April 2010 Archives

On Monday, April 19 (last week) all University faculty and staff received an email invitation to participate in the 2010 Pulse Survey. Administered every other year, the Pulse Survey helps the U to measure faculty and staff satisfaction with the University of Minnesota as an employer. This year's survey is 30% shorter with faster reporting of results and real-time, online participation tracking (by unit, not by individual.) All responses are confidential.

The survey will be live from April 19 through May 7. If you did not receive the email invitation, contact irr.surveys@umn.edu.

This is a different survey than the OIT Climate Survey, although the results can be just as useful. If you have not yet responded, I encourage you to take 20 minutes out of your work day to complete this important survey!

Many of you know that I attended the IT Leaders Program ("ITLP") several years ago. While in the program, I became friends with Brian McDonald, president of MOR Associates and ITLP. He's been a great friend, coach, and mentor these last few years.

In November 2007, OIT asked Brian to host professional development sessions with OIT staff. I hope you had the opportunity to attend. This was a great working session where Brian spoke about leadership at all levels in an organization. You don't have to be a manager to be leaderful.

I was pleased to hear Brian is scheduled to return for more conversation with OIT staff about the roles each of us has as IT innovators, providers, developers and leaders. Mark your calendars: 2:30-4:00 p.m. Tuesday, May 18, in the Mayo Auditorium.

The presentation is open to everyone in OIT. Additional program information will be available shortly, and will be published in an upcoming OIT newsletter. The event also will be available via UMConnect.

This session will be the first of several that Brian will give to OIT over the next year, and I hope everyone will be able to attend. I look forward to seeing you there!

A friend pointed me to a great article on the Harvard Business Review blogs: Overcome Resistance With the Right Questions, by Kevin Daley. The article seems geared towards managers talking to other managers, but I think it suits mentoring and co-coaching as ways to help raise our professional game.

Daley suggests asking a set of easily answered questions that helps the other individual rethink assumptions and open up the possibilities for agreement. Sounds like coaching skills, doesn't it? Richard Paul from the Center for Critical Studies gives several different kinds of questions you can ask:

1. Clarification - "What do you mean by __?" "Can you give me an example?"
2. Assumptions - "What have you assumed?" "What alternative assumptions could be made?"
3. Reasons and Evidence - "How do you know?" "Why do you think that is true?"
4. Viewpoint and Perspectives - "What does that imply?" "What do you see as alternatives?"
5. Implications and Consequences - "What do you think might be unintended consequences?" "How can we find out?" "Why is this important?"
6. Questions about Questions - "What does this mean?" "Why do you think I asked this question?"

As in any conversation, tone is important. Don't be confrontational; be open, and the discussion will be much easier.