University Culture

Earning the Trust of the Community

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CommunitySupport

No business can function well unless it earns the trust of the community where it operates. Without that trust, business is hard to conduct. It’s harder to create deals with local business and government, and employee engagement suffers if a business isn’t a good community citizen.

At Johns Hopkins University, we are fortunate to have an institutional commitment to our community that’s expressed in the university’s goals. Under the leadership of our president, Ronald Daniels, the university has resolved to accomplish ten important goals by 2020. The seventh of these is:

Enhance and enrich our ties to Baltimore, the nation, and the world, so that Johns Hopkins becomes the exemplar of a globally engaged urban university.

Click here to see our Ten by Twenty goals.

Sean Hunter, an excellent storyteller, explains how Hancock Bank earned the trust of the community when people desperately needed help after Hurricane Katrina.

It’s an inspiring story that I hope will trigger an important conversation: what else can we, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore’s largest private employer, do for our community?

Some Good and Bad Things About Working From Home

By in Living Well, University Culture No Comments Tags:

Working_From_Home

I don’t work from home, but it does seem like it could be a wonderful thing. If you work from home, you never need to change out of your pajamas! How great is that?

But like most things in life, working from home involves both pros and cons. It’s good to consider both before changing your work situation.

Pros

  • No commute – There’s no need to worry about car trouble, traffic jams, or bad weather.
  • Increased flexibility – Sure, you’ve got to put your hours in. But you can also be there to meet with the plumber who’s coming to fix your sink. You can even throw in a load of laundry!
  • Increased productivity – This actually depends on your personality and preferred work style. Some people find the peace and quiet of their home to be very beneficial in getting things done. It energizes them and helps them to focus.

Cons

  • Isolation – If you’re home alone all day, it can sometimes make you feel very isolated. You might miss interacting with clients and coworkers. And because you’re not in the office every day, you could be overlooked when it comes to new projects and promotions.
  • Distractions – We don’t all live in a quiet oasis! Some people have a lot of distractions at home – including family members, housemates, or demanding pets who are around during the day. And it can sometimes be difficult to focus when the television, Xbox, and refrigerator are so close-by.
  • Decreased productivity – Once again, this depends on your personality and preferred work style. But if you get energized by being around other people, and feel more creative when sharing ideas with your coworkers, then you might be less productive when you’re home alone.

So before talking to your boss about the possibility of telecommuting, consider both the negatives and positives. Research indicates that people working from home often feel happier than those in the office and are less likely to quit. But they’re also less likely to be promoted, and more likely to suffer from feelings of loneliness.

 

Chandler, S. (2015, July 7). The pros & cons of working from home. Investopedia. Retrieved from http://www.investopedia.com/articles/personal-finance/070715/pros-cons-working-home.asp?partner=mediafed

 

Reflections of an Aging Admin

By in JHU, Learning, Navigating Change No Comments Tags: ,

OlderWorker

Last week, I shook hands with President Daniels to celebrate 25 years of service. I have spent the prime of my life administratively supporting hard-science research projects at JHU. I like working beside and with smart, ambitious people on prestigious projects, even if I am “only” an administrative member of the team.

You’ve heard of the “Old Boys’ Network?” I consider myself a part of the “Old Girls’ Network.” We are the generation of admins who say, “Sure, I can help with that and then stay late to finish the task.” We have our strengths, and our weaknesses, we Old Girls! Just the other day, I was commiserating with another lifetime admin about the stress of working for a younger supervisor. I too used to resent having to explain basic business procedures to someone 20 years my junior, whom I imagined was earning, at his/her hire date, more than I made after 20 years on the job! Now, ironically, I spend my days as a trainer, spoon-feeding and/or shoveling knowledge into these youthful bosses so that they can flourish at this institution and help continue the mission of discoveries for the world. Resentment has been replaced by mild anxiety about whether the next generation will be ready and able to step up as we Old Girls contemplate retirement. My bosses are still older than I am, just barely. But my co-workers are all younger, so I still have to refer to some of the tactics cited in the article by Susan Adams, “How to Deal With a Younger Boss.”

After my last class, I jokingly asked the students NOT to text me with questions because I wasn’t good with that medium. One of the young students made this very sweet and telling comment, “Wow! You know SO much about this software [that you are teaching us] and yet you have trouble texting?” And I had to admit that she was absolutely right! I should be texting more. I Need To Evolve. I have two thumbs and a slider phone. Over the past year, I have even learned to deal with punctuation problems and misspellings that used to cause me to recoil in grammatical horror. Now, if I could just not resent the texting during a face-to-face meeting…

Tensions at Work

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WorkTension

In almost any industry, there are tensions between groups of people. Creative people often call financial people “bean counters,” and they aren’t being complimentary. Ask nurses what they think about doctors, and you’ll hear stories of arrogance and self-importance. Go to any technology company, and you’ll hear about the sales force — people who will promise anything to get their commission without any idea about how the work will actually get done. Ask an NCO in the military, and you’ll hear about officers fresh out of school who don’t have a clue. People who work in the pharmaceutical industry talk about the conflicts between the marketing people and the people who work in compliance. Sales and marketing folks clash because the sales people are trying to sell through a process of dialogue while the marketing people are focused on the marketing message. Almost every industry has these conflicts.

Universities are no different. Go to any university, and the faculty will complain about the staff and the staff will complain about the faculty. You will hear that the faculty are arrogant and have a sense of entitlement, and that the staff are lazy, incompetent time-wasters.

The truth is that most people are diligent, hard working, conscientious, and honest. Finding fault with a whole group of people in your workplace is easy. It’s harder to figure out ways to work together, appreciate the skills and good will of one another, and complement one another rather than enter into unproductive combat.

Tensions can be healthy if approached the right way. Perhaps the best advice on how to turn unproductive bickering and name calling into productivity is to follow the fifth habit described by Steven Covey in The 7 Habit of Highly Effective People: “Seek first to understand, then to be understood.”

It all boils down to approaching conflict with curiosity and developing seriously good listening skills.

 

Covey, S. R. (2004). The 7 habits of highly effective people: Restoring the character ethic. New York, NY: Free Press.

 

 

 

Managing Change

By in JHU, Navigating Change No Comments Tags: ,

Managing_Change

Once upon a time, an old Greek philosopher (Heraclitus) said, “The only thing that is constant is change.” Fast-forward to the present age and most people would not only agree with this maxim, they would probably notice that change is happening exponentially in our world.

Whether it’s moving to a new city, stepping into a new job, or buying a new house, the ability to successfully navigate through change remains one of the most important life skills anyone can possess. But before we can learn to embrace a new reality, we must traverse the change process. Only by dealing with feelings of resistance, denial, and uncertainty can we finally accept the new reality in which we find ourselves.

For more on managing change, click here to access the Johns Hopkins e-course.

 

Relationships and Teaming

By in JHU, Relationship Awareness, University Culture No Comments Tags: , , ,

Happy_Team

There are many factors involved in achieving success at work and in life, but there are two variables that can make or break any endeavor. They are the ability to build and maintain relationships, and teaming.

When people are able to build and maintain positive relationships with one another, they’re more likely to form teams that are productive. And productive teams can more effectively help an organization to achieve its mission.

If you want to learn more about relationships and teaming, click here to take the Johns Hopkins e-course.

 

Inspiring Admins

By in Leadership, Living Well, University Culture 2 Comments Tags: , ,

Happy_Admin2

This article on how administrative professionals value the qualities of their leaders really resonated with me. Sometimes people do not understand why we administrative personnel remain happily employed despite the low-ish salaries. If our leaders are good communicators, inspiring, and give clear direction, we can be quite satisfied. We admins have amazing opportunities at JHU to support some amazing people in some amazing projects. I will always remember my one colleague saying, “How many other people have the chance to correct a Nobel laureate’s travel expense reimbursement?” How many other people can come home from work having assisted a grateful scientist win a large proposal that will advance human knowledge on some frontier, not to mention provide funds for attracting and keeping some of the best and brightest in intellectual and social capital in and around Baltimore?

Don’t forget to appreciate and thank your administrative support staff. This second article describes some ways that you can do this.

 

 

Innovation and Problem Solving

By in Innovation and Problem Solving, JHU No Comments Tags: , ,

Innovation

There’s an old adage that goes, “don’t re-invent the wheel” when it comes to creating new concepts, programs, or projects. Instead, try making something better through innovation! A simple way to define innovation is to think of it as problem solving.

Contrary to what many people may think, innovation is different from invention, in that when you innovate, you’re creating something new by applying a new method to an existing invention. It requires you to use problem-solving skills to see the flaws in an existing invention, or to envision better ways of using existing inventions.

Want to learn more about innovation and problem solving? Click here to access the Johns Hopkins Innovation and Problem Solving e-course.

 

An Equitable Environment

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Equity

Equity is about more than just equality. It’s about ensuring that everyone has the right and the opportunity to be successful. It’s about building an environment where administrators, faculty, students, and staff are able to participate fully and thrive.

Equity must exist on three levels: within the organization, within teams, and among individuals.

Organization – Johns Hopkins University demonstrates its commitment to equity by:

  • Removing barriers and obstacles that prevent employees from attaining leadership positions
  • Making sure that all people at Hopkins are able to pursue their career goals and feel welcomed, whatever their gender, race, color, ethnicity, national origin, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression

Team – Every member of your team, including the managers or supervisors, should demonstrate a commitment to equity by:

  • Providing all employees with the opportunity to maximize their potential
  • Ensuring that all employees have an equal chance of promotion
  • Making sure that the work is distributed fairly among everyone on the team
  • Working hard at their jobs so that nobody ends up doing more than their share

Individual – Equity is not just about what’s given to you. It’s also about what you owe to others. You can help to promote equity by:

  • Encouraging everyone to participate and share his or her opinions
  • Helping to support others and making contributions where needed
  • Treating everyone fairly and honestly, while appreciating the qualities that make each person unique

Remember, equity is about being fair. Being fair means treating people even handedly and making a commitment to defend everyone’s right to receive just treatment.

 

Reflections on Rudeness

By in Communication, University Culture No Comments Tags: , ,

Rude

You might assume that people who work for universities are more civil and polite than people working in the for-profit world. During my career of almost 40 years, I have spent about two thirds of that time working for universities and the rest in the for-profit world. Sadly, I think that people in the for-profit world tend to be more polite than people who work for universities. I must admit that I have no data to back up that assertion — it is simply based on my observation.

It makes me wonder why that could be, and I have been pondering the question rather a lot frequently because I have had to deal with a rather unusual level of rudeness at work recently.

Perhaps the first reason is passion. People don’t usually work for universities for the money. They can usually earn more elsewhere, but they choose the university setting because they are passionate in their zeal to change the world. This can cause disagreements to become personal and emotional rather quickly.

Second, universities tend to be a little too forgiving. There are rarely such severe consequences for bad behavior as in the for-profit world. It often amazes me how universities tolerate persistent bad behavior.

Third, many people in universities believe that the right to be rude is part of the right to free speech. If you question the way people talk to each other, that is often viewed as trespassing on their right to express themselves freely.

Finally, rudeness is expensive. It lowers productivity — and that lowers profits. When an institution is not quite as mindful of the bottom line, nobody cares as much about what rudeness costs.

Why are people rude at all? It can create havoc, it reduces productivity, and people become unhappy!

Fortunately, Johns Hopkins University is changing in this respect. We are moving towards a standardized performance management system; equity, civility, and respect are part of our core values; and with budgets getting tighter, there is going to be less tolerance for ugly behavior. As the song goes, things are getting better all the time!

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