Culture Input To-Date

Faculty Convocation Input – Staff Development (training, orientation, team-building, and advancement)

Establish standard methods of disseminating information to faculty and staff Trade Tech 101

o An orientation program for new faculty and staffo Sessions cover the “basics” of how to get things done at LATTCo Sessions held over the course of the academic year

Perhaps scheduled monthly sessions for routine aspects of college, department, or class operations and administration

As needed sessions for topical issues or items specifically requested Opportunity for “older” faculty and staff to share lessons learned

Trade Tech 201o Generic programs for faculty and staff memberso Communicate ongoing items of interest and importanceo Share innovation and success of colleagueso Provide targeted training as needed, for example for a newly introduced

system

Establish mechanisms that will help faculty and staff identify and get useful training If training is identified – how do I get it? Make the process clear and communicate it

o How does one apply for training, what forms?o Who needs to approve the request for training?o Any special protocol regarding attending training?o What do I need to do when I get back from training?

Complete a summary of training? Evaluate the course? Request reimbursement of expenses?

If training is taken, how is the training shared?o After training reports?o Present summary and evaluation of training

At department meetings Trade Tech 201 Use of flex time to share training experiences Other?

Establish an “Inventory of Available Training”o Identify training by type, easy of access

Conventions Webinars Online Workshops Industry offered Local, in state, out of state, etc.

o Organize material by topics covered and searchableo Summary by attendee

Recommended, not recommended, why Usefulness when applied to classroom teaching Contact information if someone want to discuss the course

Collaboration with Industry Groupso Identify emerging trends in industrieso Influence industry group to give training during non-teaching periodso Look for opportunities to with government agencies, e.g., DOE

Making training information easily available on the LATTC websiteo Establish a single portalo Provide links to various training siteso Encourage sharing of training informationo Encourage use of available training resources

Within LATTC Outside LATTC, e.g., Microsoft online training for word, other

software, etc.

Career Development Identify potential career paths for faculty and staff

o Mentoring by senior faculty and staff, as appropriateo Identify requirements for advancement and to reach career goalso Routine evaluations of performance and progress to goals

Identify, promote, and use professional development opportunities allowed in the union contract

o Trainingo Mentoring (as mentor or as mentee)o Sabbaticals

Maintain a record of training taken by faculty and staff

Classified Convocation Input

Staff Development

Access to existing opportunities Finding out about funding for outside opportunities (workshops) Training for self-defense and/or managing volatile situations/people is needed for

everyoneo Some staff (or faculty?) receive some type of training but not everyone

Communication problemso Better communication (about opportunities and other things) is needed.o Everything is on computers but not all people use computerso Poor communication to those without computers (physical plant)

No computer station or lunch stations are available for physical plant people; they are out of the loop

Update computerso TTC has license for Microsoft Office 2010 but hasn’t put it on staff computers

Timing of existing workshops and opportunities is difficult for someo A shift and B shift workers can’t attend events at certain timeso Work obligations prohibit staff from going to eventso Hard to get to training eventso Not encouraged to go

Resources Assistance for MOUS (Microsoft?) certifications

o Hands on training; software for training and studying for exams; allow people to use software on their laptops to study

o More resources for MOUS There are no resources for staff development

o No central office or representativeo No funds set aside

Schedule more computer training (Word, Excel, PPT) Conference and outside development funding

o Conference examples include those about the financial aid process; to stay up to date

o Funding is often denied or not available even if people do work for conferences

Bring in community leaders to hold workshops Management training is needed frequently

o Training is needed on how to treat employees with respect; how to encourage a nice/non-hostile work environment

o Management doesn’t support staff development (helping employees to get to the next level)

o Supervisors don’t help employees; fear employee promotionso Employees don’t hear about (horizontal and vertical) job opportunities

More opportunities for student workers

Incentives and morale Incentives are needed (like worker of the month, BBQs)

o Incentives are needed for night shift especially (they are told they’re lucky to have a job but there are no incentives to keep people motivated)

Incentives to help morale like recognition, comp. time, employee of the month, holiday gift certificates (honey-baked ham)

Promote a healthy lifestyle/work environment by providing exercise classes or coordinating group walks

Internal Culture

General Internal culture is a base for improving everything else at LATTC Internal culture building should be a goal of staff development Need system in place to better introduce students to campus culture (note:

assimilation), especially students coming from rough backgrounds (i.e., just out of prison)

Need more of a motivational culture—positive feedback, reinforcement Need better signage all over campus

Cohesive culture Need better communication among the staff There needs to be more of a “we” mentality rather than an “us” vs. “them” mentality:

between staff and students Need to develop more of a team culture Need a more cohesive (staff, faculty, students) and supportive (each group supports

the others) culture Need better knowledge of interconnections between departments to find what they

have in common Need better knowledge of other departments’ work Need team building across staff and faculty Need to work on breaking down ethnic/cultural organizational cultural barriers

(there are clear divisions between Latinos and African Americans, etc.)o One way to do this is by creating a safe space for talking about beliefs (e.g.,

one person noted an anthropology class he took in which the professor never used a book but instead focused on getting the students to question where their own beliefs, opinions, and biases actually come from—and whether or not they are valid)

Need to build classified staff morale by truly giving them a chance to participate; for example, staff may be invited to participate and get involved in committees, etc., but then when staff actually offer to join, they are told the committee is full and their help is not needed

Knowledgeable, service-oriented culture Staff need to be able and willing to help with issues outside of their own job/area of

expertise Staff need to have more knowledge about the campus, need to be more informed Need a more student-oriented culture Need better knowledge of interconnections between departments to find what they

have in common Need better knowledge of other departments’ work Should be more customer-focused, better customer service (workshops could help

with this?) It would be useful if everyone that interacts with students has a tip sheet with

answers to the most commonly asked questions; this way, instead of always having to redirect students to other departments, staff could help them on-the-spot with simple questions

Opportunities/venues for building a more cohesive, service-oriented culture Team building activities would help to build a more cohesive culture A staff sports league could help people from different departments learn more about

each other It would build staff morale and promote employee health if staff has access to the

campus gym so they could use it on their lunch break, etc. It would be nice to have something like an employee lounge—not just an empty

room with a table but a nice, comfortable space where people want to spend time, relax, etc.

More ‘hang out’ spaces in general would be great—might help students to be more relaxed and happy as well

Would like an annual picnic (other community colleges do this) where everyone can spend time together away from work getting to know each other

Concern that suggestions to supervisors are being taken as personal criticisms directed at the supervisor and not as suggestions for improvement

Don’t want supervisors to take feedback personally, want to work with supervisors to “fix problems”

Suggested that an anonymous way to make suggestions to improve operations and give feedback might be taken less personally by the supervisors, especially if the feedback came from more than one employee

Think it would be useful to have clearly understood Shared Service Goals – so everyone knows what they are trying to accomplish

Suggested that having routine group meetings to share what is happening, both up and down the organization, would help develop teamwork

Sometimes alternative ideas offered by employees are not given consideration but responded to with a “just do as you’re told” response

Flex Day Input – Accreditation and Accountability How do we inspire those faculty and staff who don’t care or who aren’t engaged to

participate more?o Provide team building exerciseso Teach/model the difference between communication and dialogue

Need to move away from silos Dialogue should include student participation

o Students are the expertso Students are hungry for this kind of participationo Should have regularly scheduled dialogues between counselors, instructors,

and students