Blog from Laurie Theeke, Associate Dean for the PhD in Nursing Program
Participation in GWALA was a great opportunity to network with people from across the campus, gaining perspective from others about leadership strategies they use to address challenges that, when shared, were often relatable to others in the cohort. GWALA as a program with this type of sharing leads to a group cohesiveness and longer-term relationships among faculty who may otherwise never meet. I can now say that I value each of my colleagues from GWALA as trusted members of the GWU community and my network.
The most important session for me was the session on staff engagement. Perhaps because there has been so much talk of culture and culture surveys. During this session, concepts were introduced and applied from the perspective of employer/employee and faculty/staff. Becoming familiar with the engagement hierarchy and understanding that it was based on Maslow’s work really fueled conversations about how the university engages with staff to make sure they are not only safe and surviving but that they are appreciated and important as integral members of GWU. Recognizing the importance of belonging as a need for employees provides a strong foundation for university action.
It was broadly recognized in the group that staff engagement is critical to the success of the organization and that individual people and school leadership need to be intentional so that staff perceive belonging at the university.
Critical points on staff engagement included:
1. Precision in Support to Staff
2. Promptly Responding to Staff Concerns
3. Seeing people as learning in place – knowing management is a learned skill
4. Addressing campus climate issues in a way that makes it clear that staff are not only essential but valued and worthy of development.
The tips during this session on coaching staff are also meaningful and could be used broadly by the leadership to work with faculty and staff who are doing their best but can still do better. Sometimes it takes another person to see the potential that we do not see in ourselves.
The overarching goal of having a positive work environment so that faculty and staff together can be motivated logically led to conversations about motivation and innovation. A focused perspective on staff engagement could indeed lead to an increase in faculty and staff collaboration to discover creative solutions to current issues so that we can all work to move the organization forward to reach its goals.