Purpose
Shared governance, the principle that faculty, staff, and administrators must work together to attain the best outcomes for students and institutions, remains an understudied, but critical, issue in higher education. Today’s economic landscape within Medical Education is fraught with increased competition for applicants, faculty, and institutional resources. Now more than ever, success depends upon sufficient interest, awareness, communication, and teamwork between all stakeholders. Proactive faculty approaches and reactive administrative approaches can stem from perceived differences in institutional goals, vision, and planning.

Methods
Herein, I explore previously identified central tenants of successful shared governance models from the literature as a framework to better interpret the needs of medical school faculty, staff, and administrators and overcome the barriers presented by the current landscape of medical education.

Results
Using examples from across medical education, I apply this framework to draw conclusions about how these groups can identify problems, discuss solutions, and find consensus. Imminent future plans include development of a qualitative study to better refine this model.

Conclusion
This in-progress work seeks to identify a more balanced approach to decision-making processes involving faculty, staff, students, and administrators that is more repeatable, sustainable, evidence-based, and of greater benefit to the institution than standard practices. Current lessons learned include identified themes that determine the success of shared governance, as well as the relationship between organizational structures, communication expectations, trust, and shared governance.