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Ujima Donalson

A Note from Ujima Donalson,
POD Director

I hope your holidays were joyous and filled with family and friends, as mine were. For me, that time flew by even faster than usual, and my colleagues and I hit the ground running at the start of the year. Though part of me wishes I'd had a bit more rest and relaxation in the final months of 2014, that's eclipsed by my incredible excitement about everything we've been working on in POD to advance staff training and leadership development at the UW. Read more


"Admitting that a problem might stem from several different sources will change our whole approach. ... We move from judge, jury, and executioner to curious participant." ~ Crucial Accountability


Mastering Accountability
Ujima Donalson, POD Director

As I wrote in the first article of our two-part series on accountability, many of us struggle with holding people accountable and tend to think of accountability as punitive (which is, perhaps, one reason we shy away from it in the first place). However, the authors of Crucial Accountability: Tools for Resolving Violated Expectations, Broken Commitments, and Bad Behavior take a much different stance; in their view, managers who hold employees accountable are "facilitators, enablers, and supporters." For leaders to shift to this more constructive approach to accountability, they must learn the keys to having a successful accountability conversation and master the principles of accountability. Read more


Karen Copp

Ask an Expert: The Leader's Essential Role in HR/P
Karen Copp, Organizational Change Management Specialist, HR/Payroll Modernization

As the HR/P go-live date draws closer, how should I start preparing myself and my team?

Managers can be either a great contributor or a formidable obstacle to successful change. Because you're close to the action, your ability to lead employees through change is often the deciding factor in how quickly and fully a change is adopted. Your attitude and actions inevitably show up in your employees—whether your position is one of support or of opposition—and that will be true in your approach to the HR/Payroll Modernization project. How you position HR/P will greatly affect how your employees respond and how smoothly the transition goes for them. Read more


"A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be." ~ Rosalynn Carter


Organizational Effectiveness Showcase

Share UW improvements with colleagues across the University! On March 10 UW Organizational Excellence is sponsoring a campus-wide showcase and poster-session of "Improvement Work." This event will present how schools, colleges, and administrative units are making the UW better, from operations to curriculum/teaching, research, and administration. Join us to learn from UW faculty and staff, and find new ways to improve work productivity and satisfaction. The Showcase will be held March 10, 1–3:00 p.m., in the HUB Lyceum. Contact Jeff Fillmore in Organizational Excellence to learn more or to sign up to present a poster.


Support Your Staff With the Spring Retreat

Why should you consider sending one or more of your staff members to the Support Professionals Spring Retreat on Tuesday, April 21? Perhaps evaluation comments made by some of last year's participants best express why a day away from ordinary work can be so extraordinary.

What aspects of this retreat did you most enjoy?

  • Opportunity to get away from regular work and consider greater issues
  • Very relatable to everyday work and life
  • Meeting coworkers from different sites. Taking a day to reflect and grow professional and personal skills.
  • I gained a lot from this retreat and enjoyed making new connections
  • The location, food, and facilities were lovely
  • Opportunity to interact with UW employees from different departments. The topics I attended were informative, interesting, well-presented, varied.

Now in its twelfth year, this annual event for UW support professionals falls just before Administrative Professionals Day and provides managers with an opportunity to reward their staff and foster employee development. Start planning for the day with your staff now; registration opens on March 2!


"The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story." ~ Chimamanda Adichie


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Current Events

In honor of Black History Month (February) and Women's History Month (March), we've pulled together a few resources and events that may be of interest to those hoping to enrich their cultural awareness.

  • CulturalFest: This family-friendly event hosted by the Foundation for International Understanding Through Students (FIUTS) includes an International Expo on February 26 in the HUB and a Performance Showcase on February 28 in Meany Hall.
  • Women of Courage: Daring to Lead: Gala presented by UW Women's Center on March 7, complete with a silent auction, dinner, and dancing.
  • Celebrating UW Women: For more than 10 years, this program sponsored by Housing & Food Services has honored UW women and their contributions. 2015 nominations are open through March 9, and a celebration will be held on Thursday, March 19 at 4:00 p.m. in Alder Commons.
  • "Mirror Image: Know Your Own Culture to Understand Others": This short but incisive article posits that "awareness of our own culture is important, because it can keep us from projecting our values onto others."
  • "The Danger of a Single Story": A TED Talk by novelist Chimamanda Adichie about the critical misunderstandings we risk if we hear only a single story about another person or country.

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