Leadership and Culture: Progress, Challenges, Next Steps

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Leadership and Culture Progress, Challenges,
Next Steps

• Guest Speaker Dr. Tim Porter-OGrady

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Strategies to Develop our Internal Organization

• What's Different Since 2000?

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Guiding Frameworks and New Sources of Information

• PVP creates "Values, Behaviours,
  Accountabilities" for Western Leaders and Staff
  (May 2001)
• Collaborative process produces "Making Choices",
  Strategic Plan Update (Oct 2001) - section 5
  highlights commitments to staff
• Organizational Culture Survey (2003) Leaders and
  Work Units receive feedback about their unique
  work cultures - many areas create action plans
  and projects
• February 2004 Western's Communications Survey
  Report
• President's e-newsletter launched (2004)
• Western's Key Messages Created (Feb 2005)

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New Western Teams

• Western's Staff Development Steering Team -
  represents employee unions and associations
  (March 2002)
• Leadership Advisory Team (2001-2004)
• Western's Organizational Development Team
  (September 2004) - Academic and Administrative
  leaders
• Western Staff Recognition Task Team (Summer 2004)
• Campus Council (fall 2004) - Western's staff and
  faculty unions and associations and Senior
  Administration

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Developing Western's Leadership Team

• Leaders' Forum - opportunities to build our
  leadership community and discuss wide ranging
  organizational issues
• (20 meetings held, average 140 attendance)
• Leader Learning Opportunities
• 6 Day Program
• Understanding Leadership and Communications
  Course
• November 2001 launch (Over 200 participants)
• Human Rights/ Anti-Harassment Training Launched
  (June 2002)
• Orientation for New Chairs, Directors, Associate
  Deans (June 2004)
• Leaders lead and sponsor numerous team based
  service improvements and work redesigns.

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Staff and Team Development

• Western's Welcome to New Staff Program (Dec 2001)
• Annual Staff and Leader Conference (February
  2003, 2004, 2005) - approximately 650 people
  participate each year
• Human Rights/ Anti-Harassment Training for Work
  Teams and Employee Groups
• Landing a New Role Career Advancement Workshops
  for Staff (begin fall 2004)
• Staff contribute to, and lead, numerous team
  based service improvements and work redesigns

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Consultation Groups, 2005

• VP Administration
• Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry
• VP Research
• PVP
• Office of the Registrar
• Campus Council

• UWOSA
• CUPE Physical Plant
• Professional Managerial Association
• Western Libraries
• Two representatives of the Staff Recognition Team
  

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Progress for the Future Continuing the
Journey By Members of the University community
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Key Themes

• There HAS BEEN movement over the past 5 years
• Human resources have led the way in creating a
  culture of engagement
• Leadership development has made a difference
• Overall, there is a higher level worker
  satisfaction
• The culture continues to raise hope that, this
  time, things ARE really different

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The Challenge
Western provides the best student experience
among Canadas leading research-intensive
universities.
Paul Davenport, PhD President, UWO
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What does that mean?

• The best student experience among research
  universities in Canada
• Community questions
• In that mission, who do we all serve?
• How do we configure around that objective?
• In this pursuit are we all singing same song?
• What is it that will assure we all configure
  around this mission?

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The Challenge-Response

• The best student experience among research
  universities in Canada
• internally defined by stakeholders
• translated to constituencies
• inculcated in all objectives
• measured by evaluative means

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The community challenges

• Questions to leadership
• Do we have stated consensus re leadership and
  staff engagement between the P/VP?
• Is the vision and behaviour a mandate to all?
• Does the University really have a service
  orientation?
• How do the leaders represent the belief in
  everything that they are and do?

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10 Priorities that reflect the themes throughout
the University community
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Priority 1

• The P/VP must enumerate shared leadership
  practices as the Universitys way of doing
  business with the commitment, consistency,
  language and strategy that suggest to all that it
  is the expected way of life throughout the
  University.

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Priority 2

• Faculty / staff partnership around the vision and
  mission of the University must be clearly
  delineated and stated. The infrastructure and
  processes of decision-making must reflect this
  partnership and be constructed as a way of doing
  business.

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Suggestions (from a distance) in Faculty / Staff
Partnership

• Including Deans and department Chairs in the
  leadership expectations and behaviours (shared
  leadership practices) to assure consistency in
  leader expectations across the University
• Expand or extend the Campus Council to include
  Deans and VPs and increase its role in planning
  and partnering re mutual issues of the
  University community
• Clearly enumerate roles and expectations of the
  Campus Council beyond mere information sharing

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Suggestion in Faculty / Staff Partnership

• Department Chairs are not competent leaders just
  because they hold the position. Either expect
  and develop consistent leader skills or make sure
  that a role with these skills exists to support
  the department Chair and the University
• Us the academic staff as the bridge to the
  faculty and the linkage to their involvement,
  where appropriate
• Recognize the difference in faculty priorities
  (research, knowledge management, funding support)
  and staff priorities (work effectiveness, work
  satisfaction, linkage, outcomes) and create a
  format for points of convergence

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Priority 3

• Develop more clarity around accountability at
  every level of the organization and in every
  role. Accountability must be a performance
  expectation within the context of each role
  reflecting its contribution to the mission and
  vision of the University.
• Management and leadership
• Apply consistency across system, honour local
  culture
• Councils and committees
• Individual staff roles
• Performance measurement

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Priority 4

• The leadership skills learned through programs
  such as L.E.T. must translate into behaviours and
  practices having an impact on the role and on
  performance
• Consistent learning program across University
• Role change assessment
• Leader-driven goal setting
• Performance improvement (incremental objectives)
• Measure outcomes and performance change

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Priority 5

• Best practices that demonstrate success should
  have mechanisms for broader generation to other
  departments and services and be incorporated into
  the operations of those departments
• Innovation as a value
• Communicate best practices
• Evaluate impact
• Publish results
• Public celebration

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Key Point

• There is lots of conversation related to good
  communication. While important, it is more
  valuable to communicate what makes a difference
  and relates to accountability rather than what is
  merely informative. Communication is simply the
  first step to action.

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Priority 6

• Much of the leadership development has not yet
  involved first line managers where much of the
  manager-staff issues and conflicts emerge. This
  group of managers must be developed early in
  order for behaviours to be modeled in a way that
  directly affects the staff
• Consistent application of leadership
• Engagement of the staff in decisions and actions
• Honouring agreements and contracts
• Addressing conflicts and problems early
• Supporting staff innovation and creativity
• Rewarding service excellence

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Priority 7

• Union and association leadership must also
  represent a sense of partnership and engagement
  with members and the University. They must
  respect themselves and confidently engage members
  and other University leadership in issues of
  mutual concern
• Make your contribution as clear as your demands
• Make sure expectations and performance are
  congruent
• Performance is consistent and clear to members
  and others
• Honour the diverse contributions that both
  Association and Unions make to the life of the
  University community

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Priority 8

• Student attitudes and behaviour influences staff
  actions and roles. Leadership must incorporate
  the realities of changing student characteristics
  into role behaviours of staff
• Younger students
• Less sense of personal responsibility
• More needy and demanding
• Less amenable to ownership and accountability
• Virtual skills in a resident University

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Priority 9

• Human resources has focused on developing
  leadership skills. They must now focus on
  facilitating leader behaviours and assuring that
  leadership development results in changed
  practices and improved outcomes
• Moving it across the system (including P/VP
  action)
• Enumerating behavioural change expectations
• Delineating a format for evaluating change
• Defining a process of measurement
• Enumerating a timeline for specific change
  expectations

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Priority 10

• The University must configure around 4 to 5 clear
  goals that can be incorporated into the work of
  every department and the role of every member of
  the university community to focus the passion and
  work of the university
• Doing work well is not necessarily performing
  well
• Work should be seen as service to others dazzle
  others with its quality
• Work teams should be setting their own goals
• The students and researchers evaluate the
  excellence of their experience fellow staff
  evaluate the service they provide to one another

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Realities of the Road

• Re-defining what it means to be a resident
  University in a virtual world balancing Student
  Experience and Research-intensiveness
• Maintaining community in the race to a new age
• Understanding the centralization / local
  dichotomy and its impact on culture
• Taking time to celebrate
• Work as the continuing journey of innovation
• There is no community without commitment

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You have reached your NIKE moment Just do
it..