1 / 12

Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the Department

Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the Department. Patrick Fitzgerald. Elizabeth Foote. Denise Moody. Harvard University. Today’s Session. Problems that can occur when pre-award and departments don’t work well together Root causes of these problems

nikita
Download Presentation

Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the Department

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the Department Patrick Fitzgerald Elizabeth Foote Denise Moody Harvard University

  2. Today’s Session • Problems that can occur when pre-award and departments don’t work well together • Root causes of these problems • Advice and techniques for avoiding problems and fostering relationships

  3. A Sampling of the Problems that Can Occur • Poor communication • Ineffective or adversarial relationships • Ambiguity or disagreement about roles and responsibilities • Lack of commitment or participation • Mistakes, inconsistencies, costly “rework” • Poorly developed policies, systems, & procedures • Lost opportunities (e.g., not-submitted or rejected proposals) • Compliance, audit, reputational risks

  4. Root Causes of Problems • Lack of effective communication between pre-award and department administrators • Poor relationships which impede collaboration (“blame game”) • No advice or buy-in sought from departments for major changes in policies, systems, procedures • Inability to comply to poorly-written policies (audit risk) • Constant staff turnover or reorganization

  5. Root Causes of Problems (cont.) • Inadequate or ineffective training • Courses may not be adequate or sufficiently offered to meet the needs. • Individuals may be unwilling or unable to take training. • Lack of understanding of individual or office roles or responsibilities • Unwillingness to participate or contribute

  6. What Can We Do to Avoid Problems? • Policies and procedures development • Develop policies which incorporate the user’s perspective; get advice and buy-in from departments. • Listen to your users before implementation to avoid unintended consequences; users should provide honest feedback. • Effective communication • Email is one-dimensional and can be deadly!! • Telephone is better → face-to-face is best!!

  7. Sample Email “Mis”Interpretation Sample 1: Don’t “shout” WHAT DO YOU MEAN??????? Sample 2: Don’t “react” Of course I know the rules!!!!!! Sample 3: Work as a team Dept to Preaward: Can you assist us in reaching out to the PI? Preaward: No, this is your responsibility. Sample 4: Provide guidance, not accusation From Preaward to Dept: Your budget justification is wrong, and you didn’t follow the policies.

  8. What Can We Do to Avoid Problems? (cont.) • Clearly defined roles and responsibilities (R&R) • R&R matrix (i.e., table) should clearly delineate the responsibilities and functions performed by pre-award office, department, PI, etc. • Responsibilities should relate to specific tasks (e.g., who is responsible for transferring expenses off a grant at closeout). • Development of R&R matrix should be a collaborative process with everyone affected. • R&R matrix should be a living document which is periodically reviewed and updated.

  9. What Can We Do to Avoid Problems? • Effective working relationships • Get together frequently; get to know each other • Familiarity doesn’t have to breed contempt! • Relationship building should happen within your own office (i.e., central pre and post-award) and between offices (i.e., pre-award and departments). • Relationship building takes time, patience, and perseverance. • Be cautious about changing the assignments of pre-award staff ↔ department staff.

  10. What Can We Do to Avoid Problems? • Effective training programs • Do we have the training we need? • Is the training offered frequently enough or accessible (e.g., web-based) to “onboard” new employees? • Is the training effective? How do you measure? • Do the staff that need the training take the training? • Are staff required to take training before they are given responsibilities involving grants?

  11. What Can We Do to Avoid Problems? • Other things we can do: • We need to change the culture from “us vs. them” to “we”. • Responsiveness is the key to providing exceptional service; being non-responsive breeds contempt. • Make the point-of-contact for pre-award and department simple; ideally we will have one person to go to, which helps foster relationships. • Be consistent (within office staff and between offices) - e.g., pre-award office shouldn’t have different practices for different departments

  12. What have we missed?

More Related