Leadership Codex
Introduction to the CBS Leadership Codex
According to s. 6, (3), 2 of CBS’ bylaws, the President has the responsibility to set forward a leadership codex, including guidelines for the involvement of staff and students in managerial discussions and decisions.
The CBS Board, together with senior management, the Academic Council and the CBS General Consultation Committee (HSU) have agreed that the new bylaws should build upon the idea that the future development of CBS will be supported by a commonly shared codex for good management and leadership – rather than be controlled by a detailed set of rules and regulations explicitly written into the many paragraphs and sections of the bylaws.
These documents (a codex for staff and management, and a codex for student involvement) are meant to be the management’s clear and comprehensive proposal for a CBS Leadership Codex and should be continually discussed and further developed in a dialogue with staff and students at CBS. The CBS Leadership Codex constitutes (like a strategy) an on-going iterative process. In this first phase, a codex for staff and management has been developed for the General Consultation Committee (HSU) to approve, and a codex for student involvement has been developed for senior management and the student union to approve. Over the coming years, these codices will be ‘living documents’ and will be monitored, reviewed and improved.
Leadership Codex
The CBS Leadership Codex is a starting point for describing management and leadership responsibilities. The chosen format indicates the senior management’s ambition to not only provide a list of imperatives, but to offer a narrative explaining how CBS’ strategy and goals may lead to particular responsibilities and preferred managerial behaviour:
- CBS wants to be a flexible and transparent institution with a clear profile. Therefore management has a fundamental responsibility for setting direction. This includes... making priorities, laying out plans, formulating and interpreting goals, discussing ambitions, setting academic and administrative standards, and communicating with staff about management issues and decisions…
- CBS wants to be seen as an attractive, responsible and engaging workplace. Therefore management has a fundamental responsibility for leading people. This includes…being appreciative, having an ambition to handle and solve disagreements, sanctioning misconduct, giving clear feedback, encouraging collegial relations, demonstrating respect for and trust in others, and safeguarding equality issues…
- CBS wants to be an innovative environment with entrepreneurial potential. Therefore management has a fundamental responsibility for encouraging initiative. This includes… nurturing ‘drive’, incentivising individual and group contributions, inviting imagination, supporting bottom-up development, exploring innovative solutions and original ideas, and building learning capacity…
- CBS wants to be known for the quality and effectiveness of its operations. Therefore management has a fundamental responsibility for organising work. This includes... enhancing job satisfaction, working with explicit principles for delegation, empowering staff through participation in discussions and the development of all key issues, keeping agreements, meeting deadlines, and developing problem-free and meaningful local solutions that fit with CBS’ standards and systems…
- CBS wants to be a preferred partner with its local and global stakeholders. Therefore the management has a fundamental responsibility for managing boundaries. This includes... capacity to consult broadly, being inclusive and open, supporting collaborative processes, developing relations across departments, institutions and countries, and supporting a bilingual culture…
- CBS wants to grow and further develop its distinctive diversity. Therefore management has a fundamental responsibility for facilitating contributions to CBS. This includes…… pursuing excellence in academic and administrative matters, rewarding uniqueness and quality, taking on CBS-wide institutional responsibilities, and thinking and acting as CBS ambassadors in both internal and external relations…
- CBS wants to further sustain its development as a learning university. Therefore management has a fundamental responsibility for assuring leadership quality. This includes…… annually evaluating the Leadership Codex to underpin feedback processes on how it is working at the local level, as well as at CBS in general, comparing across CBS units, inviting external stakeholder opinions, and exchanging experiences and ideas across CBS on how to ‘live the codex’.