As the annual Survey on Administrative Services wraps up, we will turn our attention back to the focus areas derived from Drake’s second important annual survey: Great Colleges to Work For (GCTWF). You may recall from past OnCampus articles on Sept. 14, Sept. 21, and Oct. 5, that three focus areas were identified for this year:
- Ensure consistent and robust cascade of communication;
- Facilitate re-connection and attend to our culture; and
- Leverage internal professional development opportunities for leaders.
In September and the first part of October, we concentrated on the first focus area. We conducted a pulse survey, facilitated two brain-storming sessions, presented responses to the President’s Council, communicated with managers about best practices, and did our best to keep campus informed of our steps and findings. In addition to communicating within their chain of supervision, we encourage faculty to regularly connect with the Faculty Senate. Similarly, we encourage staff to stay or get involved with All Staff Council.
Human Resources and All Staff Council collaborated on a town hall last week. Later today, there will be a town hall addressing the budget. Opportunities like these are great for employees to directly hear from and ask questions of leaders and departments. Our hope is that these collective efforts enhance the flow of communication. Next year’s GCTWF survey results will show us whether these efforts made an impact. We certainly hope so.
Now, on to the second focus area that speaks to re-connecting and attending to our culture.
The global pandemic has been disruptive, to say the least. There were times when we pulled together and other times when many of us were very isolated. How do we now move forward? How do we reconnect with our Core Values and Mission? How do teams claw back cohesion and collaborative practices if those have been not attended to? How do we maintain our focus on our students, while many of us still feel distracted by what we’ve just been through? These are tough questions and there are not simple, clear answers. So, where do we go from here?
Luckily, the both of us served on the task force focusing on remote work and flexible schedules for staff. That group spent some time discussing culture and collaboration. We will pull together some of those ideas and thoughts in our next OnCampus piece. Additionally, instead of another pulse survey or more brainstorming sessions, we would like to spend some time with focus groups. We want people with ideas, suggestions, and solutions to participate. People who know the institution and who want Drake’s culture to be strong, positive, welcoming, and supportive. If you have time, interest, and ideas, please consider attending one of these two focus group sessions:
If you have ideas or suggestions but no time or interest in participating in a focus group, that’s okay. We still want to hear from you. Please email drakehr@drake.edu and just use the subject line: “Our Culture,” and tell us what’s on your mind. We will provide campus an update on next steps, once we are on the other side of the focus groups and a review of any related emails. Please be watching for more follow-up new on the GCTWF survey results in the coming weeks!
— Maureen De Armond, Human Resources, and Nate Reagen, Office of the President
