committee has exceeded its recommended bureaucratic threshold."

The fire crackled.

The conference paper remained on the table.

No decision had been reached.

But, as Professor Quillibrace remarked while gathering the documents, this was not necessarily evidence of failure.

"Sometimes," he said, "the purpose of discussion is not to produce agreement."

"Then what is it?"

"To prevent premature certainty."

And in the Senior Common Room, where premature certainty had caused more difficulties than disagreement ever had, this was considered a considerable achievement.

On Conferences, Carbon, and the Ecology of Communities

The Senior Common Room at St Anselm's

The afternoon sun fell gently across the oak tables of the Senior Common Room. Tea had recently been served, together with a plate of remarkably resilient shortbread that had outlived several changes of Vice-Chancellor.

Upon the table lay the latest discussion paper concerning the environmental consequences of international conferences.

Professor Quillibrace examined it for some time without speaking.

Mr Blottisham, who regarded silence as an administrative inefficiency, eventually intervened.

"So," he announced, "the solution to climate change is evidently to have fewer conferences."

Professor Quillibrace looked up.

"I was not aware," he replied, "that the climate had been waiting specifically for linguists."

Miss Elowen Stray smiled quietly.

"I don't think anyone believes that," she said. "The question is rather whether an organisation ought to reduce its own contribution, however modest."

"A perfectly reasonable question," said Quillibrace. "Although it immediately raises another."

"And that is?"

"What exactly is the organisation trying to reduce?"

Blottisham frowned.

"Carbon."

"No," said Quillibrace. "That is what it hopes to reduce. I asked what it is actually changing."

Blottisham considered this.

"The number of conferences."

"Precisely."

Another silence settled.

"The distinction matters," Quillibrace continued. "Institutions have an understandable tendency to adjust the variables they can measure rather than the ones that generate the outcomes they seek."

Miss Stray stirred her tea thoughtfully.

"So the danger is mistaking the control knob for the causal mechanism?"

"A beautifully economical formulation."

Blottisham looked unconvinced.

"Surely fewer conferences must mean fewer flights."

"Oh, undoubtedly."

"So emissions fall."

"They do."

"So what's the difficulty?"

Professor Quillibrace folded the paper carefully.

"My dear Blottisham, one can reduce hospital infections by closing hospitals."

Blottisham blinked.

"That seems rather drastic."

"Exactly."

"The question," Miss Stray observed, "is never whether something has costs. Everything has costs. The interesting question is whether the intervention damages the very function one was trying to preserve."

Quillibrace nodded.

"We are discussing a conference as though it were merely a collection of airline tickets."

"It isn't?"

"It is a remarkably complicated social organism."

Blottisham looked suspiciously at the biscuits.

"It doesn't look particularly organic."

"The conference," continued Quillibrace patiently, "is where doctoral students accidentally meet future collaborators. Where young researchers discover that distinguished scholars are ordinary human beings. Where ideas migrate between disciplines over coffee rather than journals."

"And over rather disappointing sandwiches," added Miss Stray.

"Quite so."

Blottisham brightened.

"So the sandwiches are functionally significant."

"More than some keynote addresses."

Miss Stray laughed.

"What strikes me," she said, "is that everyone seems to agree about the goal."

"Indeed."

"But they disagree about what kind of system they're looking at."

Professor Quillibrace leaned back.

"Now we approach the interesting part."

"If you think of the conference as a machine," she continued, "then reducing the number of times the machine operates appears perfectly sensible."

"And if one thinks of it differently?"

"As an ecosystem."

Quillibrace smiled.

"Exactly."

She continued.

"In an ecosystem, removing one recurring event changes many relationships simultaneously. Some emissions disappear. But so do mentoring opportunities. Informal networks. Serendipitous conversations. Trust."

Blottisham frowned.

"So the carbon accounting isn't wrong."

"No."

"It's incomplete."

"Precisely."

Blottisham looked relieved.

"I've always preferred incomplete accounting. It involves less paperwork."

Professor Quillibrace ignored this.

"There is another curiosity."

"What is that?" asked Miss Stray.

"The proposal treats the conference as though it existed solely to produce emissions."

"It obviously doesn't."

"Yet organisational debates often proceed as though secondary effects were inconvenient footnotes."

Miss Stray nodded.

"Like pruning a tree after measuring only the weight of the branches."

"A delightful metaphor."

Blottisham suddenly became animated.

"I've got it!"

Neither colleague appeared especially reassured.

"We should hold conferences every week."

Quillibrace closed his eyes briefly.

"So that nobody has to fly very far between them."

"I see."

"It would distribute the emissions."

"I fear," said Quillibrace gently, "that you have confused frequency with geography."

"Oh."

Another pause.

"I do that quite often."

Miss Stray looked again at the paper.

"What I find most interesting is that everyone here is acting in good faith."

"Yes."

"They simply have different intuitions about responsibility."

Quillibrace nodded.

"One view says responsible institutions impose collective limits."

"And the other?"

"Responsible institutions cultivate responsible judgement."

"Can both be true?"

"I suspect they usually are."

Blottisham appeared disappointed.

"I was hoping one side would turn out to be obviously wrong."

"My dear Blottisham," said Quillibrace, "if intellectual life consisted chiefly of identifying obviously wrong people, universities would have solved most of their problems centuries ago."

The fire crackled softly.

Outside, students crossed the quadrangle beneath ancient stone arches that had survived educational reforms of every conceivable variety.

Miss Stray spoke at last.

"Perhaps the real question isn't whether conferences should become less frequent."

"No?"

"Perhaps it is how scholarly communities can preserve the human relationships that make scholarship possible while redesigning the material arrangements through which those relationships are sustained."

Professor Quillibrace regarded her over the rim of his teacup.

"My dear Miss Stray," he said quietly, "that is a considerably more difficult question."

"I know."

"And therefore almost certainly the right one."

For a while nobody spoke.

Even Mr Blottisham seemed content to allow the silence to complete the argument.

It was, after all, considerably more productive than most committee meetings.

The Invisible Governance Pathways of the University

A Field Guide for Practitioners of Structured Uncertainty

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Introduction

The University is governed by a clear and transparent decision-making framework.

This framework is documented extensively across policies, strategic plans, procedural guidelines, escalation matrices, and supplementary explanatory frameworks explaining how to interpret the preceding documents.

Despite this, staff frequently report uncertainty about how decisions are made.

This is expected.

Uncertainty is one of the University’s key governance outputs.

---

1. The Official Decision Pathway

Formally, decisions follow this sequence:

1. Issue identified

2. Proposal developed

3. Consultation undertaken

4. Approval sought

5. Decision made

6. Decision implemented

This pathway is known as the Linear Governance Model (LGM).

It is rarely used in practice, but remains institutionally important as a reference structure for audits.

---

2. The Actual Decision Pathway

In practice, decisions follow a different trajectory:

1. Someone notices something needs to happen

2. Someone else has already started doing it

3. A third person formalises what is already happening

4. A committee confirms that what is happening is acceptable

5. A policy is written to describe what was already happening

6. The original action is now considered “fully aligned with strategy”

This is known as the Retrospective Legitimisation Model (RLM).

It is the University’s primary operational logic.

---

3. The Parallel Pathways Problem

At any given time, both LGM and RLM are considered valid.

This creates what is known as Governance Superposition:

• A decision is both approved and not yet approved

• A process both exists and is under development

• Responsibility is both assigned and distributed

Resolution occurs only when someone attempts to document the situation formally, at which point the system collapses into whichever explanation causes the least immediate administrative disruption.

---

4. Informal Decision-Makers

Despite official structures, most decisions are influenced by a small group of individuals who:

• respond quickly

• understand historical context

• know which policy can safely be ignored without triggering escalation

• and have not changed roles since the pre-digital era

They are not formally designated as decision-makers.

They are simply the people who answer emails correctly.

Their authority is not written anywhere, which is how it remains stable.

---

5. The Role of Committees

Committees serve three essential functions:

• They confirm that decisions have already been made elsewhere

• They provide a socially acceptable delay between confusion and implementation

• They convert uncertainty into recorded minutes, thereby making it auditable

A common misunderstanding is that committees make decisions.

In reality, committees make decisions legible.

---

6. Escalation Protocols

When uncertainty arises, staff are advised to escalate through the following stages:

• Stage 1: Ask a colleague

• Stage 2: Ask a more senior colleague

• Stage 3: Ask someone who looks like they have seen this before

• Stage 4: Ask Margaret (if available)

• Stage 5: Reconstruct what is probably already happening and proceed cautiously

At Stage 5, governance becomes indistinguishable from intuition.

---

7. Policy Functionality Principle

All policies are designed to:

• provide guidance

• ensure consistency

• support accountability

• and remain sufficiently flexible to accommodate any outcome that has already occurred

A policy that prevents an existing practice is considered:

“in need of clarification.”

A practice that violates no policy but contradicts institutional expectation is considered:

“innovative.”

---

8. The Hidden Stability Mechanism

The University appears unstable when viewed through formal governance structures.

However, stability is maintained through:

• informal trust networks

• accumulated institutional memory

• shared reluctance to escalate anything unnecessarily

• and the quiet understanding that most things will resolve themselves if left alone long enough

This system is not documented.

It is inherited.

---

Conclusion

The University does not function because governance structures are effective.

It functions because governance structures are optional in practice but mandatory in documentation.

Between these two states—documented order and practical improvisation—lies the space in which the institution actually operates.

Most staff learn, over time, to live comfortably in that space.

Some even come to prefer it.

They are usually the ones who know where Margaret is.

---

End of Field Guide

The Senior Administrator's Guide to Looking Busy During Organisational Change

A Professional Development Resource

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Introduction

Organisational change is a natural part of university life.

Indeed, many colleagues have experienced so much organisational change that they can no longer remember which organisation they originally joined.

This guide will help you navigate periods of restructuring with confidence, professionalism and the appearance of purposeful movement.

---

Phase One: The Announcement

The Vice-Chancellor announces an exciting new organisational structure.

Key phrases include:

• "fit for the future"

• "reimagining our capabilities"

• "breaking down silos"

• "enhancing agility"

At this stage you should nod thoughtfully.

Do not ask what problem is actually being solved.

This suggests an unhealthy attachment to causality.

---

Phase Two: The Consultation

Staff are invited to provide feedback.

Remember:

Consultation is an opportunity to feel heard.

It is not necessarily an opportunity to alter the direction of travel.

Complete the survey.

Tick "Strongly Agree" for the question:

"I appreciate being consulted."

Tick "Neither Agree nor Disagree" for everything else.

This is known institutionally as measured optimism.

---

Phase Three: The Working Groups

Working groups are formed.

You will notice that the same eleven people appear on every committee.

This is because they are recognised as highly collaborative.

They have not been seen doing their actual jobs since 2018.

---

Phase Four: The New Structure

Everyone receives a new organisational chart.

Nobody understands it.

Boxes have moved.

Lines have changed colour.

Someone has become an Executive Director without ever occupying the intermediate evolutionary stages.

The chart is described as:

"Intuitively navigable."

This intuition has yet to emerge.

---

Phase Five: The New Titles

Your position title changes.

Nothing else changes.

Examples include:

Student Services Officer

becomes

Student Experience Facilitation Partner.

Administrative Assistant

becomes

Operational Enablement Coordinator.

Caretaker

becomes

Campus Infrastructure Continuity Specialist.

Everyone quietly continues introducing themselves exactly as before.

---

Phase Six: The Strategic Pause

No decisions are made for approximately six weeks.

This is because everyone is waiting to discover whether they are still authorised to make them.

During this period:

• Meetings increase by 43%.

• Emails increase by 76%.

• Actual work continues through unofficial conversations in corridors.

Management later describes this as:

"A period of collaborative transition."

---

Phase Seven: The Discovery

Around Month Four, something remarkable happens.

People begin ignoring the new structure.

They quietly telephone the same person they have telephoned for the last fifteen years.

That person knows everything.

Officially they occupy a Level 5 administrative position.

Unofficially they are the entire University's operating system.

---

Phase Eight: Institutional Memory

Eventually a consultant asks:

"Why do people keep bypassing the official process?"

Silence.

Finally, Margaret from Finance says:

"Because otherwise nothing would ever happen."

The room falls quiet.

The consultant writes:

"Evidence of informal communication pathways."

Margaret returns to making the University function.

---

Final Reflection

Every organisational chart assumes that institutions operate through reporting lines.

Every experienced staff member knows they operate through relationships.

The chart explains where authority is supposed to flow.

The people explain where understanding actually lives.

These two systems coexist peacefully, provided neither looks too closely at the other.

The Unofficial Handbook for New Academic Staff

Welcome

Congratulations on your appointment.

You have joined a dynamic, innovative, student-centred institution committed to excellence, impact, inclusion, transformation, strategic alignment, and other nouns.

This handbook explains how things actually work.

Please destroy it after reading, or leave it prominently displayed on your desk, where no one will ever notice it.

---

Section 1: Understanding Priorities

You may initially believe that priorities are established through strategic plans.

This is incorrect.

Priorities emerge through a sophisticated institutional process involving:

• recent emails,

• approaching deadlines,

• senior management anxiety,

• and whatever was discussed most recently in a meeting.

Consequently, priorities operate according to a principle known as:

Simultaneous Hierarchical Fluidity

This means that everything is important, but some things are more important than other things until tomorrow.

---

Section 2: Meetings

Meetings exist to answer three fundamental questions:

1. Has everyone been informed?

2. Has everyone been consulted?

3. Can responsibility now be distributed sufficiently widely?

New staff sometimes make the mistake of attending meetings in order to make decisions.

Please avoid this.

The primary function of meetings is to establish that a decision pathway exists.

Actual decisions generally emerge later through email.

---

Section 3: Email

Email is the circulatory system of the modern university.

Messages fall into four categories:

Category A: Immediate Action Required

No action required.

Category B: Important Reminder

No action required.

Category C: Final Reminder

Possibly action required.

Category D: URGENT – RESPONSE REQUIRED TODAY

The sender has just discovered the problem.

---

Section 4: Strategic Plans

Every strategic plan contains five key commitments:

• Innovation

• Excellence

• Sustainability

• Collaboration

• Transformation

These commitments appear because no one has yet discovered a strategic plan that opposes them.

Should you encounter two strategic plans that contradict one another, remember:

Both remain strategically valid until replaced by a third strategic plan.

---

Section 5: Student Feedback

Student feedback is essential.

Student feedback is invaluable.

Student feedback must be carefully considered.

Student feedback indicating opposite things simultaneously must also be carefully considered.

Examples:

"The lectures moved too quickly."

"The lectures moved too slowly."

"Assessment requirements were unclear."

"Assessment requirements were obvious."

The correct institutional response is:

"We appreciate this valuable feedback and will reflect upon it."

This phrase has successfully resolved feedback since approximately 1994.

---

Section 6: Performance Reviews

Performance reviews are opportunities for professional growth.

You will be asked to demonstrate:

• teaching excellence,

• research excellence,

• service excellence,

• community engagement,

• innovation,

• leadership,

• strategic contribution,

• wellbeing.

Please note that excellence in one category does not compensate for shortcomings in another category.

Excellence is assessed holistically.

No further clarification is available.

---

Section 7: The Most Important Rule

Eventually you will discover a secret.

The University does not actually function because of policies.

It functions because thousands of intelligent people quietly help one another navigate the gap between policy and reality.

This knowledge should not be shared with auditors.

---

Final Advice

When confused, locate the longest-serving administrator in your area.

Ask:

"How does this actually work?"

They will look around carefully.

Then they will explain everything.

Welcome to the University.

Informal Guide to Navigating the Formal System

Internal Communication (Uncirculated Version)

Staff Survival Practices Unit (Unofficial)

Subject: Informal Guide to Navigating the Formal System

---

Colleagues,

This document is not formally issued. It exists in the same way most work gets done here: acknowledged implicitly, denied explicitly, and referenced retrospectively when something goes wrong.

It is a guide to surviving within the institutional architecture described in policies such as MAOCP, PMUEUP, ARR, PPRP, SFCDDM, and others that are currently being reviewed for coherence with themselves.

---

1. The First Principle: Assume You Are Already Non-Compliant

You will save time by accepting that:

• You are always slightly out of alignment
• Any action can be reclassified after the fact
• Any silence can be interpreted as consent or negligence, depending on context

Therefore:

Do not aim for compliance. Aim for plausible defensibility under retrospective review.

---

2. The Art of Strategic Acknowledgement

Survival depends on knowing when to:

• Reply “noted, thank you” (no action taken)
• Reply “we will take this forward” (no ownership taken)
• Reply “we are currently aligning this with institutional priorities” (no timeline exists)

These phrases do not communicate meaning.

They communicate administrative survival status.

---

3. Meetings: A Parallel Reality System

Meetings serve three functions:

1. Recording attendance of ideas
2. Preventing unrecorded decisions
3. Converting uncertainty into action items that will never act

Survival protocol:

• Speak once, early, vaguely
• Nod at key moments to establish epistemic presence
• Volunteer for tasks that will be reassigned before completion becomes possible

If a decision is made, assume it will be:

• revised
• reinterpreted
• or placed into a pilot programme designed to investigate whether it was actually a decision

---

4. Email Strategy (Critical Skill)

Inbox survival requires mastery of:

• The “looping reply-all closure”
• The “gentle deferral with implied urgency reversal”
• The “attachment that resolves nothing but looks complete”

Recommended phrases:

• “Just circling back on this” (translation: I am still alive in this thread)
• “Happy to discuss further offline” (translation: please do not)
• “Let’s park this for now” (translation: it is already buried but we need ceremony)

---

5. The Policy Stack Survival Method

You will encounter conflicting policies. This is normal.

Do not attempt resolution.

Instead:

• Identify which policy is most recently updated
• Pretend it supersedes all others
• If questioned, refer to “local interpretive discretion frameworks”
• If further questioned, escalate to a committee that does not yet exist

Remember:

The goal is not consistency. The goal is traceable intent alignment under shifting policy terrain.

---

6. Work Output Optimisation (Informal Reality)

Officially:

• Quality matters
• Innovation is valued
• Reflection is essential

Practically:

• Deliver what can be easily described in a report
• Avoid outputs that require explanation in meetings
• Ensure all work can be summarised in three bullet points or fewer

If it cannot be bullet-pointed:

It will be considered “emergent complexity” and deferred indefinitely.

---

7. Emotional Survival Layer

Key truth:

Most institutional stress comes not from workload, but from trying to interpret whether the workload is real, symbolic, or aspirational.

Therefore:

• Treat urgency as performative unless accompanied by a deadline reminder email
• Treat deadlines as suggestions unless accompanied by escalation language
• Treat escalation language as atmospheric rather than literal

---

8. The Golden Rule

When in doubt, ask yourself:

“Can this be retrospectively justified in a way that sounds like I understood the system all along?”

If yes:

• Proceed

If no:

• Create a working group

If uncertain:

• You are already correct

---

9. Closing Note

No one fully understands the system.

Those who appear to understand it are either:

• new
• leaving soon
• or actively being scheduled for a review of their understanding of understanding

The system continues to function because everyone agrees, tacitly, not to test it too closely at the same time.

---

Kind regards,

Staff Survival Practices Unit (Unofficial)

---

P.S. If you are reading this during work hours, you are probably already in compliance with something, somewhere.

Policy for Managing Unavoidable Exceptions to Universal Policy (PMUEUP)

Internal Communication

Office of Universal Standards and Exception Governance

Subject: Policy for Managing Unavoidable Exceptions to Universal Policy (PMUEUP)

---

Colleagues,

In order to uphold the integrity, consistency, and universal applicability of institutional policy, the University is pleased to introduce the Policy for Managing Unavoidable Exceptions to Universal Policy (PMUEUP).

This policy ensures that while all policies are universally applicable, there exists a clear, standardised mechanism for handling the circumstances in which universality cannot, under any reasonable interpretation, be applied universally.

---

1. Purpose

The PMUEUP provides a structured framework for:

• Identifying exceptions to universal policy
• Determining whether such exceptions are unavoidable
• Ensuring that unavoidable exceptions are managed in accordance with universal principles
• Maintaining the universality of policy even when universality is not possible

In essence, this policy ensures that no deviation from policy occurs outside a formally recognised policy-compliant deviation structure.

---

2. Definition of “Unavoidable Exception”

An Unavoidable Exception (UE) is defined as:

A situation in which adherence to universal policy would result in outcomes that cannot be reconciled with the intent of universal policy.

Examples may include (but are not limited to):

• Cases where policy contradicts itself in practice
• Situations where policy implementation would prevent policy implementation
• Scenarios where all available options are non-compliant under at least one interpretive framework
• Events that were not anticipated by the policy designed to anticipate all events

---

3. Exception Identification Process

Staff identifying a potential UE must:

Step 1: Confirm Policy Applicability

Review all relevant universal policies to ensure the situation is fully encompassed by at least one policy.

Step 2: Confirm Exception Status

Determine whether the situation is:

• Fully compliant
• Non-compliant
• Compliantly non-compliant
• Exceptionally compliant with exception conditions

Step 3: Submit an Unavoidable Exception Notification (UEN)

This must include:

• Description of the situation
• Relevant policies in conflict
• Evidence that no non-conflicting interpretation exists
• A preliminary statement confirming that this is indeed an unavoidable exception, unless it is not

---

4. Governance and Approval

All UENs will be reviewed by the:

Committee for the Validation of Exceptionality within Universality (CVEU)

The CVEU may determine that:

• The exception is valid and must be managed as an exception
• The situation is not an exception and must be treated as a policy violation
• The situation is both an exception and not an exception, requiring dual classification
• The policy already accounts for this exception implicitly and therefore it is not an exception

In cases of unresolved ambiguity, the matter will be escalated to the:

Supreme Panel for Exception Governance Consistency (SPEG-C)

whose decision will be final, except where subsequent exceptions arise.

---

5. Management of Approved Exceptions

Where an Unavoidable Exception is approved, it must be managed according to the following principles:

• The exception must be documented as an exception to a universal policy
• The management of the exception must itself be universally applied to similar exceptions
• Any deviation in handling must be recorded as a secondary exception
• All exceptions must remain compatible with the principle of universality at a meta-policy level

---

6. Reporting Requirements

All exceptions must be recorded in the:

Universal Exception Register (UER)

Each entry must include:

• Nature of the exception
• Policies affected
• Reason for exception status
• Confirmation that exception handling followed universal exception protocol
• Retrospective assurance that no policy breach occurred, including breaches arising from exception management itself

---

7. Staff Guidance

Staff are reminded that:

• Universal policy remains universally applicable, including in cases where it is not
• Exceptions are not deviations from policy, but regulated expressions of policy flexibility
• Failure to identify an unavoidable exception in a timely manner may itself constitute an avoidable exception misclassification event
• When in doubt, assume universality, unless universality appears not to apply

---

8. Closing Statement

The University remains committed to the principle that universal policy must remain universal in all circumstances, including those in which universality requires structured suspension.

The PMUEUP ensures that exceptions do not undermine universality, but instead reinforce it through formal recognition, controlled classification, and retrospective coherence.

---

Kind regards,

Office of Universal Standards and Exception Governance

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Attachment: Exception Decision Flowchart (Version 1.0 — universally applicable except where not)