MGMT 9.3 Course Reflections

This course was a great instrument for me in regards to some changes I want to make in my own communication styles. One of the biggest things that stuck out to me is the performance feedback communication. This is something that I have just begun to experience last few years and this year because of this class, I am going to change up how I conduct these. It is so easy to copy and paste items from past evals and give the same feedback each year and move on to the next meeting, phone call, training, etc. but I want to make an impact, to mentor to challenge my employees.

Today one of my coworkers came to me saying that she is struggling with what goals she should put down on her eval. After I asked her some questions I listened to what she was thinking and based on that I told her what goals she should put down. She felt good about it and I felt that I got something out of this as well. I don't want to just say, "yeah we can see what we can do about that" I want to actually help make a difference. On the other hand I have an employee who puts down exceeds on pretty much everything on her eval and what she feels she is exceeding on is exactly what her job is. How do I approach this? I am nervous to speak to her but I know that going over the eval with her and explaining ways she can actually take initiative, mentor, improve her communication skills will help her in the long run. I am also going to ask her where she sees herself in the department in the next few years...is she looking for promotions or just raises?  

Effective communication is another big one for me. In our department, we are always sending out email reminders about things that counselors have done incorrectly or dispelling rumors or misunderstandings that they may have. It appears that we need to make time to do some refresher training and spend more time mentoring and coaching our employees. I am going to start a monthly training so that the counselors have an opportunity to learn and in turn teach each other. 

I am excited to see what these changes will do for not only me but for our department as well. 

MGMT 8.3 Innovation

Being in higher education, our organization is always looking for ways to be more innovated, more creative to bring in more students to the university (Daytona, Prescott and Worldwide) as well as retaining these students. In my department, we are always looking for ways to keep students’ sensitive information safe when they are submitting documents to our office via email or fax. Our IT department does a great job of monitoring each of our systems and sending out information that keeps our cyberspace safe.

One way we found to help keep sensitive information safe (such as tax returns which have their social security numbers and bank information) when students need to submit documents to us was to create a secure upload with IT. No system is fool proof but using this new system will help decrease the chances of documents being compromised. Once we got this secure upload up and running, we had to get our staff, online advisors and campuses on board with this as well.

We met with our staff and encouraged them to let their students know that we had a new secure way to receive documents and we also sent out emails to all our campuses and advisors explaining the advantages to using this system. Before long, our campuses and students starting using this secure upload and the best part is that we get documents a lot faster now. Another improvement that we can make is on our Terms and Conditions form that each student must complete annually. Over the years we have tried to make the form easy to use but it seems to have confused our students even more. By improving this process, we are still moving toward innovation in our processes. Because our counselors are the ones who deal with students daily and they also review the forms they should be the ones to suggest improvements on the form. By giving the staff the opportunity to suggest a better form, we will be promoting creativity among our staff.

As I stated in my discussion this week, I would like to improve communications with our team by seeing what they want improved (processes, policies). I would take the Underscore and Explore and use it from the employee point of view as a major way to boost creativity and innovation. The folks who are in it working our systems as well as our students on a daily basis have the best understanding of what improvements are needed and how we can get this. This is not a quick fix and will take time and dedication but I know we can get there.

MGMT 7.3 Communicating In Your Organization

Again this is the perfect week for this discussion and blog! In financial aid we get a ton of questions and some of the time they do not deal directly with financial aid. Questions such as what is the tuition rate? or Will these credits transfer in? or when will my refund hit my bank account?  None of these are directly related to financial aid and the student is always frustrated when we can’t answer those questions for them. Each department has their niche and it would not be wise for other departments to speak to the expertise of said department. However, Power explained in his article that being able to communicated across an organization helps employees understand the process from start to finish. They get a better idea of the who, when, why and what of that process.

Our office is teaming up with the online advisors to do some cross training as a group in the next couple of weeks. This is something that I have wanted to do for a long time but we never were able to do so in the past, primarily because of the time factor. Not enough time and too much to do. A few of the online advisors have sat down with us to review what our processes are and I feel that it has given them a better appreciation of what we do here. It is really easy to make assumptions and blame each other when things don’t go the way we want them do or there is a miscommunication between the departments and the student.

This is the first step in working across boundaries and I want to go to the next level and involve the other departments as well. We all work on the same floor (except the advisors) so we should have an understanding how each department functions and what makes them tick. By doing this we can improve our communications as well as look at processes from a new angle which can be a good thing. Power suggests that by working together we can solve some underlying issues that we may not be seeing because we are not working together as a team.

The plan is to speak with each department and set up some cross training or possibly workshops to bring everyone together for a better perspective. So many times there are issues but they are looked at by upper management, who have not been in the mix for a long time so they miss out on the key problems. By putting the people who deal with these issues everyday together, we can help solve or suggest better ways of doing things. This would be an ongoing project not something we try once and stop once we think we figured it out.

MGMT 535 5.3 DIKA model

In my organization, especially our department, we use the D-I-K-A model almost daily as our regulations can change very quickly. Our federal regulations can change anywhere from one a month to several years. We must be diligent with our policies and federal guidelines to be in line with the department of Education.

DATA: this is a representation of reality but it can be flawed. We may not have all the data or it may be outdated so we need to make sure that all the data we have is correct. My director and I are constantly checking to make sure that all our policies are in place, our procedures are clear and concise and we are following the federal regulations completely. We have a quality assurance person who works multiple reports to ensure that we are paying our students within the federal guide lines. Occasionally we come across a regulation that has changed but we may still have outdated data.

INFORMATION: this represents the data that can provide clues and/or news that may be relevant for our job. We must make sure that we are relying on relevant information for any problems we may face within financial aid. When we face a problem with information we must assess the situation. How will this affect our students? How will it affect our department? Our organization? Recently, we came across a regulation on repeat courses. The regulation states that a student can repeat a previously passed course (D or better is passing) one time. Any failure or withdrawal doesn’t count against the student. One part of the regulation contradicts another sentence and this is where it got tricky for us. I read the regulation the way it was explained to me but my director, the manager and the counselor read the regulation to mean that a student cannot repeat the course because he had already taken the course 3 times. This is when my director and I agreed to email the Training director for our region. I explained the situation and gave him examples and he told me that I was indeed correct. This was a good exercise to ensure that we are keeping up with our regulations and we can pass that information on to our counselors.

KNOWLEDGE: this represents the framework for organizing the relationships between pieces of information. We have two types of knowledge at work here; tacit knowledge which is like the mental framework that lays just under the surface, it helps guide our decisions. Then you have explicit knowledge where you put models, formulas and rules are put into play. Tacit and explicit knowledge go hand in hand and good managers need to be ready to use both. The repeat courses policy is tacit knowledge for me because I work the repeat courses report before the start of each term. I know the regs backward and forward. Because there was a question on understanding the regs we had to rely on our explicit knowledge (using the rule of thumb) to ensure we are correct in our processes.

ACTION: this represents the decisions made based on knowledge. In financial aid we are required to take corrective action from time to time, especially when there is an update we may not have been aware of. Usually when the regulations come out each academic year, they will label it with a NEW label or a caution symbol but sometimes they aren’t labeled and we don’t realize it until we are underway in the academic year. With knowledge, comes the responsibility of taking action when needed and required. As soon as we got the answer regarding the repeat courses, I updated the policy to be more clear and concise so that there is no confusion on what the regulation is explaining.

With the D-I-K-A model, it is important to get feedback during each phase to ensure that we are on the right track. With the ACTION phase, you are putting into work all the other phases, the data collected, information we have, the knowledge used to make the model must effective.

MGMT 4.3 The Future of Lying

This was a great video about the future of lying! I remember when my daughter was little and my rule was that we shouldn’t lie because it is wrong. Then comes the Easter bunny, the tooth fairy and Santa Claus…eek. I thought about it and decided that a little white lie when it comes to the “magic” of childhood is ok but is it really? As she has gotten older, she has questioned me on Santa Claus, “mom be honest, is Santa Claus real?” to which I reply, “yes Yasmeen, there really is a Saint Nicolas.” A technicality, right? Now that she is a teenager, we have talked about social media and the importance of being honest. Facebook is huge and daily I am sure you can find someone “calling out” another on their post without coming right out and saying that the person is lying.

I am on LinkedIn and I have viewed many profiles of people I want to connect with and those that want to connect with me. What I have found is when people I connect with that I do not personally know will rate me on things like leadership, team building, IT, etc. which I find interesting because these people don’t know me at all. How can they rate my skills? Some have even sent me a message asking me to rate them since they rated me. I tend to ignore these because I would be lying if I rated them on their job skills if I had no idea what they were capable of or not capable of doing.

I have come across a couple of LinkedIn profiles where I felt my colleague was stretching the truth on what they did. It came down to how it was worded so “assisting” on a project became “led” a project. Is it considered a lie or more like being the “butler” as stated in the video. For the most part though I have found most of my colleagues are more honest on LinkedIn. On my profile I have had people suggest that I “fluff” my profile on some things to make myself more marketable. For example, I don’t work with budgeting in my department but it was suggested that I list that because I have previous experience (from about 26 years ago) but I don’t feel comfortable doing that.

Social networking though it has many advantages it is a gateway to unethical behavior from something small like lying about where you are or how good of a parent you are to being a cyberbully. It seems to be so easy to lie on social media and phone but, people are still honest when it comes to emails. Perhaps because you can really say how you feel in an email without being interrupted like you would on a phone call or via text message. I know that for me it is a lot easier to communicate via email when I need to get something off my chest.

I have become more distrusting of media and of people in general these days because it is so easy to tell a lie that lies are the new truths. Think about how fast an article or missing child post is spread on Facebook without anyone doing any research to ensure that they are sharing something that is truthful. Everyone takes everything at face value without doing their own research. My undergrad Pysch professor used to tell us. “Believe nothing, Question everything”. That is what I am trying to teach my daughter, do your research don’t be a follower just because that is what everyone else is doing. Think for yourself. Lead by example.

MGMT 535 A Story of Organizational Culture

On a recruiter trip in 2014, I was able to chat with the executive director of Enrollment Management and some other upper management. We talked about how the morale seemed to be down in EM and how we were lacking the corporate culture. The director asked me what I would do to improve morale and the culture of our area. I threw out some quick ideas and he told me that we would meet after the trip.

In that meeting I talked about how we could make little changes that would improve morale and give the employees a feeling of belonging and be appreciated. After talking about my ideas, he put me in charge of a team that I would hand pick and if I kept him in the loop about what we were doing we could do pretty much anything we wanted as long as it was within reason. I had a team of seven and we had several brain storming sessions to decide our mission statement, our values and goals and of course a name; Enrollment Culture Committee. We had monthly newsletters where employees could write articles, submit poems and drawings, as well as recipes. Each member was charged with a part of this project and we collaborated well together.

We kicked off our committee by have a breakfast where the Director talked about what the ECC was about and that he was excited for what we were going to bring to our departments. At the end of the breakfast we had so many people come up to us and tell us how excited they were to have something like this where employees who work side by side could get to know each other better. Each month we did something creative such as a Spooky Trick or Treats day where the employees could decorate their cubicles for a prize, make their favorite Halloween treats to share. At Thanksgiving we had a progressive potluck where each department was in charge of a dish such as desserts, sides, etc. At Christmas time you could see stockings hung from cubicles and everyone got into the spirit of giving by dropping in notes, cards, and little gifts to brighten someone’s day.

These things helped the culture of our departments by encouraging each department to mingle, get to know each other as well as feel comfortable enough to ask questions on the behalf of students. Morale increased significantly and we were able to start a recycling program in our building. Most employees just want to be appreciated, told they are doing a great job and given a opportunity to be able to blow off some steam so that they can rejuvenate themselves. We also had a Gear Award where an employee could nominate a peer to be recognized for going above and beyond.

Because of budget cuts, we were not able to continue with the ECC but we still host pancake breakfasts from time to time and it always makes me happy to see the smiles on our staff members and of the chance to get to know each other better. I feel it is vital to have a strong culture within any organization to let employees know they mean something to leadership. Being invested in your staff goes a long way in making everyone happy in the long run.

MGMT 535 2.3 Taking someone to lunch

This video made me think of who I would want to take to lunch to get to know better, someone who I may not see eye to eye with at work. Immediately I thought of someone who used to work in my department that, given a chance to have lunch with her, I would so that I could understand how our dynamic became so broken. First let me provide some background. Tracy started working in the financial aid office about 6 months before I did and when I came on board I was very impressed with her knowledge and when given a choice on who I wanted as an office mate I picked her. At first, everything was great, I asked questions and she seemed so willing to help me. As I became more comfortable I asked less questions and gained a lot more confidence.

After six months I went to the manager and asked for more work. I wasn’t bored at all, I just wanted to continue to learn my job and expand my student base so that I could help in more areas. This initiative that I took didn’t go unnoticed and two years after being there I was promoted to manager (four years after that, I was promoted to assistant director and then two years ago, associate director). I was thrilled and took on my new challenges head on. Everyone in the office excited about my promotion except for Tracy. In her eyes, she had been there longer therefore she should have gotten the promotion not me. To her it was all based on seniority not knowledge or ability to get the job done. Any time a new employee came on board, she made a point of telling them that she should be the one in my position. This caused some tension in the office at times.

Looking back on this now, I would have loved to have taken her to lunch. It would have been so easy to do in the early days of her disdain for my advancement in the workplace to ask her to be open and honest with how it made her feel. Was she mad that she was not promoted? Did she want to be promoted? Talking to her about what was bothering her may or may not have made a difference in how she interacted with the office and how the office interacted with her over the years. Tracy was always willing to help campuses or students; however, she became very defensive if she was told something was not done correctly on an account. She immediately shut down and no matter what was said you couldn’t convince that there was a better, easier, or correct way to work the account.

The advantages of having an open and honest dialogue with others in the workplace helps in many ways. First, it provides a sense of trust and understanding within the department. Knowing that everyone is comfortable talking to each other helps with the feeling of community. You can go to each other for help, to vent about an issue, or just talk about life in general. Second, the work environment is pleasant, everyone wants to come to work because it a place that fosters cohesiveness, empowerment, collaboration and being a part of something bigger.

It takes one person who will not or cannot be a part of the group for whatever reason, that will tear down that cohesiveness and keep a department divided. Sadly, in some cases the only way to fix this is to get rid of that person who is causing the problem. Maybe having lunch with her early on would have changed that. I know that should I come across this situation again I will not let it fester I will approach it head on with fairness, openness and communicate in a way that we both feel comfortable with.