Jennifer L erner Associate Vice President for e-Learning Northern Virginia Community College

1. “Mary Isn’t contributing to the coffee fund!”strategies for managing staff in a rapidly changing environment Jennifer Lerner Associate Vice President for e-Learning Northern Virginia Community College

2. What “rapid change” looks like at ELI • Over a 2-year period, • Doubled staff from 25 to 50+ • Experienced 15%+ enrollment growth every semester • Nearly doubled the size of the faculty (to 450) • Added more than 10 entirely new job categories/functions • Addition of several full-time telecommuters to staff • Expanded size of management from 4 to 9 • Plans to move to new, larger facility (cube farm)

3. Staff responses to change What I expected What I got Erosion of trust Turf battles “We can’t change how we do it because…” “Why does so-and-so get…” Acting out, drama, gossip Blaming and fault-finding Limited interest in new roles and activities • Staff needing time to get to know new colleagues • Improved job satisfaction as individual workload was reduced • Enthusiasm and interest in new initiatives

4. examples • The great coffee fund debate • The office dogs • The tyranny of the Social Committee • “Bring your laptops home!”

5. What kinds of change are you dealing with in your organization?How are your staff responding?

6. Some strategies to try Strategy Staff response Overall positive Liked time to meet with current colleagues “forced socialization” Pressure to do potluck/bring something fancy • Rotating brownbag lunches • Informal (no assigned topic—just get to know you) • New staff meet all current staff over course of 6 weeks • Current staff sit down with colleagues not in their direct work areas

7. Some strategies to try Strategy Staff response Minimal appreciation for the lunch “forced socialization” Fun follow-up conversations about facts learned about each other • Catered luncheon to do overall welcome to set of new staff • Assigned groups for eating lunch with teambuilding activity (two true things and one false) • Assigned group leaders to facilitate activity (not managers) – foster new leadership?

8. Some strategies to try Strategy Staff response Surfaced a couple of common questions immediately Soon followed by “why are we doing this anonymously? I know who said X and they are lying/trying to cause trouble/etc. Why can’t they ask in a way that others can respond?” • Anonymous Q&A • Allow staff to raise their questions and concerns anonymously and address the issues to the whole group

9. Some strategies to try Strategy Staff response Universally positive! • Individual thanks and praise • Handwritten thank-you notes • Kudos board • Praise calendar?

11. Some strategies to try Strategy Staff response Brownbags: Strong positive response initially Fatigue after first few Limited interest across functional areas Yammer: Social media fans immediately become heavy users Policing (why does so-and-so not have to post weekly when I do?) • Increase communication and awareness of roles and projects of other staff • Mitigate the “what does so and so do all day?” and “why do we need x role when I used to do all that myself?” conversations • Strategy #1: all-staff brownbags • Strategy #2: Yammer

12. Your strategies?