Empowerment

Career Planning CD

Champion to SFS?

Becoming a LearningOrganization

Recognition Review

Measuring Performance

Payroll Customer ServiceCrusade VOluJ1ze 10, Number 3 Fall 1999

Ell Retreat. October 6=8.1999Susan C~J1lbel; G;:allt & Contract Accounting

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everal of us started the retreat with a

"stroll" to the big trees before dinner. We

started together [n a pack, but soon

spread out. Rut h and Doug led the way, try­

ing to convince us that the big trees were"just around the next corner." Ann and I fol­

lowed, not terribly convinced, as the stroll

turned into a hike. Susan and our faci litator

Debby brought up the rear. They really had

intended going on a short wa lk and wanted

nothing of the steep hills ahead. We ran into..,;.

Frank on the trail doing some bird watching._ J ~

He joined us for the latter part of the walk

lind shared his Jrnowledge of native birds

with us. As a result of our hike, several of us(

were late for dinner, some more than others.

We were reminded that dinner the next night

was at 5:30 P_M sharp! Guess we'd be!ter

think twice in the future before setting out

for parts unknown.

We then gathered in Pack Hall for some

ice breakers. We first broke into birth order

groups (firsts, middles, babies, onlys)ynd an­

swered some past, present and future trivia.

I'm proud to say that the middles won - at

least by our scoring criteria! Next, we came

up with personal, local and global milestonesfor the 70's, 80's and 90's. Some of us have­

better me mories than others and it was sur­

prisingly di fficu lt to come up with global andlocal even ts for theSfl 's. Must have just been

one of those decade~ !

We the n previewed a potential training

movie called VVllO Moved the Chee~ and

qui ckly turn ed it thumbs down. It was far

too cheesy!!

We ret ired to our cabins and dorm rooms.

The sleep was better for some than others.

Tjle roo ms ranged from little- cells with short

single beds and a dresser (and almost enough

room to turn

aro und) toindividualdorm roo ms ~

that were a

little roomier

with two

beds and

rOOlTI to

breathe.

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DIRECTions . ..Palllgg9

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Anthony Amaratungc, PayablesAdministration

t the QI Awareness Training, heldNovember 4-5 1999, Verna Blackhurst,Stepheny Bonner, Denise DeNeve,

r: Margret Petrie and Elvin Smith were askedwhy should employees be empowered. Theycame up with the following ideas:

• Better participation in decision-making• More job satisfaction• Higher morale• Increases confidence• Contributing value to organization• Involvement• More productive• More creative• Willingness to take risks• Desire• Motivation• Less sick leave• Effective streamline• More accountability• Reduces mistakes• Input respected• More trust in both ways

Financial Management believes that col­laborative management and open communi­cation are iInp~rtant factors in ensuringsuperior service. The quality of our servicescontributes to the financial strength of theUniversity and that quality is everybody'sbusiness-from new employees to the Assis-

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tant Vice President. Therefore, we need totalinvolvement in quality improvement from allin Financial Management. This is where em­ployee empowerment plays a vital role.

goals, measures, decision-making, agendas ,logist ics, ground rules, trust and commit­ment. We agreed on some min or changesbut, overall, plan to keep the structure of theEIT as it is.

It was a refreshing but hard-workingretreat. We came away with a strong commit­ment to develop a Strategic Plan that willhelp guide Financial Management into thefuture.

f:mpowerment

[Cont'd]eaef:TWe woke up Thursday morning and headed

for a filling Pack Forest waffle breakfast. We 'talked most of th day about Strategic Plan­ning, welcoming Gail Zucker, a consultantworking with UW Training and Development,

/" to lead parts of our discussion. She walked us(

thro ugh the status of currept Strategic Plan- ~

ning efforts at the UW and.showed us herStrategic Planning model. We broke at 10:00AM for cinnamon rolls and then returned toelicit Gail's suggestions on how we might im­plernent Strategic Planning inFinancial Management.

After a lunch of deli sandwiches, we re­turned to ta lk more about our Strategic Plan-

ning questions. We talkedabout what we've done andneed to do in Financial"Man­agement and shared experienc­es from our individual units.Earlier in the day, our facilita­tor, Debby Seaman, had givenus each several hundred "dol­lars" which we were free toshare with our teammates aswe saw-fit. The money started

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rolling as everyone showed ap-preciation for the, Strategic

Planning done in individual units and thewillingness to share those ideas.

In the evening, we had a dinner manicottitopped with marinara sauce or chicken. By-riow, wallowing in filling mea(after fillingmeal, some of us were b"eginning to lose ourappetite. After dinner, we went back: to ourcabins for a little rest and reading. At 7:00 PM,

the designated "party cabin't-s-occupied byDoug, Ruth and Susan-hosted a gatheringfor all interested in attending. The conversa-

(I tion was lively and it gave us a great opportu­

nity to learn more about our teammates.

After another large meal on Friday morn­ing , wechanged gears slightly and took a lookat the EIT-our purpose, membership, roles ,

• O"U~CTIOnS ... Palllgg9

Career Pia nAnita Bingaman, Payroll

CD Champ on 0 SPS?Ruth Johnston, VariousDJ Located

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Page 6

My philosophy is, ... wanting to assist

students to growand develop in theircollege years so they r-:

can assume theresponsibilities of

adulthood andcontinue with

lifelong learning.

Ihave completed most of the new careerplanning software program DevelopmentV\0rks and I would like to recommend it to

anyone wanting to prepare for job enrich­ment or a career/change.

It stresses the importance of takingresponsibility for developing our ability toexpand ou~contribution to any organizationin which we work. It emphasizes that we allhave valuable contributions and that thesecontributions can link our individual satis­faction and performance to the goals andchallenges of the organization. What couldbe a better win/win situation?

I am in the process of reading a book onthe Lewis and Clark Expedition and I'mstruck by the similarity of preparing acareerdevelopment plan with the preparationMerriweather Lewis undertook beforebeginning his journey into unknown terri­tory, searching for the water route to thePacific Ocean.

The expedition's mission was to makemaps of the territory, to document thenature of the terrain, plants and animals,and to gather information about the nativepeoples. Lewis had some experience living inthe wilderness, but to be prepared for this

--./ journey he wJas provided with crash coursesin botany, medicine, map making, andsurveying.

With the ever cha1lging work environ­ment, we-are also traveling into the unknownand need to prepare ourselves. Fortunately,Financial Management has provided us withvarious tools- to prepare ourselves for futurechanges. I recommend Development Works as atool for discovering how you can find moreself-satisfa~tionwhile expanding your abilityto contribute value to your current job or anew job.

Contact Tracy.Mclntyre at 543-4990 tocheck out a copy.

hat's this? Ruth is g9ing to leadStudent Fiscal Services? She's aquality improvement specialist and

trainer. ..but a financial person? HO\v canthat work? These were some of the questions

that arose behind closed doors shortly afterthe announcement was made of CindyFenwick's departure and Frank Montgomerybeing asked to assume her duties. They werenormal questions and worthy of response.

So, can a Champion make this kind ofmove successfully? That remains to beseen ... V'Ella Warren'sconfidence in me,andcommitment to developingpeople who can movethroughout the organization,is being demonstrated in this

r move. The leaders in FMhave been working towarddeveloping leadership~qual i ­

ties and behaviors that aretransferable within our units;

. successfully experimentingwith giving people opportu­nities to demonstrate leader­ship in new ways.

I was not moved to this position withoutsome background. My career in highereducation started. with students, senring inresidence halls at three (un iversit ies andworking in admissi01~ at one. My philoso­phy is developmental-wanting to assiststfldents to grow and develop in their collegeyears so they can assume the responsibilities ~

of adulthood and continue with lifelonglearning. So, 1 bring ideas for educatingstudents about debt management, helpingthem work through our morass of rules andbureaucracy, and helping them make gooddecisions for today and the future, Myphilosophy about leading people is similar-

DIRECTions . ..Palllgg9( )

Bcommg aLearm-ng Orgamzatlon:Inciters' RoleAnita Bingaman, Pay roll

This team is veryenerget ic and has

many new ideas forcarrying on the

great work of theprevious teams in

I creating alearning, organization.

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"L ear ning in the context of a learn.ingorganizat ion does not mean acquiring

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more information, but expa nding theabi lity to produce the results we truly wantin life."! It means identifying what we want(having a vision) assessing where we are atthe moment in relationship to that visionand then do ing what IS necessary to make

""'that vision a reality.

I really like the sound of those words - "toproduce the results you truly want in life."

They are very empoweringand proactive. The word"produce" makes me think ofcraftsmanship-where a work 'of art is the outcome. I guessthat, in this case, the work ofart, would be myse lf. W hat awonderful thought-wa~ch­ing myself grow (althoughthere ar~ parts of me I wishwould stop growing.) Per­haps seeing a creation take

place would be a better way to put it. It is.r also a joy to see others grow and blossom.

The beauty of all this is that I am workingin an organization that is committed to per­sonal growth. Financial Managementthrough its sponsorship of the Inciters Teamis carrying out its commitment to growth ofits staff. The Inciters have been a team forabout six years. It has had a v ariety of mem­bers and worked on different projects. Themost recent Inciters put together the Ern­ployee Development Plan, which walks youthrough identification of goals , helps in look­ing at where you are 'now and then guidesyou in developing a plan "to produce the re­sults you truly want in life." Your very owndevelopment plan helps d~fine what training

DIRECTions . . . ralllggg

or activities you may need to reach you~

goal.

The first team looked at how training wasbeing conducted throughout Financial Man­agement and came up with the Rubric tobring consistency to how training was man­aged . Another driving force for the team Wasthat in surveys on staff needs, training wasalways high on tIle list . A continuing activityof the team is to oversee other learning op ­portunities, which include Awareness Train­ing (an introduction to the QualityImprovement Process) , Process Improve­ment, Facilitator Training, Team Effective­ness Training, Recognition Training and ?Customer Service Training.

The team is just starting a new phase. T heleader is Anita Bingaman (Payroll), and thene;' members are Libby Graham (PayablesAdministration) , Diane Harker (Travel) , De­nise Lim (Grant and Contract Accounting)and Ming Wang (Student Loans and Receiv­ables). Tracy McIntyre, Financial Ma nage­ment, is a continuing member from theprevious team. This team is very energeticand has Inany new ideas for carrying on thegreat work of the previous teams in creatinga learning Organization.

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One of the Team 's ideas is to find more

\\~ays to be in touch with all of you, our cus­tomers , to provide the kind of educationalopportunities that meet your needs. We willbe asking for time to speak at your staffmeeting and making our presence knownwherever possible. We also invite you to con­tact any member of the team at any timewith your ideas and/or que stions. In a sense,you all are ad hoc members of the Incit ersTeam whenever you ask, "W hat do I need to

Page 6

LlnoOn October 21 ~ Ruth Johnston became

only the second leader to qualify for all four~LINQ behaviors-Trustworthy, Trusting of

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Others, Approachable andJnspiring (AnnAnderson was the first). Space does notpermit an airing of all the comments made insupport of the nomination, but the followingperhaps summarizes Ruth best: "Ruth has away of listening in a nonjudgme~ta! manner,even when you are telling her sonlethjng shedoesn't particularly agree with-such as your ~

opin ion that you cannot do what she justasked you to do ... somehow you com~ out ofthe discussion feeling as if you can do whatyou thought you couldn't do."

OSTEPGena Brooks received a QSTEP award

on October 1 for the behavior of Commit­ted. Gena consistently demonstrates commit­ment to quality improvement principles;believes in, shows excitement toward and isdedicated to her job; develops effective;relationships with customers and coworkersand accepts challenges with eagerness.

Jim Caldwell was honored at a QSTEPceremony on December 2 for the behavior ofCollaborative. Jim listens in a nonthreaten­ing and nonjudgmental way and participateswillingly and actively in his work unit,d partment and on teams. Further, he showsa genuine interest in others and workseffectively with others inmeeting customerneeds and improving work processes.

TOPSThe One-Stop Team (Keith Ackerson,

Mirian Gavey, Deirdre Green and NancyHurja) received a TOPS on September 2 fordeveloping th e one-stop shopping conceptfor stude nts at Schmitz Hall. Improvementsinclude at; i nformation kiosk/building'directory 3lnd payment slot overhaul. Theseefforts addressed customer needs with long­term improvement and opened channels ofcommunication with students.

The Inciters Team (Linda Braziel,"Pramill a Cha nd, Cindy Gregovich, RuthJohnston, Rae Ann Laubenstein, Karen Long, ':

Tracy McIl:'tyre, Sandie Rosko and Jane 'Wiseman) was selected as a TOPS recipienton Octob er 12. Among other achievements,this team created the Training Rubric, whichresulted in open lines of communicationbetween staff and leaders and consistentstandards of providing T & D opportunities.

Th e LEAD Team (Jocelyn Bautista,Gordon Hammond, Ruth Johnston, Yee La~,Dan Lemire, and Suprimo Manabat) wasawarded a TOPS on October 21 for develop­ing the Leadership Training Program. Citedas improvements were: creative process andoutcome, cost/time savings, long-termimprovement and opening channels ofcommunication.

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Phil Corcoro wona TOPS on Odob;r 19 -, rfor deve loping spreadsheets to convert UWaccounting data into state accountingformat. The improvement reduced processingtime by 75o/o-a long-term improvementwhich was the result of creative design.

DIRECTions . ..PaIlIQQQ

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B~commg [cnnt'd]

is published seasonally by theOffice of Financial Management,

University of Washington.For more information , please contact

Diane Cooley, Editor543-8682 or dianec@u.washington.edu

work inside other FM departments as I was

previously We are contracting with T&D for

some trainers and training, and asking EIT

members to take a greater role in orienting

their new leaders and leading improvement

and communication efforts .

For the present, it seems to be working,

Over time we'll need to reevaluate how both

functions can best be served. We'll be asking

for input from all of FM as we proceed with

strategic planning and organizational struc­

ture/leadership issues.

»: I have to admit that these ne-w duties have

given me new energy, new ideas and drive . I

enjoy ~vorkingwith the SFS staff and lead­

ers-collaborating o-rland coming up withnew ideas and ways to work. I'm learI}ing so

much, some I'm interested in and some that

-overwhelms me with its complexity. It helps

to have such a knowledgeable and willingstaff to guide us through this transition.'

Thank you all for both the opportunity and- \

the support. ~ --,

- expand my abilities;to produce the results Iwant in life and/or what is needed in Finan­

cial Management to produce the results this

organization wants to meet its customers '

needs?" ". ..learning organizations are not

possible ~unless they have people at every lev­

el who practice it ."'

t These two quotes aloe from the/ book The

Fifth Discipline, The Art and Practice vf The

Learning Organization , by Peter M. Senge.

'd]mpum [cocreating a work climate aimed at providing

excellent service, that' collegial and empow­

ering, focused on continually improving

systems and processes. Aside from that, I 've

worked with SFS staff quite extensively over

the last five years.

I'm beginninglhis new ~ole by meeting

one-on-one with interested staff, working

with the leaders to begin developing a

strategic plan, and posing a lot of questions

that haven't been asked Dr thought about

before. I'm also learj1ing about critical issues

of what information is okay to release,

budgets , electronic tracking and webbased

payments. Frank and I are working closely

together-s-he is serving as a technical mentor,

helping nle learn ab-out the key issues, and as

someone I can bounce new ideas off for

response and insight., (

So, what about!the Champion role? I've

delegated some of.it: Niki Dorn is leading a

new LEAD Team; Anita Bingaman is leading

a new Inciters Team; Diane Cooley is l!UW

editor of Directions; and Tracy McIntyre is

taking a greater lead in coordinating Quality

Tmprovement information and activities. I

cont~nue to provide training (Awareness ,

EDP Workshop, Myers Briggs Type Indicator

feedback se sions, Facilitator Trainir~g) andserve on the EIT, but I am not as available to

"Let's form a-committee to create a task force to develop arecmto determine the fastest way to deal with the problem."

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DIRECTions . . . Palllgg9

measurl gPerformancHno lU ere ou re 1 mu lUhere to GoDC!Y1111C Lahtincn and Tim Lavin, Grant & Contract Accounting

Goal: Excellent stewardship of research

fundin~ through cash managen1ent.

Measure:

. ..we havedevelopeg our value

statements,set forth our visionand composed ourmission statement

The Strategic Planning process in Grantand Contract Accounting has been in anacceleration mode over the p-ast eight

months. As reported previously in Directions(Summer '98 and Winter...'99), GCA hasbuilt the foundation for a successful plan.With significant guidance from RuthJohnston and a coordinated effort by thestaff and leaders of GCA, we have developed

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our value' statements, set forth our vision and 'composed our miss ion statement.

Integrating our values, vision and mission,we have established four strategic goals. Inorder to achieve these goals, we have setsixteen key performance measures that willbe tracked ih order to provide the necessaryfeedback to judge our performance to goal.

GCn Goals and Related measurements -Our goals are detailed below. For each goal

we have selected key organizational measure­ments that we believe are essential in meet­ing our l71issjon. For each measurement wehave established performance ob jectives that

.will tell us how we are doing in our progressto realize our plan.

Goal : Excellent stewardship of researchfunding through organizational health.

Measure:

1. Productivity by tracking cost to manageone budget.

2. Customer needs through periodic cus­tomer service surveys.

3 . Employee needs through an employeesatisfaction survey.

4. Professional 'growth through par1}cipationin employee development planning and

.»: team membership.

5. Staff turnover.

1. Reconciling items in our Federal cashreconciliation process.

2. Unidentified cash receipts.3. Outstanding accounts receivable balances.4. Number of budgets with deficit balances.5. Number and dollar of invoices ~s~bmitted.6. Expen diture reimbursement process.7. Reconciling items in the

receivable cash process.

Goal: Excellen t stewardship

.of researc h fUl1ding thro~gh

report~ng.

Measure :

I. Timely submission offina ncial status reports.

2. Timely submission ofFederal Cash TransactionsReports

Go~l: Excellent stewardship of researchfunding thro ugh compliance. ~

Measure :

1. Processing time for setting up new bud­gets.

2. Cycle time for processing Requests toTransfer Expenditures (RTES)

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As We move forward in our strategicplanning process, our focus will turn to u ingour measurements to bridge the gap betweenour current performance as an organizationand our desired performance as outlined inour strategic plan, developing specificstrategies for improving processes.

We will also be presenting our plan toFinancial Management for valuable feedback.

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DIRECTions ..~ .f'a1l 1999

Pa r Cstemer Serulce CrusadeHeather Norberg, Payroll

Th e Payroll Office has undertaken the task of im­

proving customer service. Niki Dorn , Director of

Payroll.ihas put together an enthusiastic -team

compri~ed of Anita Bingaman as lead .X'athy Stewart

and Heather Norberg. The initial assignment was to

create and present a customer service workshop. Af­ter the first team meeting it w~s obvious that there

are many tasks ahead. The team set a goal to encour­

age a high-standard of customer service in the Payroll

Office by moving customer service to the forefront of

staff consciousness. We wiII reach this goal by pro­

vidiI].g tools to enable individuals to examine and

take responsibility to improve their own level of cus­

tomer service.(

After surveying payroll coordinators and our own

staff, we determined that overall our attitude is great

but there are some areas that need attention.iThe

qualities that were determined to be most important

for customer service are~ professional; knowledgeable,

reliable , courteous and quick. Several brainstorming

sessions were held in staff meetings to determine a

working definition of these terms.

The office received high praise for the new on-line

system, friendliness and improved organization.>

However, there were"some concerns about the length

of time that it takes to get a response to voice mail

and email , accuracy and not knowing who to call for­

specific issues,' .:»:

Offlce_of rmanclal:management200 Gerberdmg Hall. Box 351240SeraUle. rnA Q0I95-_124a

Several issues have-already been addressed ana~

many others will be solved in upcoming months. Our

web page is now easier to access and includes sched­

ules , contact information and direct deposit forms.

You can reach us atlvw1,v.washingtoll.edu/aamill/#payroll .

There are changes being made at the front desk to

speed up the check-in process and our staff is working

on responding to caI1s faster. Some concerns have been

forwarded to the management team for discussion and

resolution. /,

- The next step is the workshop. The team is plan­

ning an intensive, hands-on training, which will

focus on payroll customer service issues. The four

qualities as well as good communication with custom­

ers and fellow staff will be primary topics . Tips on

prioritizing tasks and dealing with stressful times will

be also be covered. The idea is to create an

atmosphere in which customer service is second na­

ture because difficulties are handled proactively.

Customer service is now a focus of the entire

office. We are more aware of how well we work togeth­

er as well as with customers. The team is dedicated to

a long term project and will-continue to highlight cus­

torner service long after the workshop is over. New

staff will receive training and guidelines and refresher

courses will be given at staff meetings . Payroll is-wellon its way to baving the best service ever.

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DIRECTions . . . Palllgg9

Cooley, Diane L355870