Leader’s Forum – April 1, 2005

Leadership and Culture: Progress, Challenges, Next Steps

Guest Speaker: Dr. Tim Porter-O’Grady

Leader’s Forum – April 1, 2005

Strategies to Develop our Internal Organization:

What's Different Since 2000?

Leader’s Forum – April 1, 2005

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)

Leader’s Forum – April 1, 2005

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

Leader’s Forum – April 1, 2005

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.

Leader’s Forum – April 1, 2005

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

Leader’s Forum – April 1, 2005

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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Progress for the Future: Continuing the JourneyBy

Members of the University community

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Key Themes 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

The Challenge The Challenge

“Western provides the best student experience among Canada’s leading research-intensive universities.”

Paul Davenport, PhD President, UWO

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

What does that mean? 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?

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

The Challenge-Response 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

The community challenges: 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?

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

10 Priorities that reflect the themes throughout the University

community

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 1 Priority 1

• The P/VP must enumerate shared leadership practices as the University’s “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.

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 2 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.

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Suggestions (from a distance) in Faculty / Staff Partnership

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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Suggestion in Faculty / Staff Partnership

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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 3 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 4 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 5 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Key Point 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.

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 6 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 7 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 8 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 9 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Priority 10 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

Realities of the Road 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

The University of Western OntarioThe University of Western Ontario

You have reached your NIKE moment:

“Just do it………..”