CUPA-HR 2017 session 6 engage. equip. empower. a model to develop your world-class staff final

Engage. Equip. Empower.
A Model to Develop Your World-Class Staff
Presented by:
Marie Wehrung, Melinda English
Rice University
September 18, 2017

• Our challenge
• Engage
• Equip
• Empower
• Outcomes
• Benefits and Lessons Learned
Agenda

UNDERSTAND the benefits of
starting with current talent
when planning for future staff
development initiatives
EXPERIENCE the power of
giving staff a voice
IDENTIFY the possibilities for
using a similar process on your
campus

Activity 1
• Get into groups of 4
• Review and become familiar with the persona on your
Developing World Class Staff (DWCS) profile card (2 minutes)
• Introduce your DWCS Persona to the other members of the
group (4 minutes)
• Introduce yourself personally to the other members of the
group (4 minutes)
• What, if anything, surprises you about the people who
participated on this project team?
• What stood out to you?
• How would this align with staff on your campus?

Activity 2
•Use handout to map out a potential project
you could consider using with a similar group
• Is there a project that comes to mind that may
be a good match for such a process?
• How could you engage staff?
• How could you ensure the process/project also involved
learning/development for those participating?
• What are some potential challenges/barriers to consider?
• What questions do you still have?

Outcomes • Benefits • Lessons Learned

Benefits
HR & Rice University DWCS Team Member
Expanded our bandwidth (HR) Provided developmental opportunity
Gained champions for Talent
Development strategy
Formed new connections with
colleagues from across campus
Received new ideas outside the scope of
this project
Motivated to try initiatives within their
departments
Engaged with new projects* beyond
DWCS
Engaged as peers outside the project
& Rice (group continues to meet
socially)
*Careers At Rice Ambassadors, Employee Learning Week, Wellness Week, and Careers At Rice projects

Lessons Learned
• Application process for soliciting interest in and
applying for a spot on the team was very successful – we
assembled a much more diverse group (not the usual subjects!?)
than we would have simply by brainstorming possible group
members
• People will rise up to meet (and exceed) expectations and do their
best work
• We have a lot of talented, committed, dedicated folks – we need
to make sure we actively engage and provide them developmental
opportunities, and then recognize their great work

UNDERSTAND the benefits of
starting with current talent
when planning for future
staff development initiatives
EXPERIENCE the power of
giving staff a voice
IDENTIFY the possibilities for
using a similar process on
your campus

Thank You!
http://training.rice.edu/
For updated versions of the slides and handouts, go to
http://www.slideshare.net/mwehrung/
Please complete the online evaluation form for this session.
CUPA-HR will e-mail session evaluations to you today.
Marie Wehrung Melinda English
mow@rice.edu melinda.english@rice.edu
@MarieWehrung #RiceLnD
www.linkedin.com/in/mariewehrung/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/melindaenglish/

Team Charter: Developing World Class Staff @ Rice
Project Name Developing World Class Staff @ Rice
Sponsor(s) Associate VP for HR
Background   Rice is creating a process to develop world‐class staff at Rice.  Currently, Rice does not have a
comprehensive staff development process.
Based upon industry best practices and feedback from the performance management focus
groups, we have determined that a comprehensive staff development process should include
all the activities that help a supervisor/manager support an employee in their job, career and
professional development.  These components include: defining expectations, learning and
development, rewards and recognition, disciplinary processes, professional growth, and
on/off‐boarding.
At Rice, we’re committed to help staff build their CAREER @ Rice:
Create career paths
Achieve accountability
Review performance regularly
Equip staff for success
Empower staff to make a difference
Recognize and Reward contribution and impact
Problem to
be Solved
Currently, Rice lacks the support infrastructure to effectively carry out the staff development
process.  The purpose of this project team is to build out the support infrastructure for a staff
development process, as described in the charter.
Scope Identify and build tools, resources and best practices to support the staff development
process for Rice staff.   This project will be completed with the people and resources we have
available.  If additional resources are needed, this group will be tasked with assisting in the
identification and the development of a proposal to acquire those resources.  This does not
include the implementation of the staff development process.
Estimated time commitment: 10 hours per month.
Deliverables This working group will develop a set of best practices, resources, and tools that support the
staff development process at Rice.
Milestones ● By February 2, 2016: Project kick‐off meeting with HR.
● By February 12, 2016: Review focus group feedback and become familiar with the
process and information collected about what staff development should look like at
Rice, the forces pushing us towards staff development and forces keeping us from
focusing on staff development and the list of resources and tools folks identified as
important in this process.
● By February 19, 2016: Draft project plan (based on focus group feedback), and be
prepared to share with HR the following week.
● By February 26, 2016: Meet with HR to share and discuss project plan.
● By March 30, 2016: Explore best practices, tools and resources provided for staff
development process at other employers.
● By April 14, 2016: Meet with HR to report findings and recommendations for best
practices, tools, and resources.
● By May 13, 2016: Identify and prioritize the development of tools and resources
needed to support the staff development process.
● By May 27, 2016: Meet with HR to present a plan on the tools and resources to be
developed, as well as a plan to pilot tools and resources prior to campus‐wide
implementation.
8‐10 people in working group with a 60/40 ratio of supervisor to non‐supervisor.

Team Charter: Developing World Class Staff @ Rice
● By October 31, 2016: Build tools, assemble best practices and resources.
● Monthly status updates with HR on/by:
○ July 1, 2016
○ July 29, 2016
○ September 2, 2016
○ September 30, 2016
● By November 11, 2016: Meet with HR to deliver the tools, best practices, and
resources for rollout to campus .

8‐10 people in working group with a 60/40 ratio of supervisor to non‐supervisor.

Developing World Class Staff@Rice
Info Session
Hosted by: Rice Human Resources
When: Two dates to choose from:
• Thursday, January 7th from 9 am – 10 am
• Thursday, January 14th from 1 pm – 2 pm
Where: Miner Lounge – Student Center
Are you interested in making a big contribution to the development of staff at Rice?
RSVP to one of the information sessions and learn more about how you can help
build the resources to support the development of world class staff@Rice.
RSVP at http://ow.ly/WeYUu

From: Rebecca Gould
To: "Angela Lipari"; "Marie Wehrung"
Subject: REMINDER: Join us: Developing World Class Staff @ Rice - Information Session
Date: Friday, January 08, 2016 9:58:20 AM
Attachments: Team Charter - Developing World Class Staff @ Rice.pdf
Information Session Invitation.pdf
Don’t forget to join us at one of the information sessions next week!

This email is being sent out to the HR Listserv and supervisors. Please feel free to forward this invitation to any staff
members that may be interested in participating in this project.

Thank you,

Marie Wehrung, Rebecca Gould and Angela Lipari

From: Rebecca Gould
To: "Ally Slaughter"; aal4@rice.edu; konzem@rice.edu; dgolden@rice.edu; debra@rice.edu; efranco@rice.edu;
fidel@rice.edu; iska@rice.edu; "Laura M Johnson"; lgonzale@rice.edu; Geda, Lisa; mdnewton@rice.edu;
mageemd@rice.edu; "Mary C Widner"; benitezm@rice.edu; eelam@rice.edu; rmiller@rice.edu; ra40@rice.edu;
umf@rice.edu; "Jamal, Zahra"; hek4@rice.edu; "Leslie Peralta"; "Anita H. Norwig"; ashbys@rice.edu
Cc: Angela Lipari; Marie Wehrung
Subject: Developing World Class Staff @ Rice
Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2016 1:55:46 PM
Attachments: Developing World Class Staff @ Rice Project Charter.pdf
Thanks so much for your interest (and participation) in this afternoon’s information session on
Developing World Class Staff @ Rice. For those interested in being part of the working group, please
fill out this online application no later than Tuesday, January 19, 2016. If you know of someone that
would be a good fit for the working group, please forward this information and ask them to fill out
the online application.

Additional information can be found on Box at: https://rice.box.com/FocusGroupFeedback
Additional information on Rice’s Box storage can be found at: https://it.rice.edu/Box/

We appreciate your time and support in making Rice a great place to work!

Sincerely,

Angela Lipari, Marie Wehrung, Rebecca Gould

From:
To:
Cc:
Subject:
Date:
Attachments:
Rebecca Gould
Marie Wehrung; Angela Lipari
Developing World Class Staff @ Rice
Friday, January 15, 2016 6:00:16 PM
Developing World Class Staff @ Rice Project Charter.pdf
Dear Kimberly,
We’ve been busy thinking of ways to support and develop you and your world class staff. As such,
we’ve created a project group to identify and build tools, resources and best practices to support
staff development at Rice. We’re looking for 8-10 staff members (both supervisors and non-
supervisors) to be part of this project group.
If you know of a staff member whose participation would benefit this project group, please forward
them the attached charter and ask them to fill out this online application.

The deadline to fill out the online application is Tuesday, January 19, but if you (or your staff
member) need an extra day or two, please let us know. Help us support you and your staff by
participating and supporting this project group.
If you have any questions, please let us know!
Sincerely,
Angela Lipari, Marie Wehrung, Rebecca Gould

Applica
nt #
Title Department Years at Rice
Years as
Supervisor
# of Employees
Supervised
What about this project interests you? How can your involvement on this project enhance the team and project deliverables?
1
Dept. Operations
Administrator
Bioengineering 2-5 Years 0-2 Years 0-2
I am very interested in advancing and although my supervisor is a great mentor I don't think there is enough training for staff
or new supervisors. I think there needs to be more group type of meetings, like HR and payroll used to do. Not only did you
learn how other departments dealt with problems that you are also dealing with but you had chance to meet people from
other departments. Rice has so much to offer it's staff and I would like to be part of this process. Like they say you can't
complain about something and then sit on the sidelines (or something like that)
In all my past jobs I enjoyed being part of the process that improved the organization or company. I believe in making things
better and easier, for example I showed Kristina how I keep track of everyone labor distributions in BIOE, so when it's time for
Efforts Reports it takes me no time to go over them as drafts so when the final ones come out they are ready for the PIs to
sign.
2 Associate Director
School of Social
Sciences
5-10 Years 0-2 Years 0-2
In the few focus groups I have attended related to this initiative, I am continuously reminded we work among a great breadth
of staff from different backgrounds, experiences, and roles. The prospect to engage with more Rice staff outside my usual
circle and to understand the challenges and opportunities they face is a large motivator for my involvement with this
committee. I would like to be a part of something that effects positive change as Rice moves into its’ second century.
The role of this committee will require its members to be entrepreneurial, think creatively, and have the foresight to consider
the changing dynamics of Rice’s workplace for the short and long-term. As a member of the Rice community for the last eight
years, I have worn many hats that have required these skills. More specifically, I think I bring a great wealth of institutional
knowledge about Rice, but can also represent the perspective of a young professional. I consider the projects I have been in
f f f f f
3 Associate Director
Gulf Coast
Consortia
10+ Years 0-2 Years 0-2
I have a long-standing interest in professional development as part of an overall training process. A position is not just a
paycheck; it should offer "value added" training that clearly establishes expectations, fosters skills, and in the longer term,
prepares the person for further responsibility and creates a path for advancement for those who seek it.
I have an MS in Human Resources, am a researcher and an analyst by nature and training, always meet my deadlines, and have
a strong interest in this project's deliverables. I will do my best to contribute to a plan and resources that will be practical, easy
to use, and therefore most likely to be implemented.
4
Executive
Administrator
Bioengineering 10+ Years 10+ Years 6-10
I would very much like to be a part of a project that will help put in a place a university-wide ongoing program to develop staff
skills to assist them in doing their current jobs better and to prepare them to be promoted to higher positions at Rice. What a
huge benefit it would be to Rice if we could increase the skill level of our staff so that they can do their jobs smarter and more
efficiently. Hopefully it would also increase staff members' job satisfaction which could lead to higher staff retention rates.
I have worked at both the University of Houston and at MD Anderson so I have some experience with staff development
programs that they had when I was at each institution. I have been a supervisor at the level of an academic department, at the
school level and in central administration so I understand the perspective of each of these levels. I have been at Rice for many
years and therefore I understand some of the unique challenges at Rice. My roles at Rice and the roles of those that I've
supervised cover a very broad range of staff responsibilities which helps me understand that there may need to be a range of
project deliverables that will provide a variety of staff development opportunities to address the different needs of different
types of positions.
5
Department
Administrator
Anthropology 10+ Years 2-5 Years 0-2
I would like to be a part of this great opportunity. It will allow me to voice some of the issues that I've faced whether good or
bad and maybe this can help someone else in the future.
Being an employee alone enhances the team. Only someone with direct experience can help form this into something great
and one of those persons would be me. I'm not completely sure of the direction this "World Class Staff @ Rice" is headed, but
I know that with the years that I have under my belt, it can only help produce something GRAND with this project.
6
Director, Student
______
DOU 10+ Years 2-5 Years 0-2
I am interested in providing perspective from Rice's student support/student affairs team. I think Rice is invested in promoting
professionalism among the faculty and staff supporting student life and other such initiatives. There is a need to continue to
develop, train, and retain administrators working in these areas.
I have worked collaboratively with many different departments, student groups and administrators across campus over my 8
years working as an administrator at Rice. I also have many years of experience as a supervisor and an individual contributor
on the campus. I also believe I will provide a breadth of experience based on my work supporting student life programs at
7 Sr. Director
Development and
Alumni Relations
Talent Management is the focus of my work and I would be thrilled to contribute to the collective work on this comprehensive
project. I feel there things to be shared across departments and from other university's that would create an even better
experience for Rice employees.
I have been performing similar work to the purpose of this project for Rice for three years. I live this work each day and still
there is such much more to grow and learn. I would welcome the opportunity to reach out to other universities on behalf of
Rice to hear what they are doing well and how those ideas might be translated over to Rice. Overall, I'm excited that Rice is
looking at this project from a university wide angle while seeking input from so many perspectives.
8
Director of
Administration
Jones Graduate
School
5-10 Years 5-10 Years 10+
I strongly support providing all staff, no matter their education or current position, the opportunity to develop their strengths
and improve their weaknesses in order to acquire additional skills and improve their role at Rice. I feel that every employee
has something to offer when their interests are tapped and their talents are acknowledged.
Thinking outside the box is a strength of mine and a needed and desired goal for this team. I was a part of TEAMS, have taken
numerous HR course offerings and have moved up through the ranks at the Jones School so am able to offer ideas from
experience. I am equally willing to collaborate on, lead or be the workhorse on any phase of a project.
9
Exec. Admin
Assist.
FE&P 10+ Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
I appreciate Rice recognizing that their staff is a major asset and investing in them will have an immeasurable return. It is
amazing the number of people who have been here 20, 30, 40 and even 50 years! And unfortunately, we have had some very
talented people leave after less than 5 years. I want to help develop a plan to assist our staff with creating their career here at
Rice. And further, to help our staff expand their talents and their abilities. Showing our employees that management
recognizes their value will produce loyalty, trust, things I believe are key to employees retention.
I am excited about this committee and would enjoy being part of it. There are many resources available that we can customize
to suit us. This is an important part of, as you said in the meeting, being a world class university.

Applica
nt #
Title Department Years at Rice
Years as
Supervisor
# of Employees
Supervised
What about this project interests you? How can your involvement on this project enhance the team and project deliverables?
10
Sr. Department
Admin
ECE 2-5 Years 2-5 Years 10+
Since I have been at Rice, the most common request I hear from staff throughout the university is for more development
opportunities. We have lost good staff members across the university because they did not have the skills required to do the
job or because they didn't have opportunities to develop enhanced skills for future growth. As a manager, I encourage my
staff to add to their skill bases, but find it difficult to follow-up on these goals with them because resources are lacking or not
easily discovered. I have made it a point throughout my career to work to continuously improve the projects and programs I
am involved in. This requires building on strengths of the program and improving those areas that are lacking; it involves
actively participating in finding solutions to problems. I am deeply interested in human development, including professional
development opportunities for the world-class staff at Rice, and would like to contribute to innovative solutions to the
problems identified through Careers@Rice.
Edith Reed asked me to chair a Professional Development Committee in Engineering to identify and provide more
opportunities for the staff in technical skills areas. We have organized Excel training through an outside vendor along with Rice-
specific trainings for academic and research administrators that could serve as a spring board for more university-wide
offerings which utilize the resources already in place. Through participation in the Careers@Rice project I have begun
reflecting on the tools and strategies I used as a non-traditional classroom teacher to consider alternatives to traditional in-
class training programs. Content and delivery are only part of any development program, however; of equal importance is
how to make these opportunities available as part of a toolkit for supervisors to provide individual development plans for their
staff members. As a teacher, I have learned the importance of hearing all the ideas in the room, listening more than speaking,
and I possess a variety of teamwork and facilitation strategies that could benefit the team. In my experience as a department
d i i I i i h ff i fi i l d i h d d i i i I b h ifi
11
Program
Administrator
Kinesiology 2-5 Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
The main aspect of interest to me is the potential to make an impact on Rice as a whole. I love working for Rice, so the ability
to assist in a project that helps provide tools for all staff in developing and bettering themselves is an exciting challenge. Also,
in creating best practices, hopefully, this will assist in efficiency of processes across campus.
12
Human Resources
Coordinator
Human Resources 0-2 Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
What interests me the most about this projects is exploring and finding new ways/ideas that could influence how Rice
University develops talent and helps staff to move up the career ladder.
I recently completed the Society of Human Resources Management Certified Professional course at the Glasscock School of
Continuing Studies in December 2015. There I was able to learn new and relevant strategies/methodologies in talent
development which I believe will add value to project.
13
Talent
Management
Analyst
Development 0-2 Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
My current work at Rice directly involves matters of employee development, engagement, performance, and retention. As
Talent Management Analyst for the Division of Development and Alumni Relations, being a part of this project team would
allow me the opportunity to share our division's current practices and ideas with the larger Rice community. I believe that HR
initiatives are the foundation of a university's infrastructure and I would like to be a part of the team that affects long term
change. Before coming to Rice, I worked in divisions of student affairs and was able to see the impact that employee morale
In addition to my current HR-related work, I have a Master's degree in Higher Education Administration and am currently
working toward a second Master's degree in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. The focus of my studies is on workplace
behaviors (morale, job satisfaction, engagement, performance, etc.) and will include a thesis project on staff development
programs. I have begun research on universities that currently offer formalized programs and would be obliged to share my
findings with other members of this project team! Additionally, I have worked at universities in Texas, Louisiana, and North
14 Assistant Director
Center for Career
Development
5-10 Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
I’m a basketball player. An old one with creaky knees now, but belonging to a team has always been a fundamental part of
who I am. As a member of a team, I recognize how important it is for individuals to continuously improve within the context of
what the team needs to be high performing. Through my seven years at Rice, I have observed and/or been part of both high
performing and less successful teams, both of which would have benefitted from the tools and resources that will be
developed by this committee. The higher performing teams would have become even better and the less successful teams
would have come up to the level that we should expect of all Rice employees. The idea that I can be on a team to develop
In my positions at Rice, I work with campus partners to prepare deliverables for stakeholders both inside and outside of Rice. I
have significant experience working on matrix teams where each member works for a different supervisor and has many
priorities other than for what the team has come together. An example would be preparing a proposal for a company that
brought together campus partners from the Wiess School, the Office of the Vice Provost for Research, the Baker Institute, and
the Jones School. The on- and off-campus networks I have developed through my current Employer Relations Team at the
Center for Career Development, my position in the office of Corporate and Foundation Relations, and as a Residential Master
15
Human Resources
Specialist
Human Resources 2-5 Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
Rice University’s primary goal is to cultivate a world class learning community. While this relies heavily on the student body,
this cannot be accomplished without a world class staff. The Developing World Class Staff @ Rice program interests me,
because it will allow staff an opportunity to grow and explore their place at Rice. Additionally, I believe nothing is as rewarding
and empowering as learning; and being selected to take part in this program is an opportunity I will really appreciate.
In my 5 years at Rice University I’ve had the opportunity to move up from an HR Coordinator to a Specialist role, and have
been a part of a variety of projects which directly impact both staff and faculty. While leading the implementation of
electronic I-9 project, I encountered and overcame many obstacles in order to make hard deadlines, and I know that I can
apply all that I’ve learned to this project. Additionally, my upbringing in a foreign country gives me a different perspective that
I would like to share in order to successfully see this project through.
16
Accounting &
Financial Analyst
OpenStax 0-2 Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
I enjoy learning from best practices and building systems. This project plays well into my skill set. I have had the opportunity to develop from-the-ground-up team systems in my corporate experience as well as in community
service volunteer roles. I can draw upon this experience to help Rice create an excellent staff development process.
17 Sr. Director
Development and
Alumni Relations
Talent Management is the focus of my work and I would be thrilled to contribute to the collective work on this comprehensive
project. I feel there things to be shared across departments and from other university's that would create an even better
experience for Rice employees.
I have been performing similar work to the purpose of this project for Rice for three years. I live this work each day and still
there is such much more to grow and learn. I would welcome the opportunity to reach out to other universities on behalf of
Rice to hear what they are doing well and how those ideas might be translated over to Rice. / Overall, I'm excited that Rice is
looking at this project from a university wide angle while seeking input from so many perspectives.
18 Grant Specialist II
Office of
Sponsored
Projects and
Research
Compliance
5-10 Years Not a Supervisor Not a Supervisor
To be involved in a project outside of my regular responsibilities at Rice and obtain further insight into what a "World Class"
employee for Rice would be like.
I've been at Rice for almost (6) years(Anniversary date 6/1/16) and find that I may have an insight into what Rice needs as far
as qualified people, etc. for the future.

From:
To:
Marie Wehrung
Bcc: "mow"
Subject: Thanks for your support of the "Developing World Class Staff at Rice" Project Team
Date: Friday, February 05, 2016 2:42:47 PM
Attachments: PerformanceManagementToolTeamCharter with team members 2016-02-05.pdf
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you for your willingness to support your team member’s participation on our “Developing
World Class Staff at Rice” project. We’ve assembled a great team, and look forward to the results it
will produce and the contribution it will make to Rice through the efforts of all its members. We had
a kickoff meeting on Tuesday, February 2, and were happy to see such a diverse group of individuals
coalesce and start to work together so well, so quickly.
Whether or not you’ve heard us say this, we’ve stated on numerous occasions that we understand
each member’s participation on the team would not be possible without your understanding and
support. While we don’t have a firm idea of the amount of time any one individual might put into
this project, we think 10 hours per month is a reasonable expectation. We realize each of the 10
team members has a “day job,” and participation in this project goes above and beyond those
duties. While accomplishing work on this project team should never take precedence over carrying
out regular work duties, the project won’t make headway or come to a successful outcome without
each team member’s dedication to the work. On the application we required each prospective team
member to complete, we specifically asked individuals to respond to “I am able to commit 10 hours
per month to this project” with a “yes” or “no” answer. One hundred percent of the applicants for
the project team responded “yes” to that item. We trust your team member secured your
endorsement of her or his participation on the team prior to responding to that item, and that we
can count on your continued support of your team member’s participation on the project team
throughout its lifetime (until November, its anticipated end).
For your information and convenience we’ve attached the project charter, which we’ve updated to
include the names of the project team members. Thank you again for your support of this endeavor,
and of your team member’s role in it. If you ever have questions about this project, reach out to any
one of us, and we’d be happy to talk.
With our appreciation and best wishes for a lovely weekend,
Rebecca Gould, Angela Lipari and Marie Wehrung

TEAM CHARTER FOR DEVELOPING WORLD CLASS STAFF AT RICE PROJECT
Team Members:
Name Phone Email
Context:
What problem is being addressed?
What is the Present State, and what is the Desired Future State? (How would you describe the current or present state on
which you wish to have an impact? Within the present state, are there elements that you want to protect against any
changes? What are some of the elements of a desired future state that you can presently identify?)

What result or delivery is expected?
Why is this important?
Mission and Objectives (what the team has to achieve):
Mission of the team (In 25 – 75 words, what is the specific mission of the team? Include the basic purpose in a single,
simple sentence; the ways the purpose will be accomplished; distinctive features of approaching the tasks of the team;
and the key business outcomes on which the tasks will ultimately have an impact.):
Objectives (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-Bound):

Natural Deadlines (Are there natural deadlines establishing time boundaries for the work? How soon must the work be
completed or you will be in trouble? How soon is it desirable to complete the work? What is the anticipated date for task
completion and final approvals?:
Roles:
• Are there certain people who should be considered core team members, attending nearly every meeting or
function and doing the lion's share of the work?
• Are there certain people who should be considered staff to the team?
• Should certain people be asked to serve as "ad hoc" team members, available to be on call at a specific time?
• Will the team have one or more chairpersons? If more than one person is chair, will one be considered lead, or
the first point of contact?
• Will the team have specific process facilitators? Will they be core team members, facilitating often, or called in
when needed? What specific responsibilities do they have?
Team Member Role Responsibilities of Role

Authority and Empowerment (what team members can and can’t do to achieve the mission):
How much time should team members allocate to the team mission, and what priority do team activities have relative to
other ongoing activities?
How should team members resolve any conflicts between their day jobs and the team mission?
What budget is available, in terms of time and money?
Can the team recruit new team members?
What can the team do, what can it not do, and what does it need prior approval to do?
Resources and Support Available (resource available to the team to accomplish its goals; training and coaching
support available to the team to help it do its job):

Operations (how the team will operate on a day-to-day basis) - Consider:
Confidentiality and Communication Concerns
What is the agreement related to confidentiality and communication?
• Complete confidence-Little or no communication occurs until final recommendations are made.
• Mostly confidential-General communications are made only when data must be provided to ensure task
completion.
• Mostly open-Data are regularly communicated unless doing so would damage someone or lessen the
chances of approval.
• Totally open-All progress and workings of the team are openly published on some type of regular basis
and information provided freely and openly upon request.
What reports will be submitted when and to whom?
Meetings
• Will regular meetings be held? If so, how often, where, and when?
• Who will prepare the agenda for meetings?
• Will the agenda be pre-published and materials sent out beforehand to team members?
• Whose participation is required at meetings? What are the group's expectation regarding attendance
and participation?
Team Decision Method
• What will be the primary mode of making decisions for the team?
• What will be the backup method(s) of making decisions if the group fails to come to agreement using
the primary decision mode?
• Who will make decisions when the group is deadlocked?
• How will you manage conflict in the team (task, relationship, process)?
• Who will insure there is appropriate conflict?
• How will you check agreement on process and task decisions?

Developing World Class Staff
@ Rice
Committee Findings and Recommendations
February 1, 2017
RA  DC  LG  MG  AG  DG  AMG  AS  CT  JZW

Agenda
• Mission and Purpose
• Objectives
• Peer Institution Comparison
• Literature Review
• Focus Groups
• Committee Recommendations
• Special Thanks

• To empower a world-class workforce with
the tools and resources to be impactful,
efficient, innovative, and ambitious in order to
support the mission of the university and its
community while placing no upper limit on the
Rice Mile.
• Build out the support infrastructure for a staff
development process.
Mission and Purpose

Mission and Purpose
All staff members at Rice, from the custodial crews to the vice presidents, play an integral role in fulfilling
the mission of the university, and as such, there should be a continued effort to ensure that all staff are
properly equipped with the skills they need to do their jobs and opportunities to further their learning and
development.
Success of the V2C requires “significant investments in and improvement to our research support,
physical facilities, and information technology infrastructure.“ Success in building our faculty requires
strong support for research, including administrative support for grant application and grant
administration, technical support staff; adequate space; and funds for scholarly research.

Objectives
• Benchmark current staff training and development
opportunities with peer institutions
• Review current research surrounding staff
retention, training and development, and cost
analysis
• Collect data through a rigorous analysis giving voice
to as many staff members as possible
– Focus group
– Campus-wide survey
• Analyze data in coordination with trained expert(s)
• Develop recommendations
• Advise Senior Leadership

Research Findings:
1. Focus on Community
• Online learning community,
where Berkeley staff can learn
from and share with each other.
• The content is intended to help
employees to enhance their
skills and knowledge, be more
effective in your job, and make
greater contributions to the
organization.
• There are many ways
employees can participate –
submit articles, recommend
videos or readings, “like” what
they see, join the Twitter stream,
share their career story, write a
blog post, give advice to fellow
staff on how to use tools and
systems, pose and answer
questions, etc.

Research Findings:
2. Focus on Engagement
• Annual Employee Engagement
Survey. The results are available to
all.
• Engagement tools and resources
and available to individual
employees and teams.
• Community Connections on Campus
contains a list of associations and
groups that staff could be a part of
(e.g. association of IT professionals,
Harvard neighbors, networking for
kids, etc.)
• Recognition rich culture is strongly
encouraged. They have a
centralized place with all recognition
programs and recognition resources.

Research Findings:
3. Focus on Peer Mentor Programs

Literature Review
• Training and development activities in work organizations can produce
important benefits (Aguinis, 2009)
– Individuals and Teams
• Direct Job Performance, e.g., innovation, adaptive expertise, self-management skills, cross-cultural
adjustment
• Indirect Job Performance, e.g., empowerment, communication, planning
– Organizations
• Direct Organizational Performance, e.g., profitability, reduced costs, improved quality and quantity
• Indirect Organizational Performance, e.g., employee turnover, reputation, social capital
– Society
• Labor Force Quality
• Learning organizational cultures (organizations that have prioritized learning
and development have found increases in employees’ job satisfaction,
productivity, and profitability (Watkins & Marskci, 2003)) are associated with
job satisfaction. (Egan, 2004)
• Turnover is negatively influenced by organizational learning culture and
job satisfaction (Egan, 2004)
“I am not sure if any resources give true ROI by industry and the reason why is few
companies do true ROI in the first place (less than 20 percent) that it would be near
impossible to get a big enough sample of companies in any industry that actually do it.”
(Director of Research for the Association for Talent Development, January 2017)

Focus Groups
• Objectives
– Facilitate guided sharing of views, experiences,
and preferences regarding professional
development and training both at and outside Rice
from Rice staff members
– Determine the need for subsequent outreach
initiatives and data collection efforts
– Determine if the needs of Rice staff are similar to
the findings from scholarly research and
benchmarking completed by DWCSC.

Academic Services
n=19
Athletics and Student
Services
n= 0
FE&P & Campus Safety
n=24
Development,
Communication and
Marketing
n=15
Information Technology,
Library, Research
n=13
Supervisors
n=10
Business Services and
Finance
n=21
Focus Group Participation by Job Family
*Average participation by job family = 3.8%
**Margin of error = 9.5%
After a campus-wide call for participants,
each focus group yielded around 3.8%
average participation among the total
number of staff in each job family. Goal
was 10% participation for an adequate
sample.
Margin of error estimated to be 9.5% for
each focus group. This could indicate the
feedback we received is skewed towards
those who could attend based on job level,
availability, or consistent participation with
any Rice-led initiative where they would
normally volunteer to attend without being
asked.
Focus Groups

Focus Groups
• Overview of Activities
– Review of training and professional
development experiences at Rice or
outside Rice
– Barriers to participation
– Solutions to participation barriers

• 92% of focus group participants
suggested positive internal
training experiences at Rice
• Feedback from participants
suggested staff is satisfied
with existing opportunities at
Rice.
• Participants overwhelmingly
asked for more offerings to
support their professional skills
and development
• 55% of participants reported
involvement in HR-led training
and development
• Defined as “Rice Learning and
Development” and “Teams”,
separate from “Rice Business
Processes” including Banner,
Concur, etc.
• The majority of participants
indicated involvement in HR-
led training and development,
but left wanting to “go find out
more”
17
38
18
2
29
6
Rice Learning
and
Development
TEAMS Rice Business
Processes
Personal
Continuing Ed
Glasscock
School
Continuing
Studies
Other
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Positive Training Experiences at Rice or
Outside Rice
Focus Groups

• 66% of focus group participants
suggested non-budgetary
reasons as barriers to their
participation in training and
development
• Lack of communication from
supervisors prioritizing training
and development, coupled
with a lack of time allocated to
participate was the
overwhelming response to this
question
17
37
7
29
Budget Time Training not relevant Lack of supervisor
buy-in
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Barriers to Participation
Focus Groups

Focus Groups
“More professional development
opportunities for success in future
roles. Namely communication and
leadership.”
“Opportunities and training to
manage people.”
“Time for professional development.” “Create a culture of learning”
“Basic class on navigating Rice
resources.”
“More technical skills training.”
“Mentor program” “Cross-training/mentoring within a
division.”
“Train supervisors and managers to better understand and support
employee training and development.”
To progress toward my future career, I need…

Recommendations
1. Prioritization of learning and development at Rice
University
a. Allocate required number of hours each year for staff to
complete a training or development module.
b. Distribute a copy of the Rice Mile to all staff. Review the
Rice Mile at critical meeting points with staff such as the
Admin Forum and Town Hall.
c. Implement progressive levels of campus-wide supervisor
training and development.
d. Note that FE&P and H&D have unique circumstances that
may require additional investigation and specialized
resources.
e. Explore the creation of a staff advisory body that
proactively raises concerns and advice regarding training
and development .

Recommendations
2. Centralized Information Source
a. Continue expansion and simplification of Rice
training and development site.
b. Add a “Learning and Development” module to
New Employee Orientation. This session could
be led by a rotation of staff volunteers to go over
various resources and opportunities at Rice.
c. Continue diversifying training and development
opportunities across all staff levels.

Recommendations
3. Mentor Program
a. Provide career coaching for managers and
supervisors to become mentors or group leads to
staff.
b. Launch staff ambassador program for staff
volunteers to mentor other staff.
c. Pilot small group peer coaching based on job
families or job function.
d. Host TEAMS review groups for former
participants to continue building networking and
best practices across the university.

Special Thanks
The Developing World Class Staff Committee is grateful
to the following individuals for their guidance and
support as we carried out our mission:
Our supervisors, who gave us the time to participate,
MW, ME, RG, and AL; CK, NS, LV, LW-I, and DBM.
Also appreciated is Inette Dishler from UC Berkeley, founder of the
Wisdom Café, an online social learning community for staff
professional development and career resources.

Engage. Equip. Empower. A Model for Developing World Class Staff at Rice University
A Brief History
Spring 2015 - as part of Careers at Rice Talent Management Initiative, we (Angela, Rebecca and Marie) wanted to
promote Performance Management among managers and their employees
Summer / Fall 2015 - conducted a series of focus groups around the topic of Performance Management at Rice
● Most participants equated it with performance review
● We were looking at it more broadly than that
Fall 2015 - we were interested in shifting perceptions and practices around Performance Management
● We wanted to develop a toolkit for managers and employees alike to use to support their Performance
Management activities
● We didn’t want to presume to know what they needed in a toolkit, so decided to solicit input from
campus constituents in the form of a project team
Winter 2015 - developed project charter and process to select and assemble project team
● Assembled project charter, to be carried out by team of 10 individuals (6 in supervisory roles / 4 in non-
supervisory roles
● Scheduled information sessions, and invited individuals from across campus to attend
● Created application form for prospective team members to complete
● Reviewed applications, made selections to maximize representation from across campus, and desired mix
of non-supervisors and supervisors
Spring 2016 - convened and constituted the project team:
RA
Talent Management Analyst, Development and Alumni Relations
DC
Facilities Service Center Coordinator, Facilities Engineering & Planning
LG
Program Manager, Rice 360 Institute for Global Health
MG
Director, Keck Center, Gulf Coast Consortia
AG
Associate Director, Master of Global Affairs, School of Social Sciences
DG
Director of Administration, Jones Graduate School of Business
AMG
Assistant Director, Employer Relations and Alumni Engagement, Center for Career Development
AS
Human Resources Specialist, Division of Human Resources
CT
Executive Administrator, Martel College Master, Electrical and Computer Engineering
JZW
Department Administrator, Department of Kinesiology

The Project Team
Developing World Class Staff at Rice committee was created to help research, identify, and recommend a set of
best practices and resources that support the staff development process at Rice. Based on the deliverables, the
project team identified the following objectives:
1. Review Rice’s current staff training and development opportunities. The committee members explored
various opportunities within Rice University, such as courses/ classes offered by Glasscock School of
Continuing Studies, Fondren Library resources, various workshops sponsored by Human Resources
department, Controller’s Office and Office of Information Technology.
2. Benchmark training and development opportunities with peer institutions. To determine the best
practices and cost effectiveness, the task force surveyed such peer institutions as Stanford, Harvard, MIT
and UC Berkley. The common findings were focus on community, engagement and mentor programs.
3. Collect data through campus wide Focus Groups. In order to best determine the experience and needs of
Rice staff, the project team conducted a series of focus groups to better gauge the existing development
process. Over the course of 5 weeks, 7 focus groups were held with a total of 110 staff members. While the
participation was high, each focus group yielded around 3.8% average participation among the total number
of staff in each job family, with estimated margin of error of around 9.5% for each focus group.
4. Analyze data in coordination with trained expert(s). Data analysis of the focus group findings showed that:
a. 92% of focus group participants reported positive internal training experiences at Rice.
b. 55% of participants reported involvement in HR-led training and development.
c. 66% of focus group participants suggested non-budgetary reasons as barriers to their participation in
training and development such as lack of time allocation to participate and lack of communication from
supervisors prioritizing training and development.
5. Develop recommendations. Based on research conducted by the task force and feedback received from
Rice staff, the task force recommends that additional effort to be made toward the following:
a. Prioritization of learning and development at Rice University
i. Allocate required number of hours each year for staff to complete a training or development module.
ii. Distribute a copy of the Rice Mile to all staff. Review the Rice Mile at critical meeting points with staff
such as the Admin Forum and Town Hall.
iii. Implement progressive levels of campus-wide supervisor training and development.
iv. Explore the creation of a staff advisory body that proactively raises concerns and provides advice
regarding training and the staff development process.
v. Note: Facilities, Engineering and Planning (FE&P) and Housing and Dining (H&D) have unique
circumstances that may require additional investigation and specialized resources.
b. Centralized Information Source
i. Continue expansion and simplification of Rice training and development site.
ii. Add a “Learning and Development” module to New Employee Orientation. This session could be led
by a rotation of staff volunteers to describe various resources and opportunities at Rice.
iii. Continue diversifying training and development opportunities across all staff levels.
c. Mentor Program
i. Provide career coaching for managers and supervisors to enable them to become mentors to
individuals or groups of staff.
ii. Launch staff ambassador program for staff volunteers to mentor other staff.
iii. Pilot small group peer coaching based on job families or job function.
iv. Host TEAMS review groups for former participants to continue building networking and best practices
across the university.

Our Turn
Now that the project team’s work is complete, and we have the recommendations that they arrived at through
their painstakingly thorough efforts, it’s time for us to make good use of their hard work and put their
recommendations into action. The following organizes the team’s input into three categories:
1. Quick wins – recommendations that appear inexpensive and easy to implement in a 0 – 6 month
timeframe
2. Mid-range – recommendations that appear to require more resources than the quick wins, but seem to
be do-able in a 6 – 12 month timeframe
3. Longer range – recommendations that will call for a greater infrastructure buildout in terms of money or
support, so full implementation is likely to take more than 12 months to occur
Quick wins Comments
● Distribute a copy of the Rice Mile to all
staff. (Review the Rice Mile at critical
meeting points with staff such as the
Admin Forum and Town Hall.)
● This could be a quick win - distribute mousepads at
events; post Rice Mile on websites, etc. Biggest obstacle -
ensuring there’s agreement and alignment from senior
leadership on this, so staff don’t receive mixed messages
about the value (or question) of the Rice Mile
● Explore the creation of a staff advisory
body that proactively raises concerns and
provides advice regarding training and the
staff development process.
● This has been on OPD’s to-do list for a while - we just need
to move forward and execute on it.
● Continue expansion and simplification of
Rice training and development site.
● We’re on it - it’s an ongoing work in progress.
● Continue diversifying training and
development opportunities across all staff
levels.
● We constantly strive to curate content, gather resources,
and make learning available in many different formats,
through many different delivery methods. Word of
caution: This could be interpreted as suggesting that we
(OPD) are responsible for providing L and D opportunities.
While that’s true to a certain extent, we’re also looking
towards individuals taking on more ownership of their
development, even seeking out sources for that learning
outside of the L and D classroom (or website)
● Provide career coaching for managers and
supervisors to enable them to become
mentors to individuals or groups of staff.
● We’ve started doing this on a VERY small scale (Employee
Learning Week sessions). It’s on our list, and something
we think can be valuable and potentially a big hit
● Host TEAMS review groups for former
participants to continue building
networking and best practices across the
university.
● We’ve pulled and compiled lists of TEAMS alums (who
are still at Rice), so can convene the group to help them
reconnect AND give us feedback about elements of
TEAMS to include in the new supervisor orientation
under development.

Mid-range Comments
● Implement progressive levels of campus-wide
supervisor training and development
● We’re planning to begin piloting this by the end
of FY17. Next step: solicit input about
competencies from folks in those roles, so we
can finalize and align on them, then use them to
build out Supervisor (or Leader) Orientation
● Launch “staff ambassador” program for staff
volunteers to mentor other staff.
● This is about growing a grassroots staff
mentoring program. It’s distinct from the
Careers at Rice Ambassadors that we’re setting
up for a different purpose. The staff mentoring
program likely will take some time and attention
to gain some traction, but we see it as do-able
sooner than later.
● Pilot small group peer coaching based on job
families or job function.
● This might also be referred to as piloting
“Communities of Practice,” where individuals
with like interests can support one another,
share resources, etc. Harvard has a good model
for this. Given that it could be launched as a
grassroots effort, it may not necessarily need to
take much time or energy from HR to get off the
ground.
Longer-range Comments
● Allocate required number of hours each year for
staff to complete a training or development
module.
● This is a practice in some departments across
campus, but it is not done universally. As the
world of learning shifts, and people are taking
fewer classes, we’ll need to give some thought
to how we would measure completion of
required numbers of hours of annual training (if
that’s even the right thing to measure, and we
have alignment on it).
● Add a “Learning and Development” module to
New Employee Orientation. This session could be
led by a rotation of staff volunteers to describe
various resources and opportunities at Rice.
● This is easy and more complex. It’s easy to
assemble some info to present at Orientation,
and line up presenters. It’s more complex to think
about Orientation as part of Onboarding, and
where this L and D module best lives / when it’s
best presented. It seemingly will take a shifting of
mindsets away from “one and done” when it
comes to orienting new staff to Rice, and towards
more of an ongoing process that may take
upwards of the first year of employment, to
implement an “O2” session (like part 2 of
Orientation), sometime after a person’s
probationary period ends, to incorporate things
like this Learning and Development module

September 14, 2017
Senior Leader FirstName LastName
Title of Senior Leader
Division or School / Mailstop
Re: Person’s FirstName LastName and the Developing World Class Staff Project Team
Dear [Senior Leader]:
I’m writing to recognize the excellent work of a member of your division.
In January 2016, the Human Resources Department sought to convene a team of ten individuals from
across campus, in supervisory and non-supervisory roles, to help us develop a set of best practices,
resources, and tools that support the staff development process at Rice. As you may be aware, Person’s
Name, Person’s Title, was a member of that team. Person applied for and was selected to be on the
Developing World Class Staff at Rice project team, which first convened in February 2016, and presented
its final report to the HR Leadership Team in February 2017. During that year, Person and the other nine
members of the team put in countless hours, and worked tirelessly, to realize their self-created mission:
• To empower a world-class workforce with the tools and resources to be impactful, efficient,
innovative, and ambitious in order to support the mission of the university and its community
while placing no upper limit on the Rice Mile
• Build out the support infrastructure for a staff development process.
They accomplished this by
• Benchmarking current staff training and development opportunities with peer institutions
• Reviewing current research surrounding staff retention, training and development, and cost
analysis
• Organizing and facilitating a series of focus groups, intended to give voice to as many staff
members as possible
• Analyzing data in coordination with trained expert(s)
• Developing recommendations
• Advising Senior Leadership
The outcome of their year-long project was a presentation and final report, containing numerous
recommendations for empowering our world class workforce, and building out our staff development
process. The HR Leadership Team is now engaged in devising a plan to implement these
recommendations, and see the efforts of this project team come to fruition.
Beyond the benchmarking, analyzing, and other work that the ten members of Developing World Class
Staff at Rice carried out, the project team served a larger and greater purpose for Human Resources and
for Rice as a whole.

Page | 2
1. It extended our bandwidth. Had we in HR undertaken the work of this project team, we’d still
be thinking about conducting focus groups, or the best way in which to analyze the data we
collected.
2. It enabled us to learn about the needs and desires of our staff. While we attempt to know what
the needs of staff are, and design programs and offerings to meet those needs, the truth is that
the individuals on campus, in the departments, are in the best position to speak to their needs.
3. It provided growth opportunities for the project team members. They learned about how to
organize and conduct focus groups, forged connections with individuals across campus and at
other universities, and even overcame public speaking jitters to present their final report to us.
This embodies the intention of the Careers at Rice talent management initiative – to support
individuals growing and stretching in their current roles, as a means of keeping them engaged in
their work at Rice.
4. It served as a model for getting work done at Rice. From designing the project charter and
prospective team member application, to selecting and constituting the team, to empowering
and granting the team latitude to carry out its work as the members saw fit, and
advising/providing input only as necessary, we experienced what a competent, committed,
diverse group of staff from across campus is capable of doing. In addition, we found we could
replicate this project team model for other important initiatives, where our bandwidth
precludes us from getting to the work in a timely manner.
5. It helped us chart our course. We’ve taken the team’s input, and used it to map out short, mid,
and longer-range actions to take to implement their recommendations.
6. It heightened our awareness that many at Rice are interested in the work that we do, and
willing to pitch in and lend a voice and a hand. In our wildest dreams, we would never have
organized the team as it came to be had we only brainstormed potential members for it.
Instead, we would have looked to the “usual suspects” to populate the team, and missed out on
the opportunity to meet new individuals, have them become acquainted and get to know each
other, and discover how talented and capable they are.
In spite of Person’s enthusiasm for and commitment to the project, none of this would have been
possible without the support of her supervisor Iska Wire, who willingly shared Person’s time and talent
with the project team for the greater good of the university. While the project charter estimated a time
commitment of ten hours per month on the part of each team member, the work they did clearly took
more time than that, and we are extremely grateful to each of the supervisors for allowing and
encouraging participation on this team.
I wanted to be sure you were aware of this project team, and Person’s role on it. I hope you’ll join me in
reaching out and acknowledging such great work on behalf of Rice.
Sincerely,
Mary A. Cronin
Associate VP for Human Resources
Cc: Supervisor/Manager
Encl: Developing World Class Staff Project Team Final Report

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