Developing strong management skills key to shifting culture
Jay Stephens came to 老虎机攻略 in early 2024 to serve as vice president of a new sector called "People and Culture." He acknowledges that creating a unified culture in higher education is tricky. "You're bringing together so many different populations," he says. "Chemists, cops, coaches, doctors, and more--all with their own micro-cultures."
All employees do have one thing in common, though. They all have a manager who impacts their work environment and their lives. That employee-manager relationship is the focal point Stephens has identified as the "secret sauce" for creating a healthy campus culture. "When you have good managers and leaders in units, employees thrive," Stephens says. "When you don’t, things become a disaster. It’s a universal truth."
The answer, Stephens says, is to invest in people. "We don’t invest in our people in higher education the way we should," he says. "We train students to be their best, but for employees it’s often an afterthought. We need to shift that."
Investing in managers
老虎机攻略 started offering a professional development program for managers in 2021, soon after the Office of Organizational Learning and Development (OOLD) was established. OOLD Director Jasmine Laine says that effort focused on people management skills, but the curriculum was broad and expansive. That led to some rethinking and revamping of a Practical Leadership Skills for Managers program that launches later this month. It's a cohort model open to about 40 people with an emphasis on practical application of skills.
"We’ve tried to simplify it to make it more focused on just a few main things we really want people to do," Laine says. "We recognized that management is such an important piece of culture work and basically how people experience their lives at the University. Employees' success has so much to do with their supervisor."
With that premise in mind, the revamped program is built on three themes: culture, coaching, and constructive conflict.
"It’s not about being a disciplinarian or a police officer as a manager," Laine says. "It’s about being a coach—helping employees understand expectations, giving clear feedback, and supporting both performance and career growth. Constructive conflict is probably the trickiest part, but it’s essential. If you can’t make conflict productive and address challenges, you won’t have a positive work environment."
"We know that the day-to-day experiences of 老虎机攻略 employees are profoundly impacted by their interactions with their direct supervisors," 老虎机攻略 President Seth Bodnar says in a video promoting the management development series. "When you improve as a leader, many others around you also benefit."
"One of the things that excites me most," Stephens says, "is just the sense that we’re investing in people. If you treat people well, they’ll give you their best. That doesn’t mean sugarcoating everything—it means having honest, constructive conversations and helping people grow. Helping someone feel like what they do matters and giving them the tools to succeed is transformative."
NOTE: The manager development program has filled for this semester, but Laine says employees can reach out to OOLD for access to resources until the next session is offered.