jennifer l erner associate vice president for e-learning northern virginia community college
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“Mary Isn’t contributing to the coffee fund!” strategies for managing staff in a rapidly changing environment. Jennifer L erner Associate Vice President for e-Learning Northern Virginia Community College. What “rapid change” looks like at ELI. Over a 2-year period, - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
Jennifer LernerAssociate Vice President for e-LearningNorthern Virginia Community College
“MARY ISN’T CONTRIBUTING TO THE COFFEE FUND!”
STRATEGIES FOR MANAGING STAFF IN A RAPIDLY CHANGING
ENVIRONMENT
Over a 2-year period,
Doubled staff from 25 to 50+
Experienced 15%+ enrollment growth every semester
Nearly doubled the size of the faculty (to 450)
Added more than 10 entirely new job categories/functions
Addition of several full-time telecommuters to staff
Expanded size of management from 4 to 9
Plans to move to new, larger facility (cube farm)
WHAT “RAPID CHANGE” LOOKS LIKE AT ELI
What I expected
Staff needing time to get to know new colleagues
Improved job satisfaction as individual workload was reduced
Enthusiasm and interest in new initiatives
What I gotErosion of trustTurf battles“We can’t change how
we do it because…”“Why does so-and-so
get…”Acting out, drama,
gossipBlaming and fault-findingLimited interest in new
roles and activities
STAFF RESPONSES TO CHANGE
The great coffee fund debate
The office dogs
The tyranny of the Social Committee
“Bring your laptops home!”
EXAMPLES
WHAT KINDS OF CHANGE ARE YOU DEALING WITH IN
YOUR ORGANIZATION?
HOW ARE YOUR STAFF RESPONDING?
Strategy
Rotating brownbag lunches Informal (no assigned
topic—just get to know you)
New staff meet all current staff over course of 6 weeks
Current staff sit down with colleagues not in their direct work areas
Staff response
Overall positiveLiked time to meet
with current colleagues
“forced socialization”
Pressure to do potluck/bring something fancy
SOME STRATEGIES TO TRY
Strategy
Catered luncheon to do overall welcome to set of new staff Assigned groups for
eating lunch with teambuilding activity (two true things and one false)
Assigned group leaders to facilitate activity (not managers) – foster new leadership?
Staff response
Minimal appreciation for the lunch
“forced socialization”
Fun follow-up conversations about facts learned about each other
SOME STRATEGIES TO TRY
Strategy
Anonymous Q&A
Allow staff to raise their questions and concerns anonymously and address the issues to the whole group
Staff response
Surfaced a couple of common questions immediately
Soon followed by “why are we doing this anonymously? I know who said X and they are lying/trying to cause trouble/etc. Why can’t they ask in a way that others can respond?”
SOME STRATEGIES TO TRY
Strategy
Individual thanks and praise Handwritten thank-you
notes Kudos board Praise calendar?
Staff response
Universally positive!
SOME STRATEGIES TO TRY
StrategyIncrease communication
and awareness of roles and projects of other staff Mitigate the “what does so and
so do all day?” and “why do we need x role when I used to do all that myself?” conversations
Strategy #1: all-staff brownbags
Strategy #2: Yammer
Staff response
Brownbags: Strong positive response
initially Fatigue after first few Limited interest across
functional areasYammer:
Social media fans immediately become heavy users
Policing (why does so-and-so not have to post weekly when I do?)
SOME STRATEGIES TO TRY
YOUR STRATEGIES?