The Transparency Project Committee debuted a series of new communication tools and recommendations it has been working on to improve transparency in campus-wide decision-making and communication processes at Monday’s (Nov. 7) information forum.

The Transparency Project is one of three action projects underway at NMU as part of the Academic Quality Improvement Program (AQIP) method of accreditation through the Higher Learning Commission.

The action project’s committee has focused its most recent work in three areas: documenting existing decision-making processes and opportunities for input; creating web-based tools and resources that enhance information-sharing regarding campus committees and early stage initiatives/ideas; and developing communication and change management training and templates.  

At the forum, co-chair Jessica Thompson (Communication and Performance Studies) said that the committee used three methods to collect information about campus needs regarding decision-making participation and communication: a survey to students, faculty and staff; one-on-one interviews with executive to middle-management campus decision-makers; and a campus forum.

“We took what we heard and tried to come up with tools and resources that address a couple of key issues, including more participation across campus in the decision-making process, a better understanding of how campus-wide decisions are made and easier access to information regarding campus-wide decisions,” Thompson said.

Cindy Paavola (President’s Office), a member of the committee, demonstrated three tools that resulted from the committee’s research: the already created and implemented Student Connect, an electronic newsletter for students that is similar to the Campus Connect electronic newsletter for faculty and staff; a draft of a series of step-by-step guides for various types of decision-making, such as academic or financial; and an early prototype of an online calendar designed to assist with pre-planning as it pertains to productivity periods on campus.

“Student Connect was created because the feedback indicated that students wanted more of the same news-related information that faculty and staff have access to through Campus Connect,” said Paavola.

“The step-by-step guides are written documents that outline the procedures that are taken in particular types of decision-making. While there will always be exceptions, these outlines demonstrate how certain types of decisions are made the majority of the time,” she said. “Lastly, the Campus Pulse calendar includes information that will help the campus realize high-productivity and high-stress times so that these times might be avoided in a decision-making timeline through pre-planning. For instance, scheduling a university forum to discuss an initiative proposal during academic advising is ill-advised and doesn’t take into account the faculty’s priority of that time period. So, the new calendar should help with some of the pre-planning regarding scheduling events and getting higher levels of participation.”

Jill Compton (Internal Audit and Risk Management), another committee member, gave a demo of another new tool called the “Idea Forum,” which the campus community would have access to from the main Campus Connect menu. The tool is a database that will collect information about idea proposals that are in early development by departments, groups and individuals and provide a window of time for campus-wide feedback.

Compton also demonstrated an already implemented addition to the university’s online policies and procedures database (nmu.edu/policies)  for university committee information, including its charge, by-laws, makeup and website address.

“There are 69 university committees that we added to our searchable database. Committees are involved in a large part of the university’s decision-making process, either having been authorized to make a decision or tasked to provide recommendations. With information about the committees now stored in one place, campus community members who are interested in learning how to join a committee or who want to follow the work of a committee can do that more easily,” said Compton.

A yet-to-be developed component of the committee information will be a tool that allows community members to review on a monthly basis upcoming committee openings, a tool Compton said the committee hoped would increase broader participation across the campus.

Committee Co-chair Rhea Dever (Human Resources) concluded the program discussing communication and change management tools and resources in development, including decision-making expectation documents that will outline the expectations of students, faculty, staff and administrators in the decision-making process; a communication playbook with best practice checklists to ensure efficient, effective communication about campus-wide decisions; and change management resources and support.

Dever also presented on a new supervisor’s training program that was piloted last August. The program focuses on a number of key issues related to employee engagement, including the importance of sharing information and inviting opportunities for feedback.

“In the survey, we asked faculty and staff where they got their information about campus-wide decisions and the majority answer was from their peers. We also asked where did they want to get their information about campus-wide decisions and they overwhelming said from their supervisor or department head,” said Dever. “However, all supervisors are not natural communicators. We hope this new training will help supervisors understand how important it is to communicate well with their faculty, staff and students about issues that may impact them as well as engage them in decision-making processes when possible.”

Dever said the committee will continue to meet formally until mid-December when the final report, including a series of recommendations, will be submitted to the university’s executive leadership for consideration. The committee will continue to make presentations and collect feedback on the group’s proposals through the end of November.

The PowerPoint presented at the forum can be viewed at share.nmu.edu under the Transparency Project – Community Discussion (NMU log-in required).  Feedback can be posted there or sent to rdever@nmu.edu.  For more information on the Transparency Project, visit nmu.edu/aqip and view current action projects.