2009 Fall Convocation Speech - Quick Wins
Speech Segments
‘Quick Wins’ Video Transcript
I have been busy. I did mention that. I have met with a lot of people on campus and learned quite a bit about what they do. I’ve met with many, many people off campus and have been able to move forward with some of the efforts to continue the integration of this institution with the community.
I have a note here to mention what I heard this institution called on Saturday night. And you’ve probably all heard it, but it was new to me. It was referred to as “oo-guh-ba” — UWGB — “oo-guh-ba.” I thought it was kind of funny, but it depends on the context I guess. It’s not funny here, but it was funny on Saturday night.
Well, I have met with community leaders, business people, elected officials, Regents, UW staff members, members of the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay councils and committees, retirees and many others. And I have heard a lot.
I have heard a few complaints. But overwhelmingly, I have heard expressed by these individuals and organizations, overwhelming appreciation for the job that we are doing and appreciation for the University, specifically. And so I take a lot of pride in that when I hear it. But it is also helpful for me to hear their criticisms. As time goes on, I will share those. This is not the day for that, and they’re not big criticisms. They are things we should know about and they are things we should be able to address very, very well.
But, even though I have learned quite a bit, I have much more to learn. I have only been here two-and-a-half months, and those of you sitting over here, you’ve been here more or less than that. Some of you have been here nearly a year, some of you are brand new. You will find out that there are a lot of things to learn about this University, partly because we are doing so much, and partly because it is a unique institution.
It was founded differently; it has grown up differently than a lot of different universities. You’ll catch on a lot faster than I have. I came in thinking I already knew everything, and you’re not doing that I’m sure. I came in thinking, "I’ve worked in seven universities. I’ve got it all mastered." Well, I don’t. I still have a lot to learn about this wonderful place, this wonderful University.
But I have developed some questions and I have developed some observations. These, in part, will drive my agenda over the next several months. Let me tell you about some of the things we have already done, and some of the things we need to be working on and need to be thinking about.
Quick Wins. There are some improvements we need to make that do not take long to identify or to correct. They should be pretty easy. They fall under the category of “this is so simple and obvious, why hasn’t somebody fixed this.” So we’re looking for those kinds of quick fixes, quick wins. They don’t take money, they take a little time and they take a little thought. And you probably are sitting there thinking, “I have one of those.” I’d like to hear what it is. Not right now. Send me a note. I’d like to hear what you think should be fixed quickly. It has to be something that doesn’t take a lot of money because we don’t have a lot of money for this.
A lot of issues that go year after year in an organization are not that hard to fix. They just have to be recognized and addressed. So we’re working on those.
It is not just what’s wrong, it’s what can we do to help you. What can we do to make your life easier? What can we do to recognize, to some degree, the work that you do? So there are a number of things that fit under quick wins.
Some of the projects we’re working on. Phoenix Athletics is working on what I’ll call benefits to the faculty and staff at the University, and will be providing a limited number of free tickets to athletics events. Ken, I don’t want to put you on the spot, but we’re talking about basketball games here. Those of you who would like to try out a basketball game; we’re going to make that possible for you.
There are a few other things we’ll be seeing coming out of athletics that will be a benefit and be an encouragement for you to have an opportunity to participate in.
We are improving the availability of the Weidner Center for the performing arts folks at UWGB. And we will be doing something about the cost.
We have established a new policy to permit flexible work hours. Now, that’s been in the works for a while, but never got finished. And, we know that some people could really benefit by having a flexible schedule. Most of us cannot benefit, or most of us are not in a job where that would work. But some of us are, so we now have a policy and I am encouraging supervisors and managers to work with people in the University to see if that will work for more people.
We also now have a new policy on telecommuting, to facilitate that, where it’s appropriate, where it’s good for the University and good for the individual. And, again, that’s been something in the works and we’ve worked through the little bugs. We think we’re ready now to roll this out and I approved it yesterday.
We are going to improve handicapped parking close to the library. That’s pretty tough because there is not a lot of space around the library, but that’s a point that we heard come up a number of times. We’re working on that. Tom Maki has a plan and it will take a little bit of money, but not very much to address that. So we’re going to work on handicapped parking close to the library.
We are encouraging internal applicants for vacant positions. That may sound like a funny thing to say, but what I’m hearing is that there are some people, and it’s not widespread, but some people feel like internal candidates do not have an equal chance at positions. Well, you will have. I think you have had, but if there has been any impediment to that, we’re going to make sure that the internal candidates are encouraged, and not just encouraged, but provided opportunities to develop a skill set for the ability to apply for and be successful for vacant jobs on campus.
So that’s some of the things we’ve done so far with regard to just quick wins.
We have a long list of others and it will take a few months to actually work through a few of the others that we’re working on.