professional & organizational development
University of Washington Human resources
the Leading edge winter 2008
for UW leaders at all levels
Fear vs. trust contents
Learn about trust levels and high-performance teams at the
Feature
upcoming Leadership Seminar
Fear vs. trust
Do you work in a high-trust, high- collaborative but careful
performance workplace? Not not to step on each others’ Winter Leadership Seminar:
sure? toes, or do they habitually Building a High-trust, High-
compete with one another performance Workplace ...............2
Dan Oestreich’s Team Trust to be “right” or to protect
Levels Survey is designed to their interests?
help team members understand aLso in this issue
the way they currently interact • Are all team members
and envision the possibilities for willing to intitiate group Upcoming LCVI Activities .......2
growth and change. discussions about sensitive
Thorud Leadership Awards ....3
issues, are they more likely
• Are conflicts and problems to politely avoid or work
Media Corner .........................3
addressed openly and non- around sensitive issues,
defensively, are they more or are some openly hostile Ask an Expert..........................4
commonly handled behind and distrustful?
closed doors, or is there a Consultant Spotlight ...............4
complete lack of belief that The above questions are a
conflicts and problems can snapshot of what you’ll find New POD Courses ..................5
really be solved? in Dan’s complete Team
Trust Levels Survey (www.
• Do your team members unfoldingleadership.com/
collaborate by actively downloads/Team%20Trust%20L
pooling their resources, evels%20Survey.pdf).
are they less actively
continued on page 5 >
www.washington.edu/admin/hr/pod
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a Look ahead—upcoming LcVi activities
Beginning this quarter, a Also, please let the LCVI team Short, targeted workshops will
great deal of new activity know if you will need paper also be offered for supervisors
will be happening around the copies for team members or and employees. Check the LCVI
Leadership, Community and translated versions of the surveys website for information about
Values Initiative (LCVI). for non-native English speakers. this exciting event at www.
You can contact the LCVI team at washington.edu/president/lcvi/
This month, a follow-up survey will lcvi@u.washington.edu. events.
be launched to gauge the impact
of the past two years’ activities On Wednesday, February 6, LCVI, During March and early April, the
and to help identify new areas to in conjunction with Professional focus will be on the survey results.
target in the 2008–09 academic & Organizational Development, The data will be analyzed and
year. The questions will be very will host LCVI Day. This don’t- organized in a way that provides
similar to those in the 2005 miss event is designed to provide a roadmap for the UW, as well
Climate survey, but some new supervisors and staff with the as individual managers, for
items will also be included. opportunity to learn more about improving our workplace culture.
the resources and tools available Look for more information about
Managers, supervisors, and to help create a great workplace. the survey results in the spring. █
other leaders play a crucial role Best practices from across the
in the success of the survey. By University in recognition, career
encouraging your staff members development, leadership, and
to participate in the survey and diversity will be highlighted.
explaining the importance of
this effort, you can impact the
response rate considerably.
Leadership seminar series
Building a High-trust, High-performance Workplace
Have you ever attended a meeting where people were too afraid to speak their
minds? Or worked in an environment where fear and mistrust reign?
High productivity and quality suffer when fear is allowed to dominate the
workplace. But in a climate of trust and respect, people are naturally more
committed to their work and are more enthusiastic about their organization.
Join Dan Oestreich (co-author of the best-seller Driving Fear Out of the
Workplace: Creating the High-Trust, High-Performance Organization) as he
offers leaders a deeper understanding of the dynamics of fear.
Oestreich will also explore how the cycle of mistrust robs employees and
organizations of their potential. A key part of this Leadership Seminar will be
interactive exercises and discussion to help participants lay the foundation for
creating an environment of collaboration, understanding, and trust. █
March 4, 2008 | 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. | HUB
$325 (includes a copy of Driving Fear Out of the Workplace: Creating the High-Trust,
High-Performance Organization, lunch, and refreshments)
Register Online: https://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/pod/catalog/gen/1/V0160.html
page
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thorud Leadership awards
The criteria focus on leadership
Great leaders are always One of the primary goals of the
Leadership, Community, and that exhibits—through project
learning, and we can Values Initiative (LCVI) is to work, team work or other
learn from great leaders. encourage leadership excellence service—courage, the ability
to find practical solutions for
Nominate a great UW at the UW.
complex problems, teamwork,
leader for the Thorud Do you know a UW employee who and excellent listening skills. The
Leadership Award. exhibits exemplary leadership final candidates are those who are
skills? Consider nominating that recognized as leaders among their
person for the David B. Thorud colleagues.
Leadership Awards; nominations
for the 2008 awards are due Each awardee receives $2,500
February 15, 2008. and may receive the Thorud Award
only once.
The awards, for one faculty
member and one staff member To nominate someone for this
each year, celebrate the longtime year’s Thorud Award, send a
UW service of the former dean of one-page letter to the Thorud
the College of Forest Resources, Leadership Selection Committee,
who also served as acting c/o Mindy Kornberg (Box 354554
provost and acting vice president or mindyk@u.washington.edu), no
for University Relations. later than Thursday, February 14.
For more information, see www.
washington.edu/admin/hr/thorud/.
█
Leadership should be more participative than directive, more
enabling than performing.
Mary D. Poole
the media corner
The Courageous Messenger: How to Successfully Speak Up at Work
by Daniel Oestreich, Kathleen Ryan, and George Orr
Sometimes it’s difficult for employees—including leaders—to see how
they can make a difference in their work environment. This book presents
practical ways to explore your actions and understand the interactions
around you. The authors offer practical tools for communicating bad news,
voicing strong opinions, and discussing difficult issues at the office without
compromising your position or your job.
Built on Trust: Gaining Competitive Advantage in Any Organization
by Arky Ciancutti and Thomas Steding
The best organizations understand that creating a healthy, high-trust work
environment is critical to their success. Most employees long to contribute
and feel part of the bigger picture, but leaders often fail to capitalize on this
opportunity. This book helps you to build a culture of trust with your own
team by offering a variety of tools, assessments, and strategies. The Trust
Model, for example, is based on the principles of closure and commitment
and enables you to communicate in a way that eliminates uncertainty and
promotes trust. █
page
4
ask an expert Answer Two important, and immediately. In organizations
that allow or encourage pretend
often overlooked, ways to
commitments, people stop
Question How can I build the culture you want are
communicating for closure and
believing what others tell them.
move my team toward avoiding false commitments.
a culture of trust and Lack of closure and false
commitments bleed a team
accountability? Closure means that when a
conversation is ended, everybody
of energy. Each time a false
commitment is made and the
knows exactly who is going to
result is not produced, the team
do what and by when. Lack of
has to expend extra energy
closure breeds uncertainty,
figuring out how to get the work
hesitation, doubt, wasted time,
done that was promised but not
and lack of accountability.
delivered. Further, they have to
fix the mess created because
A false, halfhearted, or pretended
the work didn’t get done with the
commitment is saying “Yes”
original commitment. Worst of
without a real intention to produce
all, team members will end up
the final outcome, like “The check
having less trust and feeling less
is in the mail.” In contrast, a real
committed to accountability.
commitment is an “intention of no
conditions.” A real commitment
As a leader, you can move
doesn’t mean that you absolutely
toward a culture of trust and
guarantee the result, but that you
accountability by modeling these
enter into the commitment with
behaviors and working with your
every intention of fulfilling it. If
team to set group norms around
you discover that you can’t keep
these two areas. █
the commitment, you speak up
consuLtant spotLight
making connections
As POD’s Outreach and enhance professional development
Resource Consultant, Ujima and, consequently, optimize the
Donalson is dedicated to helping performance of their teams and
UW departments strategize team members.
ways to improve professional
development. The UW offers Ujima is currently pursuing her
many resources for development, Master’s degree in adult education
but finding the right ones can
be complex and challenging.
and hopes to build upon her
experience with staff development
Ujima Donalson,
Ujima clarifies the many options and performance management. In POD Outreach
and connects departments and past positions, she led successful and Resource
department leaders with relevant
programs and people.
onboarding initiatives and designed
relevant curriculum to engage
Consultant
learners from a wide variety of
Ujima also assists departments backgrounds.
with applying the results from
POD’s recent campus-wide needs Ujima is putting her education
survey. In July and August 2007, and experience to work at UW
more than 3,000 UW staff and by connecting departments with
faculty voiced their career and the right resources, developing
professional development needs new employee orientations, and
via the survey. Utilizing data culled teaching SLP and quarterly classes
from the survey results, Ujima such as Decision Making for Teams
works with department leaders and Supervision Basics. █
to create customized plans to
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Fear Vs. trust continued from page 1
About his survey, Dan writes that “I don’t think tools like this
tell the whole story, of course. They really are just a place to
begin a meaningful discussion. But I do like them if they lead
to positive awareness of possibilities and action steps to
improve things—to reach a vision of even better relationships,
Leaders must be as willing to
for example.” be transformed as they are to
transform others.
For more insight into each of the team trust levels and into Glenda Eoyang
strategies to increase trust on your team, come to the Winter
Leadership Seminar: Building a High-Trust, High-Performance
Workplace with Dan Oestreich on March 4, 2008. Find out
more and register online; visit www.washington.edu/admin/hr/
pod/catalog/gen/1/V0160.html. █
new course highLights
new from pod
negotiation and mediation Learn how to address
everyone’s interests and reverse the downward spiral of
conflict with the new POD course Negotiation and Introduction
to Mediation (2/29).
This one-day workshop provides practical tools you can use to
negotiate successfully with all parties (employees, managers,
subcontractors, vendors, union reps, and even teenagers)
so that everyone involved gets what they need—while still
keeping your work and your organization on track.
This workshop is created and presented by Rhonda Hilyer, Professional & Organizational Development
who brings to the table her vast negotiating experience,
first as an international labor leader and now as a trusted Fostering positive change in
counselor to over 500 organizations. individuals and organizations at the
University of Washington.
personaLity type Identify and explore the distinct ways
in which you express your personality type in Facets of You:
The MBTI Step II (2/22). Step II results help identify individual
t he Leading edge is published
personality traits within your type and clarify any questions
by Professional & Organizational
you may have about your four basic MBTI type preferences. Development, a division of
A pre-class assessment is included, along with an in-depth UW Human Resources. Submit
report of your personality preferences and facets. comments or contributions to Heidi
Lang at hlang@u.washington.edu.
For more information about these and other POD classes, visit Visit POD online at www.washington.
www.washington.edu/admin/hr/pod/catalog/gen/Category40. edu/admin/hr/pod.
html. █