PROPEL Part V: 2019 Innovations

Posted on December 29, 2019 by admin

In 2019, 18 PROPEL team members created numerous innovations designed to improve service to students and attainment of college-wide strategic goals. During the development of PROPEL in 2018, the College established its own definition of innovation based on employee feedback from focus groups and surveys. To us, innovation is applying creative approaches to create value-added change. This means that something is innovative if it is new to us even if it is not new to you. While we may dream of developing ground-breaking innovations in artificial intelligence, for example, we recognize that we need innovations of all sizes to address the changing needs of students and society. The range of innovations developed this year reflect this understanding.

In 2019, PROPEL teams…

  • Developed and implemented an online course test drive, which enables prospective students to experience an example of an online course before enrolling. We know online education is new to some and providing prospective students with an opportunity to experience an online course in Canvas not only shows off our amazing course design, but it also empowers prospective students to begin the journey of an online program.
  • Developed, budgeted, and planned a virtual affinity group platform for students, alumni, and employees, which provides a place for everyone to engage online around topics beyond one’s program of study or primary job duties. Online affinity groups will facilitate mentoring, collaboration, student-to-student support, relationship-building, and more.
  • Developed and implemented additional benefits for students who are part of the military and first responder community. These benefits required changing policies to reduce fees for these students who are dedicating their lives to ensuring the safety and security for us all.
  • Currently in development is the final proposal of 2019, which focuses on providing doctoral students with an opportunity to showcase their dissertation research via a short video. If approved, doctoral candidates would receive support from the College to develop a video that showcases their use of technology and research expertise. Videos would enable graduates to market themselves and share their research broadly.

PROPEL teams develop the innovation and propose an approach to implementation, but they are not necessarily the same people who must follow through with implementation.  Each team consults with the critical stakeholders connected to their innovation, but once approved, team members may choose not to be involved in implementation. We included this option so team members could pull back if they no longer had the capacity to remain heavily involved. From there, I coordinate implementation and involve team members based on their preferences. While some of these innovations begin as pilots, others are approached as strategic initiatives that require greater planning, approval, and budgeting. Turning PROPEL innovations into reality requires investment from colleagues across the College. Whether we pursue a small pilot or full launch, implementing each innovation is an area of PROPEL we continue to refine.

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The Great Wisdom of Bill Murray and My Father – Put Yourself Out There

Posted on December 22, 2019 by admin

A great man once said  “I try to be available for life to happen to me. We’re in this life, and if you’re not available, the sort of ordinary time goes past and you didn’t live it. But if you’re available, life gets huge. You’re really living it.”  That great man was Bill Murray. I’m not an actor.  Thank goodness.  I don’t think I would make very entertaining movies.  But the minute I read this quote many years ago, it stuck with me.  I have reshaped it a bit in my mind and have come to capture the sentiment in one phrase – put yourself out there.  To me that means taking risks, big and small.

I should also diverge here briefly to point out that I was raised by a father who is a financial manager, a CPA, and who raised me with the boy scout motto to always be prepared.  This says a lot about who I am today and the types of risks I take.  For many years, I perhaps lingered on the side of being too conservative….I had to plan everything to the letter.  Then one day, I learned the hard lesson that even all the best laid plans may still not lead to the expected outcome.  Recovering from that hard lesson I discussed with my father a change in my plans. If my dream was too risky, well, I just wouldn’t pursue it.  I would pursue something sensible and responsible.  It was then that my father taught me a new lesson, sometimes you just have to go for it and trust your gut.  Sometimes, you just have to put yourself out there.

Over the years I’ve learned that putting myself out there, being available for life to happen to me, requires living in a grey area that can sometimes be uncomfortable.  For me, it means never saying never.  There are endless opportunities ahead if we are open to seeing them. 

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PROPEL – Part IV: Implementing an Organizational Change Initiative in Higher Education

Posted on December 15, 2019 by admin

In Part III of this series on PROPEL, I shared how I developed the PROPEL initiative including gaining approval from my College president and executive team as well as solidifying employee engagement and support.  Today, I would like to share more about implementing PROPEL, including recruiting team members, developing team training, and creating an Idea Bank.

A few months prior to launching the first PROPEL team, I began recruiting team members through what I called my PROPEL Roadshow.  I presented at regular department meetings for all teams across the College, held a virtual Coffee Chat, and sent email announcements.  I shared the purpose of PROPEL and how it connected to the feedback they provided earlier in the year.  My goal was to ensure every employee had the information they needed to decide if they wanted to join a PROPEL team.  Then, I asked interested employees to complete an online interest form. By completing the form, employees had to indicate their interest, when they preferred to participate, and acknowledge the participation requirements. The form was automatically routed to the individual’s supervisor to approve participation, and all completed forms and approvals were routed to me via email.  This approval process helped me stay organized while giving each of our more than 250 employees the opportunity to join.

I also began working with the College training and development department to build an online, self-paced training in Canvas for all PROPEL team members.  This was an amazing experience and my first time building an online training.  I wrote the content and worked closely with a designer who added the videos, audio, and other bells and whistles.  The training gives team members the tools they needed to understand how to complete their work (e.g., resource locations, strategic goals) while building knowledge and awareness of how to plan and lead change.  The content aligns with Kotter’s 8 steps for leading change (Kotter, 1996). This alignment generates energy within the team while demonstrating application of each step.  The training then concluded with a walk through of the 8 steps and how they relate to being a PROPEL team member.  Team members complete various activities during the training including discussion posts about their motivations for joining PROPEL, knowledge assessments such as matching “quizzes,” and a final assessment.  All team members also complete a Pre-Participation Survey before the training begins.

In addition to the training, we had to set up an Idea Bank that would house all employee ideas for innovation.  Employee feedback in 2018 indicated the desire for employees to share innovative ideas and to better understand the types of innovations in progress in other departments.  Of all PROPEL components, the Idea Bank has experienced the greatest variation over the past year, and I will devote an entire post to the continued evolution of the Idea Bank at some point.  For now, I’ll just say that we established a common place, accessible online to all employees, where anyone could share their ideas and learn about exciting projects in development around the College.

Implementation of PROPEL was supported by numerous colleagues.  I simply didn’t have the time or expertise to do everything necessary to support this initiative.  I couldn’t even figure out how to set up automatic routing from the team member interest form to secure supervisor approval.  I cannot underscore enough the importance of collaboration and shared ownership that brough this dream to life.  For that, I owe a debt of gratitude to my colleagues and College leadership. 

In January 2019, the first PROPEL team launched. Since that time, 18 employees on four PROPEL teams have participated and new teams are developing now for 2020.  Now that I’ve shared the journey to get the PROPEL initiative off the ground, I can finally get to the most exciting part – the innovations developed by these teams and what they mean for students!  More on that coming soon!

Reference

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

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Relationships Matter

Posted on December 8, 2019 by admin

Several years ago, I completed the Clifton Strengths Finder assessment to better understand myself and the ways in which I engage with others professionally. The Clifton Strengths website indicates that the strength themes “explain the ways you most naturally think, feel and behave.” I recently (finally) made time to truly evaluate the results of my assessment, and it gave me a lot to think about.

The Clifton Strengths are organized into four categories: executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking. The assessment revealed my top five natural strengths all fall within two of these categories: executing and strategic thinking.

The assessment enabled me to articulate the ways in which I unconsciously operate and highlighted areas where I may need to exert more effort. I pride myself on being efficient and effective. Take one look at my strengths (numbered above) and this should be no surprise.

Above all else, I have an incredibly high sense of responsibility, and I aim to achieve. In most of my professional life, I have been able to achieve what was expected of me regardless of position or department because I have been able to analyze problems, understand the context, learn what I needed to do, and get the job done.

Over the last two years, my responsibilities evolved. I faced new challenges and found myself hitting road blocks. Getting things done was no longer as easy as before, and I had to wade through several frustrating projects before realizing I too needed to evolve. Taking time to reflect on my strengths helped me recognize that I have been missing out on opportunities to build meaningful connections. This has implications for not only my own professional success, but also for those I lead. An important part of leadership is empowering others and supporting them in developing their own rich lives. Having a positive influence on others and impact on my field requires investing the time and energy into developing genuine relationships.

Over the past several months, I’ve considered how to grow my strengths including seeking advice from others, and I learned a valuable lesson. Relationships matter. To put it in terms I naturally understand, relationships are productive.

That’s why, in 2020, I am making relationship building a personal and professional goal. I know it won’t come easy to me because this is not the way I most “naturally think, feel, and behave,” but I see the value. I also see that I have a responsibility to myself and others to welcome experiences that come from connection.  I believe improving myself in these areas will be both personally and professionally rewarding and am excited for the opportunities that await. Stay tuned for progress and if you know me in real life, I hope to connect real soon.

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Qualitative Research Has My Heart

Posted on December 4, 2019 by admin

For the past 24 months I have been developing, implementing, and collecting data for my research exploring how a reflective action learning intervention impacts innovation in higher education. 24 months…I can’t believe it has been that long. Sometimes I feel that not enough is being done to ignite innovation, and that my research will drag on forever with little impact. In 2019, 18 faculty and staff on four teams participated in this intervention and more will join in 2020. The innovative outcomes produced by these teams may take months or years to implement, and the effectiveness of each innovation will take even longer to realize. No wonder I sometimes feel like there is no end in sight. But as I learned while recently conducting a little preliminary qualitative data analysis, there is no need to wait for some contrived end…the meaning is already there, embedded in the work, waiting for you.

One day I will share the preliminary findings of my research with you all, but not right now. Right now, I want to share a short reflection on my research and how it led to a shift in my identity.

The vast majority of data for my current research are qualitative. I don’t consider myself to be a qualitative researcher. My career in institutional research and assessment has been focused almost exclusively on quantitative data. I’m way out of my comfort zone here. To become more comfortable with qualitative data, I recently completed several rounds of coding using different approaches. With The Coding Manual for Qualitative Researchers (Saldaña, 2015) as my guide, I coded a sample of my preliminary data using process coding followed by focused coding. I then turned around and coded the same data using descriptive coding followed by pattern coding.

Being relatively new to qualitative coding, I always feel like I’m doing something wrong. I want everything to fit into a nice formula or table, and well, that just isn’t how qualitative coding works. After completing these coding exercises, a litany of areas for improvement stood out to me. I realized my first cycle of coding was always too high level, and I need to be more granular at first. I need more time to step away between first and second cycles, and frankly, I need at least three or four passes to truly begin to make sense of the codes, categories, and themes. I also learned that some coding styles feel more natural and that one coding method may fit with a purpose of one’s research better than another. Although I felt I had missed so much and made so many mistakes, I forged ahead.

I reexamined the descriptions, applications, and methods of analysis associated with my coding approaches, and then I returned to my data. The iterative nature of qualitative research became my reality. And then it happened. Trends and themes started appearing, almost like they were jumping out of my coding software (HyperResearch) and into the air in front of me. I did it! And wait…I remember this feeling from earlier this year when I first started coding qualitative data. I’ve done this before! Holy cow! Does this mean…I’m a qualitative researcher?

Identity is a powerful thing. Although for most of my career I lived with quantitative data, I never truly felt at home there. Each time I sit down with my qualitative data and work through that iterative process – coding, memo-writing, codeweaving – each time those trends and themes start jumping out at me, I see the potential. I feel the possibilities. And all I want to do is dig in deeper to understand more. While I will always value the complimentary benefits of mixed methods, I want the world to know…qualitative research has my heart.

The biggest lesson I have learned from reflecting on my journey as a researcher is not about the steps I should follow to complete the process. It’s that while it can be daunting to dive into an endless sea of qualitative data, those pearls you find after scavenging the depths and sifting through the sand are worth it. So dig in. You never know what is waiting for you.

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Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad…Month

Posted on November 16, 2019 by admin

Over the last year, I’ve done a lot of reflecting on leadership. In January, I accepted a promotion to lead a new department. The opportunity to lead this new team has been an amazing challenge.  It allows me to work closely with seven talented team members, many in new positions, to improve student outcomes. It also positioned me to have a new peer group of senior academic leaders to learn from and support. As I took on this new role, I evaluated what type of leader I want to be. I considered the leaders I had served under throughout my career and identified my three priorities as a leader.

  1. To ensure my team members never feel alone. I seek to build trust so team members feel comfortable reaching out for support and guidance and by touching base regularly to minimize isolation.
  2. To be fair. I seek to treat each team member equitably, recognizing their unique strengths and challenges, while working with them to continually improve.
  3. To be clear. Brené Brown has a well-known saying, “clear is kind.” The more I have reflected on this statement, the more I recognize how it captures the importance of effective communication. I seek to provide clear guidance to my team to facilitate effective communication.

Throughout the past 11 months, I have taken several moments to step back and examine my performance.  I’ll admit that these moments have been few and far between given the multitude of competing priorities, but sometimes these moments force themselves….perhaps, like today, that happens while eating chocolate cake for breakfast and drinking coffee after having already worked two hours early on a Saturday morning.

Have you ever felt like you had a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day, week or month?  I have. Over the past 11 months, I’ve had bad days and rough weeks (I’ve had good days too, I should add), and then October rolled around and factors from all areas of life combined to present what at times has felt like never ending challenges.  I decided this morning that this has been my terrible, no good, very bad month (reminding me of a book I remember reading as a child Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz, 1972).  I acknowledged that I am human and that comes with imperfection. I also realize that I may not be the only one who has felt this way. 

Staying true to my leadership priorities, I’m sharing my thoughts and experience here in case this makes even one person feel better or less alone. I also want to be very clear that this terrible, no good, very bad month is not the fault of anyone other than me. Sure, things have happened outside of my control, but what I can control is how I respond to those events.  To be fair to myself, I recognized this weeks ago as I felt the pains that come when one grows out of challenging times. So what did I do when I felt this strain? I tried to handle it all on my own. And here’s a vulnerable secret, I could have done it better.

I increased the frequency of my meditation practice hoping to minimize the stress by improving my clarity of mind, focus, continuity of behavior, acceptance of myself and others, and attention to the present moment. It helped. I found myself craving meditation every day, sometimes multiple times each day. Did it solve my problems and make me the best leader possible? No, not yet.

I started running more. Longer runs. Faster runs. More frequent runs. Running usually helps me work through complex problems and clear my mind. Regular exercise also boosts serotonin and moderates levels of stress hormones. It can also help improve quality of sleep. (Side note, apparently at the age of 36, it can also cause new pain in body parts you didn’t know you had). Did it solve my problems and make me the best leader possible? No, not yet.

I engaged in more activities I typically enjoy to remind myself that I am a multifaceted person with many interests and good qualities. I spent more time with family and friends. I donated my time by volunteering in my neighborhood. Did it solve my problems and make me the best leader possible? No, not yet.

I tried all these approaches to cope with stress and manage the challenges I face personally and professionally. But even when engaging with others, I did not share with them what I have been feeling. While I do discuss some difficulties I face with husband, I was still holding back. It wasn’t working. I needed support from others. I could not face every challenge alone. And in reality, I am not facing them alone, but by failing to have meaningful discussions with others facing similar challenges I felt all alone. This is what I’ve learned. This is why I’m putting myself out there and sharing this with you because it’s hard to accept that we can’t or perhaps shouldn’t do everything alone. We are stronger together – both in what we can accomplish and who we can become.

While I have not yet mastered being a leader, I know that I can continue to dedicate myself to living by my three priorities in all areas of my life by supporting those around me (by being more human) so we all feel less alone, by treating others and myself fairly, and by clearly communicating with others about what I need and helping them articulate what they need. Modeling these practices may help others grow as well.  Acknowledging that we all have room to improve and sharing that journey, may in fact bring us closer together.

Do you have a growth experience to share? I would love to hear from you in the comments below.

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Is the education silo impeding transformations?

Posted on October 28, 2019 by admin

I recently read an article, The Numbers Behind Successful Transformations, in which the authors share four indicators that increase the odds of successful organizational transformations (definitely worth a quick read).  They argue for an approach based on data from their own research including interesting case studies and infographics. As I read through the article, I found myself adapting their examples from manufacturing and chemicals companies to my own industry, education. This is not an unusual situation. I often find myself reading a cutting-edge article about leadership, strategic growth, employee development, or innovation and having to reframe the principles to fit my field due to a paucity of accessible, evidence-based articles providing guidance for those leading change in education. One could argue this is because I’m reading articles from a wide range of sources and am not sticking with the usual higher ed sources, but this happens time and again even with pointed searches in the realm of education. Why is it that seemingly every other industry under the sun is seen as actively pursuing organizational innovation and education is left in the dust? (I do recognize there are a select few good reads out there that include a range of industries such as Dual Transformations by Anthony, Gilbert, & Johnson).

Private sector businesses designed to help organizations improve, transform, and keep up with the changing times don’t see education as a market demanding these skills. For example, the article above stems from McKinsey & Company, a management consulting firm that proclaims, “We help organizations across the private, public, and social sectors create the change that matters.” The list of 21 industries they serve ranges from aerospace and agriculture to healthcare and retail. Why isn’t education viewed as an industry that might capitalize on the services such a company provides to improve organizational growth, manage risk, enhance marketing, and strengthen operations? If any industry crosses the public/private sector seeking to create change that matters, it’s education!

To be clear, I’m not picking on McKinsey. They provide valuable services to a whole host of businesses trying to meet the evolving demand of our rapidly changing world. Which is exactly what education needs to do. This is no secret to most education leaders, but the path to finding that transformational change, that recipe to ensure continued enrollment, high quality faculty, and engaging pedagogy, that path is unclear.  But it doesn’t need to be opaque. The lessons gleaned through research and applied to every other industry apply to education as well. While education is a complex system with unique challenges, the same can be said about healthcare, government, and other industries. We must learn across industries. We must embrace strategic leadership that drives organizational learning and innovation. We must look outside ourselves, outside academia, and draw on the strategies and opportunities other industries have capitalized on for years.

When I started writing this post, I intended to write about the four indicators to consider to maximize the odds of a successful organizational transformation.  I encourage you to check out the original article linked above, but also, to think about what it will take to get education out of its silo to learn and grow with other industries. Am I missing major components of the issue here? Do you know of management firms like McKinsey that include education in the industries they serve? Are there other groups you believe are filling this need in education? Please share your perspective. Continue the conversation. Initiate change.

Reference

Laczkowski, K., Tan, T., & Winter, M. (2019). The numbers behind successful transformations. McKinsey Quarterly. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/transformation/our-insights/the-numbers-behind-successful-transformations#0

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Strategic Leadership

Posted on October 18, 2019 by admin

My article on strategic leadership in higher education was recently published in the online newspaper, Evolllution! One of my goals for 2019 was to put myself out there more to share my perspective and expertise with others in my field. Starting this blog was the first visible step in that journey, and seeing my article in Evolllution is an exciting milestone on my path to having a greater impact. Check out my article and please leave comments below if you would like to learn more about specific topics related to higher ed, leadership, and organizational change.

https://evolllution.com/managing-institution/operations_efficiency/what-strategic-leadership-looks-like-in-practice/
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PROPEL – Part III: Gaining Support for an Organizational Change Initiative

Posted on September 10, 2019 by admin

In Part II of this series, I began to describe the case for developing an organizational change initiative. Initial interviews with employees suggested there may be a need for intentional, structured opportunities for cross-departmental reflection and collaboration. Employees occasionally mentioned that the college culture supported collaboration and change, which reinforced my belief that an organizational learning initiative that leads to action would be a good fit. While it appeared that employees felt comfortable driving change, I needed to confirm this perspective was broadly shared across the college before investing resources in an organizational change initiative. 

I recognized that gathering input from all employees would require significant support. First, I prepared a written proposal using the existing data I had gathered, best practices in organizational learning and change, and research from the field. The proposal was structured following Kotter’s 8 steps to leading change (Kotter, 1996), and this approach ensured the inclusion of information framed in a way that would increase support. I shared this proposal with my supervisor, the Chief Academic Officer (CAO), and scheduled time for us to discuss my vision. The CAO was familiar with some of the research I shared in my proposal, and after discussing some operational considerations and making minor adjustments, she agreed to support my vision. I now had a supporter in my corner who was willing to take my proposal to the executive leaders and build support, which is exactly what happened. After the executive team reviewed the proposal, I worked through numerous questions and concerns by reviewing examples in the literature, reflecting on our organizational context, and discussing possible adjustments with the CAO. With significant preparation behind me, I presented my proposal to the executive team. I spent over 30 minutes answering questions and addressing concerns. My biggest priority was to gain support for the next phase of research I would need to gather more input from employees. I also emphasized that the change initiative, whatever model we would develop, would certainly be the first iteration of an evolving organizational change process. It was important to me to ensure the executive leaders anticipated change in the process and recognized that I could not promise one static model to drive organizational change at the college. Ultimately, my proposal was approved!

With leadership support, I initiated the second phase of my action research study in September 2018 and set out to build college-wide engagement through interviews with executive level leaders, focus groups with faculty and staff, and a survey sent to all staff and faculty (including adjunct faculty).  Through this research, I explored employee perceptions of current opportunities, support, and need for innovation and reflective practice within the college.  Additionally, this was an opportunity to engage employees in the development of the PROPEL initiative for organizational change.  By seeking input from all employees, I was able to foster broad support and ground the initiative in employee feedback.  Results based on responses from over one hundred employees indicated that employees felt supported in reflecting and suggesting innovative ideas for improvement by direct supervisors, but this support varied by department and was informal and unstructured.  Employees suggested there was a need for innovation in higher education and at the college. Additionally, the majority of participants were eager to participate in a cross-departmental reflective action learning group. 

Using employee feedback and leadership support, I began developing the PROPEL model for organizational change. PROPEL would provide a structure and process to enable groups of employees to reflect, learning, develop innovative ideas, and turn ideas into strategic action for continuous improvement. By regularly convening groups throughout the year, the college would have a systematic method for adapting to meet changing needs.

In Part IV of this series, I will provide more detail about implementing PROPEL, including developing the PROPEL training and Idea Bank, and eventually, I’ll share examples of several innovations in progress as a result of PROPEL. Stay tuned!

Reference

Kotter, J. P. (1996). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.

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Philosophical Perspective on Research

Posted on July 7, 2019 by admin

I consider research to be a process of empowerment for both the researcher and key stakeholders.  By including those most impacted by the problem of study, a researcher serves as the guide to employ rigorous methodology while integrating key players who may not have experience in conducting research themselves. This approach requires extra attention to every step of the research process and is integral to creating meaningful change.  My beliefs about the benefits and potential of research reflect my stance as a social justice researcher (Manning, 2009). 

My research is outcomes oriented and places value on equity and fairness.  Through my current research specifically, I am exploring models for changing systems and institutional structures that perpetuate inequity.  Before launching the PROPEL initiative, focus groups with faculty and staff revealed a consistent desire among employees to be included in decision-making and to have transparency in changes happening across the college.  This desire did not seem to stem from a distrust of leadership, but rather, employees wanted to know what was going on in other departments so they could help each other and benefit from lessons learned.  This was a remarkable finding from my early research and suggested that creating an organizational action learning initiative, which brings faculty and staff into the idea generation, creation, and implementation process, would improve employee satisfaction and engagement as well as foster continuous improvement.  

When developing the PROPEL model, my goals were to give all employees a voice, provide the resources to learn new skills, and empower them to take action to implement innovative ideas.  From a social justice perspective, the PROPEL model should improve equitable sharing of power and bring voices from diverse backgrounds to the decision-making tables.  One choice I made to ensure inclusivity was to encourage adjunct faculty participation. Based in a faculty-practitioner model, many of our faculty work full-time in their field of study and teach in addition to their other responsibilities.  This is certainly true of adjunct faculty members.  It would be difficult to include them, but their voices are a valued part of understanding the needs of students and ways to improve the college.  Therefore, the college leadership team approved  a budget including a small stipend to encourage adjunct participation.  This has been well worth it with every team this year including one adjunct and one non-adjunct faculty member.

Time will tell how effective this model is at giving all employees a voice.  Through my research, including pre- and post-PROPEL Participation Surveys, interviews, and observations, I will explore themes derived, in part, from the voices of participants.  I will begin analyzing data routinely later this year, so stay tuned for more details about how this process may actually be impacting equitable decision-making and power-sharing across employee types and hierarchical positions.

Reference

Manning, K. (2009). Philosophical underpinnings of student affairs work on difference. About Campus, 11-17. 

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