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On-Campus Supervisory and Management Development Enrollment Open

Workplace Learning and Development is offering the UMass Amherst Leadership Academy for this Spring, 2020.  This program supports the effectiveness of supervisors, managers and leaders to strengthen their capacity to build a community of choice by aligning the University’s values and mission with a successful practice of managing people, building relationships and driving results.  The Leadership Academy brings together supervisors and managers from across campus to develop and refine the knowledge, skills and abilities needed for supervision.

The UMass Amherst Leadership Academy is currently comprised of 2 programs that support supervisors at various levels providing information and skill development for current supervisors and managers, (not for supervisors of only undergrad or graduate student employees – see Supervising Student Workers). This is a multi-modal learning program that includes in-person classroom and online components.

Foundations of Supervision focuses on the foundational skills, core competencies and key behaviors one needs to be an effective supervisor at the University. This program is designed for individuals with less than 2 years of supervisory experience and who currently supervise or will become a supervisor in the next 3 months.

Essentials of Management explores the complexity of supervision at the University, allowing supervisors to build upon their current skill level to become more effective in their roles. This program is designed for individuals with 2 or more years of supervisory experience and are currently in a supervisory or management role.

Spring and Summer 2020:

For information on dates and application process please go to: Leadership Academy

Questions?  Contact Margaret Arsenault, 545-5424

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Our new Leadership Academy and Blog is launched!

As we enter the Fall 2019 semester, we’ve launched our new Leadership Academy.  This new program is comprised of 3 programs that support supervisors at various levels providing information and skill development for current supervisors and managers (not for supervisors of only undergrad or graduate student employees). This is a multi-modal learning program that includes in-person classroom and online components.

Our previous SLDP Blog will be replaced by the Leadership Academy Blog.  Same great information, just a different blog name.

Please visit our website for more  information, including application and program start dates.

 

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Goal Setting: Are You Asking the Right Questions?

We arrive at the beginning of the calendar year once again. For the majority of us it’s a time of reflection of the past year, and looking forward to the upcoming year.

In that spirit, let’s look at the past year for a moment.  Take a moment and reflect on these questions:

In the past year,

  1. What were your greatest successes as a supervisor?
  2. Can you identify 3 personal successes that occurred over the past year?
  3. Did you meet your personal goals from the previous year? If not, why not?

Now let’s look forward to upcoming year. What excites you about the upcoming year? What would you like to accomplish?

In thinking about your goal setting for the next year, consider the following questions:

  1. How do I envision my life in 10 years, 5 years? Dream big
  2. Am currently happy with my current situation?
  3. What small steps can I take to reach my 10 year vision?
  4. What are my professional goals?

I am currently reading “Mindset: Changing the Way You Think to Fulfill Your Potential”, by Dr. Carol S. Dweck. She suggests that it’s not just our abilities and talent that bring us success, but whether we approach our goals with a fixed or growth mindset. With the right mindset- the growth/learner mindset – we can reach our own goals – both personal and professional.  See the image below for a quick summary.

Need help in goal setting for the upcoming year – consider the following resources:

Books:

  • Change Your Questions, Change Your Life by Marilee Adams
  • Becoming a Life Change Artist by Fred Mandell, Ph.D
  • Choosing the Life You Want by Tal Ben-Shahar, Ph.D
  • Quiet Leadership by David Rock
  • Positive Leadership by Kim Cameron
  • Working with Emotional Intelligence by Daniel Goleman
  • How to Zing Your Life and Leadership: 21 Insights to Maximizing Your Influence by Nancy Hunter Denney
  • The Art of Possibility by Benjamin Zander, Rosamund Stone Zander

Videos

Coaches

Hire a coach to help you reach your highest potential: https://icfne.org/

 

Have fun as you set your goals. Think big, create that bucket list and work towards ticking of those items.

As always, Workplace Learning and Development can assist you and your team as your plan for the upcoming year.

 

Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist

Workplace Learning and Development/Human Resources

University of Massachusetts, Amherst

 

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It’s Always Been Done This Way….

“It’s always been done this way” – not a statement you want to hear from your employees as you try to implement new policies and procedures. So what do you do now that you’re in charge?

You’ve made your decision and decided this change is needed. Where do you even start? A number skills come into play. Here are a few:

• Strategic Planning – Ask yourself does this proposed change fit into your strategic plan/long term vision for your department and team? What is the business reason for this change? Don’t have a strategic plan? Check out these videos on creating one >> Strategic Planning and Strategic Planning Process

• Active Listening – Using your active listening skills from the SLDP program ask your employees what the objection is to this change. Asking open ended and genuine questions, you’ll be able to gather information about their resistance. Ultimately, you’d like them on actively onboard with the proposed change. Mindtools has a few resources >> Active Listening Mindtools

• Change Management – This is a bit more complicated. No one really likes change, but change in the workplace is inevitable – even within slow moving bureaucratic organizations – and your role as a manager is to help employees embrace that change insuring a smooth transition and success. Having a solid understanding of the change management cycle is key. A good model is Kotter’s 8 Step Change Model. More information via his book  “Leading Change”and Mindtools has some great information>> Change Management Mindtools

• Leadership Skills – Management theorist Simon Sinek suggest that good leaders make their employees feel safe by building trust and safety. Not an easy task – hear what he has to say about this here Good Leaders .  He has a number of great books – “ Leaders Eat Last” and “Start with Why” .

• Performance Management – This is your tool to create goals and success measures regarding your employee’s role in the change, as well as document their performance. Using the performance management cycle will allow you as a manager to help your team to stay focused on the change by providing feedback and positive reinforcement during your regular check-in conversations.

It’s never easy to implement change, but with some advanced planning as well as drawing on the skills you learned in the Supervisor Leadership Development Program, there is no doubt you’ll be successful. And as always, Workplace Learning and Development is available to assist you.

Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development, UMass Amherst.

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Performance Management

The Performance Management cycle here at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst has reached the summer performance review stage. It’s time of the year when employees complete their performance reviews providing information on their successful completion of the past year’s goals as well as meet with their supervisors.

As we learned in the Supervisor Leadership Development Program, the Performance Management Cycle is not a onetime event, but rather a series of discussions that occur throughout the year. Below are some links to useful information that will help you as a manager successfully complete your employees’ reviews and avoid that awkward performance conversation.

As we discussed in the SLDP program, Performance Management is an ongoing process. Outlined below are the steps in the process. (These are in section 6 of your SLDP manual.)

  1. Set timeline for when you will review performance and check-in with the employee
  • Both you and the employee should have clear understandings of how and when you will be holding conversations on their job performance.
  • Review your own documentation of employee’s performance to date.
  • Prepare and allow the employee to prepare for any conversations.
  • Ask employee to think about feedback for you.
  1. Ask employee to self-assess their current performance
  • Have employee comment on own performance and progress to date on goals or priorities.
  • Ask employee to share any materials/documentation they may have collected to demonstrate their success.
  • Ask employee to identify areas needing support from you, ideas for professional development and areas needing improvement.
  • Cover areas of success as well as areas for improvement.
  1. Jointly discuss how to eliminate obstacles to success
  • Clarify expectations as necessary.
  • Listen to your employee’s feedback for you.
  • Be open to hearing about obstacles or barriers.
  • Work together to solve the problem, making sure the employee owns the solution.
  • Identify supports that you can provide in helping employee be successful.
  • Provide coaching as needed.
  1. Revise performance expectations as appropriate
  • Alter goals or priorities as appropriate considering obstacles and other challenges.
  • Clarify new expectations as needed.
  • Be clear on any performance issues and what the employee needs to do to improve.
  • Involve the employee when setting new/different expectations.
  1. Document the conversation as needed
  • Provide the employee with appropriate follow-up information.
  • Clarify any performance improvement plans in writing.
  • Pay attention and adhere to any union contract provisions or department policies regarding performance.

 

Remember, with frequent check ins, conversations throughout the year, proper planning, preparation, and clearly communicated expectations you can avoid any awkward performance reviews such as experienced by this employee and manager. Watch the video.

(WL&D does not endorse Vital Smarts)

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Motivating Employees

Motivating Employees

“How do I motivate my employees?” This is a question that gets asked frequently of the Workplace Learning and Development team. And the answer depends on a number of factors.

Motivating employees take effort and planning on your part as a manager. One area to think about is employee engagement. When you meet with your employees, have you noticed if they are engaged in the work that they do?  The chart below illustrates three types of employees. What’s the engagement level on your team?

So just exactly what motivates employees? On way to look at this is extrinsic (external) and intrinsic (internal) rewards. In a unionized environment, extrinsic rewards are challenging to come by, but intrinsic rewards are driven by the employee themselves.  Here’s an article that dives a bit deeper into this.

Maintaining Employee Motivation in the Public Sector

Different generations of employees are motivated by different things. For instance, Baby Boomers, born 1946 and 1964 prefer monetary rewards but also value nonmonetary rewards such as flexible retirement planning and peer recognition while the Generation Y, born between 1980 and 1995, are motivated by skills training, mentoring, feedback and the workplace culture. More information can be found in this Society for Human Resource Management article.

What Motivates Your Workers

Regardless of which generation your employee is in, there are some concrete actions that all multiple experts agree on that you can take to motivate your employees.

  1. Communicate clearly, responsibility, and frequently information that is needed for your employees to complete their jobs successfully.
  2. Provide development opportunities.
  3. Recognize and acknowledge good performance frequently.
  4. Lead by example.
  5. Create a welcoming environment.
  6. Addressing employee concerns and issues before they lead to team dysfunction.

More information on these actions can be found in these articles.

How to Motivate People Without Saying a Word

6 Ways to Motivate Employees

The Best Ways to Foster Employee Motivation

If you are still having performance challenges after trying various motivation methods, it might be time to seek assistance from your Human Resources Department or Labor Management Unit to determine if disciplinary action is appropriate.

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Written by Paul Papierski, Employee and Organizational Development Specialist, Workplace Learning and Development.  Find out more about UMASS’s Workplace Learning and Development.

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Delegation

word-cloud-delegate

Congratulations! You’ve just been promoted to a manager. You’re happy your supervisor has finally seen your potential and promoted you. You can’t wait to get started in your new role and have lots of great ideas for your team to implement.

But wait, what’s this about weekly reports, frequent meetings, managing staff workloads and solving team conflicts. All of a sudden you are feeling overwhelmed and are floundering in your new job when you were so successful in your previous role. There never seems to be enough time to get your old job and your new job done.

As a manager you’ll need to move away from your old job responsibilities and fully embrace your new job role. It is not easy, but one key to being a successful manager is delegation- assigning your team members the authority for particular functions, tasks and decisions. Now is the time to begin to rely on and develop your team, and begin delegating certain tasks and projects to them.

As was reviewed in the Supervisory Leadership Development Program, delegation is a 10 point process. Here are the 10 points:

  1. Identify the task
  2. Identify the correct person for the task
  3. Specify what the task is
  4. Explain why you are delegating  to them
  5. Specify the expected outcomes
  6. Establish a target completion date
  7. Discuss how they will tackle this assignment. Listen to their ideas
  8. Identify the resources required
  9. Decide how and when you are going to monitor process. Do not micro manage
  10. Identify who else needs to be informed.

If you plan ahead and follow these 10 points, you’re on the right track to a successful delegation.

Here are some additional resources regarding delegation skills.

Video: Delegation

Managers Must Delegate Effectively to Develop Employees

Delegation and Time Management

7 Steps to More Effective Delegation

Paul Papierski is a member of the Workplace Learning and Development Team. For more information visit his bio link on Workplace Learning and Development Web page.

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We are all leaders

Leadership_Wordle

What’s it take to be a good leader? If you read all the literature, you’d think you’d have to have a certain set of skills and abilities, a certain type of degree or certificate. Sure, it helps if you can manage change, be proactive, not be afraid to take risks and have an understanding of your emotional intelligence. But I firmly believe we are all leaders in our lives already. I think about my professional life – taking control of my career, leading teams, spearheading projects and initiatives. I think about my personal life – setting goals, achieving visions, leading my siblings through elder care issues and challenges, partnering with my spouse to craft the life that we want, and volunteering in my community. All these things have some common threads – change management, courage, passion, emotional intelligence and a bit of risk taking.

Here are three views of leadership for your consideration.

  1. In Roselinde Torres’ TED Talk, she asks us what it take to be a good leader by posing three questions for us to answer: questions about change, diversity and “seeing around curves”. How would you answer her questions? Are you a leader that dares to be different? Listen to her 9 minute talk here.
  2. Entrepreneur magazine, in the article “22 Qualities That Make A Great Leader” lists 22 qualities that make a great leader, among them passion, integrity, positivity and communication. All qualities we all use in varying degrees every day. Check out the article and it’s animation.
  3. Daniel Goleman, author Emotional Intelligence, in an article for the Harvard Business Review Dec 2013 titled “The Focused Leader” indicates that by focusing our attention into three broad buckets—focusing on yourself, focusing on others, and focusing on the wider world—this will illuminate in a new light the practice of many essential leadership skills. He says that attention is the basis of most essential leadership skills – emotional, organizational and strategic intelligence.  What are you focusing your attention on? Whether or not you have the official title of leader, as managers, employees, husbands, wives, parents and individuals, we’re all leaders whether we think so or not. Given that, what qualities will you focus on to become a better leader?

Paul Papierski is a member of the Workplace Learning and Development Team. For more information visit his bio link on Workplace Learning and Development Web page.

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Reflecting on Mental Health Issues in the Workplace

 

 

“Mental health issues in the workplace, one of the final frontiers, an issue that few have boldly explored before.”
Adaptation of the introduction narration of the 1966 Star Trek series

*In thinking about Mental Health in the workplace, no supervisor should ever try to diagnose an employee, or make assumptions concerning mental health. Supervisors should not approach employees around these issues without first conferring with organizational resources such as EAP/FSAP, HR, and your own supervisor.  Mental health issues in the workplace are often the issue we talk around but not confront. It has become one of the “final frontiers” in terms of need of increased attention and support. There is usually lots of attention when mental health issues are at the center of a workplace tragedy. After the collective memory of the tragedy fades– usually a few news cycles– so does our attention and vigilance to workplace mental health issues. It is important to note that violent manifestations of mental health issues in the workplace (tragedies) represent the extreme and are only very small occurrences in relation to the millions in the workplace who have a mental health diagnosis. The vast majority of employees with a mental health diagnosis suffers in silence and displays no extreme externalized behavior.

Then why is there a need to bring this issue to the forefront? The impact to both the employee and the organization makes it a front line issue that organizations can no longer ignore. Here are a few sobering facts:

? 70% of individuals with a diagnosis of depression are currently employed.
? Depression accounts for more lost days of work than chronic illnesses like heart conditions, diabetes, and hypertension.
? Mood disorders cost employers at least 50 billion a year in lost productivity and 321.2 million lost workdays.
? 79 billion dollars of indirect cost to business yearly due to untreated mental illness.

From: http://www.mentalhealthconnection.org/pdfs/brc-final-report-full.pdf

Greater recognition of the topic would help create an organizational climate where those with a mental health diagnosis feel safe to seek assistance in the workplace. By in large, that is not the reality for most now. Potential reasons for this are many. Whether it be the employee’s fear of stigmatization, the supervisor/manager discomfort with the topic area, or a lack knowledge about resources in the area, the discussion of the issues remains in the shadows. This month’s blog has goals of increasing discussion of mental health issues in the workplace. In addition, to increase the knowledge of supervisors/manager of the many ways that mental health issues can manifest and impact the workplace. Lastly, it issues a call to supervisors/managers to become more aware of signs, organizational resources, rights of employee diagnosed with a mental illness, applicable laws, and general support available to you as a supervisor and those living with a mental health diagnosis.

To help you frame your reflection 4 articles and 1 video are provided. Included are 2 articles examining the many issues confronting both the employee and supervisors when mental health becomes an issue in the workplace: Mental health problems in the workplace,  and Mental Health. The other 3 articles examine compliance issues for supervisors and managers: Accommodating Mental Illness, Responding To Mental Illness in Your Workforce: Following the Law and The Best Way to Address an Employee’s Mental Health Issue :What an employer needs to know in addressing disruptive behaviors in the workplace . Last, Having a conversation: discussing mental illness in the workplace, is a video that is linked to a series of videos recognizing and beginning the discussion with employees when mental health issues become a concern.  *Explore with your supervisor and HR what the policies and procedures are in your workplace relevant to these issues.

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Oh the Weather Outside is Frightful…..

“A lot of people like snow. I find it to be an unnecessary freezing of water.”  ? Carl Reiner

All the talk in the past two months was about the inclement weather. How many inches today? Will it snow Sunday into Monday again? Boston got how many feet? The unifying thought underlying all these questions, is how will the weather impact me and my responsibilities today? As much as we question, the realization is that no matter how much we talk about it, there is nothing we can do to change it. But with some forethought and planning supervisors/ managers can mediate the impact of inclement weather on their organization .

There are many studies that investigate the impact of the weather on the individual. In this month’s SLDP blog we look at the impact of inclement weather on the employee and the organization. The Link Between Weather and Productivity explores the impact of weather on organization productivity. How to Prepare Your Office for Bad Weather examines preparatory steps steps that as a manager / supervisor you can take to minimize the effects of inclement weather on your office. Our greatest resource as an organization is our employees. Employee Rights on Refusing to Drive a Car in Inclement Weather outlines the rights of employees in inclement weather. Ultimately, managers and supervisor must be  creative  in using strategies and techniques to insure productivity remains at par, even in inclement weather. Ability to Work From Home Makes Employees More Productive, New Studies Find examines one strategy that can be employed to aid in the  maintaining a consistent level of productivity. Please feel free to read these topics and discuss relevant topics. There may be strategies employed in your office that could help others.  Now is a good time to review how your organization did this winter in managing the challenging weather, and think about changes you may want to make for the future.