When the Congressional Super Committee recently failed to reach consensus on major budget cuts, pundits were quick to accuse them of “kicking the can” down the road. An oft-used phrase that basically translates as deferring a decision in favor of a future date. Before you dismiss this malaise as a disease unique to bureaucrats, consider that it is, in my opinion at least, the number one cause of failures in virtually every type of organization, including higher education.

It is estimated that up to 50 percent of all businesses fail within five years of inception. But there are also many long-time companies like Woolworth’s and Border’s that have gone the way of the dodo bird. American Airlines just filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection.  And it seems like every week, financial institutions like Washington Mutual Bank go belly up.

When one looks beneath the hood for the root causes of these failures, a litany of excuses are offered. We tend to think these downward spirals occur over a short period of time, like a week or a month. But in most cases, they occur over a much longer period, one deferred decision at a time. One of my favorite examples is the news business. The majority of newspapers in this country are struggling to stay afloat. Why? Because they ignored the warning signs of television and the Internet over the past decades and continued to sell their product, just as they have since the country was founded: one driveway at a time.

So how does this affect higher education? Directly in the cross hairs! Institutions today, both public and private, are struggling with budgets and accountability. Tough decisions about closing programs, deferring maintenance and even selling off assets must be made every day. And yet, administrators continue to kick the proverbial can down the road in hopes the problems might just fade away.

Sadly, this erosion in higher education has been percolating for a very long time. In fact, it occurs at the rate of one student at a time, what we call retention. And while we may realize this decision avoidance behavior is not a good idea, we’re lulled into thinking that there will always be time to take corrective action, perhaps next semester or next year. We’re like the lobster in the pot of tepid water. We wait to fix the problem until it’s too late to fix the problem.

Why do we choose to defer many of these decisions? Because there are no simple answers. The solutions are complicated and varied. But confronting the challenges head on reduces their complexity. Facing the difficulties and choosing a plan of action that can always be modified later makes the issues less difficult.

So here’s the takeaway: making no decision and kicking the can down the road is a decision. And more often than not, it is the least desirable option. That’s true for Congress, and it’s true for each one of us.

Comments Off