Looking
for Suddi St. Ives on a Wednesday afternoon? You probably won't find
her at her desk in Graduate Admissions. And now that you think about
it, where has HR's Robert Rutirasiri been every Tuesday morning?
What's going on?
Looking
for Suddi St. Ives on a Wednesday afternoon? You probably won't find
her at her desk in Graduate Admissions. And now that you think about
it, where has HR's Robert Rutirasiri been every Tuesday morning?
What's going on?
Suddi and Robert are part of a growing number of people who take time out of their busy work schedules to attend weekly Administrative ReDesign (ARD) project team meetings. Since ARD was first commissioned by the Board of Trustees in 1995, well over 100 employees have been involved in project teams whose charges vary from designing an institution-wide customer service training program, to creating an comprehensive encyclopedia and archive of University information. Each of these teams contributes to the process of review and improvement that helps us re-think the services we offer and how we offer them.
The people behind ARD seem to unanimously agree on one of the most important aspects of the process: bringing together a diverse mixture of people from throughout the University and utilizing their areas of expertise to find out how we get things done faster and more easily than we have in the past.
Bob Gettman, associate provost and veteran of at least three ARD committees, notes, "It's interesting to be in these meetings and see how all kinds of employees - - from directors to classified staff members - - have discussions about how we can improve the system. In these meetings you find that everyone has a chance to voice their opinions and to be heard: this is not just a top-down directive."
As a member of the "Experiencing the Community" team, Joel Grossman believes that ARD has been especially effective in bringing together people who might otherwise never meet: "Really anything that brings people together from departments that don't usually work together helps to bring about a sense of community." The groups focus on building this sense of community because it is crucial to bringing about the kind of changes meant by the ARD process. "If you don't have people on board," Grossman said, "you won't get very far."
So when you see a co-worker rushing out of the office with notepad and overstuffed folder in hand, be assured that their time is well spent, and don't forget to ask about the latest ARD developments.
- - by Ellen Evans