January 4, 2018

TAP survey action plans posted; support available for improvement efforts

The UW conducted our first-ever tri-campus survey of faculty, students and staff last year to see how well our administrative units are serving the needs of campus partners. To the nearly 4,300 who provided feedback via the Transforming Administration Program survey, I want to say:

Thank you. And, we heard you.

Many of you called out individuals or teams you wanted to recognize for exceptional service. And many more provided valuable information on what’s working, what’s not, and how we can improve.

We learned a great deal from the survey process—our strength lies in courteous and professional staff; that we need to improve access to online information on an immense range of topics; and we need to adjust the survey tool itself before the next survey in 2019.

Surveys are only valuable if we follow through. And while the results were overall very good, we still have work to do. That means each unit has opportunities to improve.

Over the coming months, at both the university and unit levels, we will share ways in which we are acting on feedback and highlighting people and teams who were called out for recognition.

An Executive Summary and TAP survey results infographic are available now with UW-wide results. Results by unit are available, as well.

Last summer, I asked all vice presidents and vice provosts to submit action plans based on survey feedback, and I will ask them for regular progress reports. To see what they are working on, participating units’ results and action plans are available on the TAP survey website. I am also encouraging units to share progress with colleagues at events such as the recent TAP Action Plan Forum, which highlights efforts across units led by Jeff Scott, executive vice president for finance & administration.

Support is available for these continuous improvement efforts. The TAP Ambassador Program offers workshops and learning communities for staff working to improve service. Each unit has a designated ambassador to help further the work, but programing is open to all who are interested. Contact Emily Drevecky, drevecky@uw.edu, to join the mailing list. Help is also available by request from Strategic Consulting’s Organizational Excellence and LEAN team consultants.

Now that we have a baseline for tracking improvements in central units, we can focus on helping units improve—improvement we hope to see reflected in results from a planned TAP survey in 2019.

Thank you again to all of you who participated in the survey, providing valuable feedback. And thank you to the staff working to improve service based on input.