conTEnTSUnions And You

Hold Onto Your Socks

New Equipment

Who 's Gonna Beton the Bay?

Recogniton Review

Headin' For The Hills

Volume 8, Number 3--'

212 Thumbs UpDeLynne Lahtinen, Kristen Ryan, ~ar:..cy Stecher, Chris Malins andJohn Cady

September 1997-

Siskel and Ebert we are not and GeneShalit h'aS n~thing to fear. Francis FordCoppola and Steven Spielberg, however,

had better keep an eye over their shoulders.

The Setting: PublIc Sector Quality Day19 97 . The Script: Leaders Excited AboutD evelopment. The Message: Quality Improve­ment is alive a:,d well in Financial Manage­ment.

Bright and early on September 30, publicemployees from all over the state gathered inTacoma 's Sheraton Convention Center tocelebrate quality improvement at the 2nd

Annual Public Sector Quality Conference.The keynote speaker, Steve -Wall (ExecutiveDirector, Ohio Office of Quality-)Servicesl. ,came all the way from Ohio and his enthusi­asm motivated the entire crowd of ~50. A (quotation from his handout sums up the

mai~ points of his exciting peptalk. _

"Throughout Ohio StateGdvernment, people are learningand using best practices to makeservices simpler, faster, betterand less costly for their custom­

ers. T~e power ~f quality pro­grams is not in hitting an occa-

sional high profile ho me run. The real powerof ot is in thousands of people hitting single .after single afte r single. Enlightened supervi­sors are empowering workers to solve prob- >

lems and make decisions to better meetcustomers needs. Employee unions areactively partnering with management to

- create ~ high performance work force. ,;

The UE,iversity of Washington .:vas wellrepresented at the conference as several vanloads of cheering fans (Financial Manage­ment coworkers) attended the presentationof our own LEAD Team Quality Basics:

Leaders Excited About Development. The ratings, .from our own unbiased reviewers was-without exception-best of show. The stars. \

of the whole/day were the LEAD Team: Ann:::;.

Anderson, Jocelyn Bautista, Niki Dorn,Gordon Hammond, Ruth Johnston, YeeLam, Ban Lemire and Suprimo Manabat.

Their presentation was fast paced, interest­ing, and full of practical information. Unbi- ­ased reviews included c~mments like "Excep­tional!" "Great handout!" "Enthralling!" and"Awesome use of audio visuals!" Participantsfrom other state agencies were "all praises"

~ Page 3

Unions nnd '.Iou)

r

Hold Onto '.lour Socks

new £qUlpment

Lisa Hutchinson, Payroll

The Client Services Training Team just» began the first of a series of customerservice training modules. The series,

under the heading of J(~ock }Our Socks OffService, will be held once a month until

,/

January. The first module was held Thursday,August 27 d1 and was titled An Introduction toCustomer Service. The entire payroll depart­ment attended the module and are lookingforward to future modules.

.../

Thanks to those who had developed themodules, the J(nRck rour: Socks Off Service hasbeen relatively easy to implement and follow.

, The modules do not focus on problems fromthe individual but rather how to focus ongiving the best customer service possible; nomatter what the situation. With three mod­ules behind us, the Payroll Office is lookingto future modules 10 learn better techniqueson how to giv_e better customer service.

Michael Fero, FinancialManagement

rinancial Management recently purchasedan LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) projec­tor and pentium laptop computer. The

primary use of LCD projectors is screening-computer generated presentations directlyfrom the computer, allowing for full video

. r and sound capabilities. Gone are the days ofboring, static overheads with all the inherenthandling of transparencies. This projectorcan be used for training, presentations,software demonstrations and talks. Inaddition, the-laptop has a communicationscard so it can be connected to the campusbackbone for training on various campusdrivers.

For questions concerning availability ortraining in PowerPoint, please contact DianeCooley 3-8682, dianec@u.washington.edu.-

FinancialManagement iscommitted to

problem solving atthe earliest

opportunity whenemployment issues

arise.

Karen Long, Granl and Contract Accounting

ns of last spring, nearly all Classified Staffemployees in Financial Managementwere employed under one of two union

contracts between UW and CSN925. Finan­cial Management is partnering with bothCSA and the UW Personnel/Labor Relationsoffice to develop a contract educationsession for all FM department employees.We did our first session at Grant & ContractAccounting on September IS, and arevisiting each department in FM over the nextfew months.

Ruth Johnston and I, along with DannyKraus from Labor Relations, West CampusPersonnel Rep Valarie Olivers and CSN925

------------ Staff Representative Robin

Kelson, present an overviewof the two contracts and the'guidelines they set for employ­ment in our classifications. Inaddition, we cover basicemployment issues covered bythe contracts including layoffprocedures, disciplinaryactions and the grievanceprocess . We also discuss the

role of union stewards in assisting bargainingunit members with workplace problems.

This~is your chance-as a Classified Staffmember covered under the contracts, or as aleader responsible for administering employ­ment"procedures- to ask questions and getthe information you need. We aim to makethe information -clear andencourage opencomm~nication. I think the first session inGCA was well received, and I hope all ofyou take advantage of this opportunity tounderstand how' the contracts work. finan­cial Management is committed to problemsolving at the earliest opportunity whenemployment issues arise.

• DIRECTiOnS . . . September 1991

I

Thumbs [cont'd] llIho's Gonna Bet On The Bay?

. ...:.:.:.;_..

photos courlesy ofAnita Bingaman

Anita Bingaman, Payroll

Dn a Saturday in August, four University offices-Payroll,Benefits, GCA and Business & Personnel Services-went

as a group to Emerald Downs Race Track. They put asidework and were soon caught up in a wide spectrum of emo­tions that went from serious contemplation to high expecta-

tions to wild )

cheering or todisappoint­ment, but

- overall there

was fun. Manyof us had notknown one

another even though weworked in the same building,but by the end of the day weknew each other a little betterand we had our day at Emer­ald Downsin common.One sure betis that if anyof us are ona teamtogether wewill have ahead start on

"team spirit.

for the content and professionalism of theUW presentation. Special mention is dueFM's own Michael Fero for his superiorcontribution to the audio visuals. At the endof the LEAD Team presentation, all onehundred six attending had two thumbs up(that made 21? thumbs up)!

1f you were unable to get away for theconference itself, you haven't missed the bestof show. In the near future, Ruth Johnstonand the rest of the LEAD Team are planningto share their presentation with the rest of usin Financial Management. Stay in touchwith one of the Lead Team members tolearnwhen they will be making their presentationagain.

Most UW employees left the conferenceoverloaded with information and confidentthat QI in Financial Management is aliveand well. The same cannot be said for allwork groups and agencies represented. Manywere at the conference to learn about how tostart and how to maintain a quality focusedworkplace. Others worried that "quality" wasjust another "flash" in the management fadfrying pan. Some had started o~ the qualityimprovement path but wondered where to gonext and how to make the transition perma­nent.

The final speaker, Judy Heinrich, of theLeadership Institute of Seattle, put the"capstone" on the day by describing thecritically important role of managers in theprocess of bringing quality improvements toa workplace. Without the buy-in of leadersat all levels, quality improvement is boundto fail. Her message reinforced the "basic"message of the LEAD Team-leaders whobelieve in improving themselves are part ofthe powerful force for organizational effec­tiveness. We can be proud to work withleaders committed to quality improvement.

Two hundred twelve (212) thumbs up forour LEADers.

DIRECTions ,: .. September Igg, •

R£COGnITIOn R£UI£WexpressIOns. etc. llnO nward llnueiled

./

Kristie Dunne, Accounts Payable

rinancial Management's employees havebeen very busy doing a great job again!We have had many opportunities to

recognize this good work.

On June 26 th , Payroll had an Express tocelebrate a historic accomplishment-for thefirst time, the fiscal year cutoff closings werecompleted by 5:30 PM. This remarkableachievement was the direct result of employ­ing QI principles in pursuit of increasedefficiency and efficacy.

On July 2nd , an Express was held to thankthe Tax Assessment Team from FinancialManagement for all their good, hard workin identifying and reducing potential taxcompliance problems.

On July 16th , the Interaction Team­comprised of people from Accounts Payableand Purchasing-had an Express to recog­nize their accomplishment of reaching theirfirst milestone. The mission of the team is toopen channels 'of communication andremove barriers which impact work flowbetween Purchasing and Accounts Payable.

On September 9th, the Accounting and

Reporting Unit of Student-Loans eel­ebr~ted their accomplishment of meetingannual reporting deadlines earlier than inprevious years while performing their routinedaily activities.

On the 24 th , the Grant & ContractAccounting staff was recognized for surviv­ing the biennium close while the office hadsignificant staff turnover.

~ Page 8

.J.

Michael Fero, Financial Management

Susan Ball, Senior Associate Treasurer,became the inaugural LINQ awardwinner at a presentation ceremony held

on September 25 th in 'the Treasurer's Offices.

Susan was recognized for the qualities ofTrustworthy and Trusting of Others. She wasnominated because of her excellent leader­ship skills, as typified by these commentsfrom the form submitted in support of hernomination: "Susan seeks ways for everyonein our department to grow. She admits to allmistakes freely and openly without anydefensiveness. The quality of Susan's work islegendary: This leader goes out of her way tochallenge people to higher synergistic levels.During a recent staff meeting ... this leadertook the time to ask for each individual'sopinion." While these are but a few samples,they provide a snapshot of the esteem inwhich Susan is held by her colleagues.

The proposal for the LINQ award wasconceived over a year ago. Several designs forthe award were promulgated, culminating ina wooden box with a hinged top. On the lidis an engraved purple and gold plaque withthe UW seal encircled by the words "Leader-

(

ship In Quality Award." On each of the foursides of the box are spaces for engravedplaques for each of the four award catego­ries: Trustworthy, Trusting of Others, Ap­proachable and Inspiring.

If you know of any leaders who aredeserving of this award, contact your areaRQT rep for more information and/ornomination forms.

• DIRECTiOnS . . . September 1991

'lleadm t Por The Hills tt nn lnside Look at the Ell Retreat

.. Entrance interviews

It Ain't Me Babe

• Coordination andcooperation withprocess partners

• Communication

~ I

i~

1

Ideas For Financial \management.91 0 ·90 Focus

• Teamwork training

• What do leaders needto commit to change?

• Hiring the right people

• Career managementfocus

• Pools for entry ·or other

• Career pro~ess reviews

• Sabbaticals

• Selling the organizationusing WEB and net­working

• Retention is not a goal.The goal is to create areally great workenvironment.

"This adorable little girl just told herDaddy she wants to be a railroad conductorwhen she grows up! The littlegirl, of course, is Patti." RichAndrews is pretty sure ofhimself, having drawn thephotograph at random from apile of unidentified childhoodsnapshots of his fellow EITmembers. "Nope. Not me,"says Patti Kimpton, Not thefirst of the EIT to guessincorrectly, Rich eyes thegroup expectantly. "Identifyyourself!" he cries, holding upthe picture as Frank Mont­gomery slowly raises hishand. Guffaws fill the room.Out of fifteen or so photo­graphs (some of us feltcompelled to bring more thanone), only two or three wereidentified correctly. I drew anadorable photo of Baby Ruthand guessed right only be­cause her name was scrawledacross the back. Of course, Ipretended that I wa~ justbetter at this sort of thingthan everyone else. Duplicityhas its place.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

We then numbered off intotwo teams. Much to mydelight, two of my fellow )roommates, Ruth and Dougwere on my team. CharlesBennett and Ann Anderson rounded off our (team, with Ann serving as the silent observerof team process. Other than tossing a fewinsults in her direction, we managed to prettymuch ignore Ann.

Susan Ball, Treasurer's Office

Some of you are just dying of curiosity.What really goes on at those EITretreats? Naturally I don't presume to

speak for everyone. Each of us has our ownperspective on the goings-on at Pack Forest.But the rest of the EIT is not likely to tellyou much about it. That's my assignment.I'm the self-appointed social commentatoron the 8th Annual EIT Retreat. Or is it the7th Annual EIT Retreat? They didn't inviteme for the first few years so I'v~ lost track.

I've whetted your appetite. So let me whetit some more. This is a tale of mistakenidentity, competitive flings and group hugs.You'll hear about coed habitation, dreamsand big foot. And the food. Ahhhhhhhh.What is any retreat without its share ofgluttonous feasts?

Well, W~ll, Well

It was a dark and stormy Wednesdayafternoon when Doug Breckel, RuthJohnston and I arrived at Pack Forest min­utes behind Gary Comfort. After two hoursin the car and a cozy lunch at a shoppingmall Mexican restaurant, we had bonded.We were inseparable. We claimed a smallfour-bedroom house at the compound andquickly assimilated Gary into the fold. Coedhousing had penetrated the EIT.~ The othersslowly arrived as the afternoon progressed.

Pack Up lOur Sorrows

The evening was dedicated to unwinding.The fire roared in Pack Hall. We sprawled

(

across .the furniture and peered up expect-antly at our facilitator, Debby Seaman."Good evening, Debby," we chimed. Debbyasked each of us to .write our troubles on ascrap of paper, then collected our musings

L and tossed them into-the fire. Carefree atlast; we were ready for serious fun.

~ Page 6 II....,.

DIRECTIOns ... September 1001. I I

r---

out of deference to our silent ob server, theA 11 1Ie!ia Airhcatl.

You may be wondering what the otherteam was doing all this time. You'll have tocheck with one of them because we didn'tpay them much heed. Clearly they weren'thaving nearly so much fun. We could hearthe occasional curse from their side of theroom as we mercilessly hurtled insults andpaper airplanes in their direction. We weren 'tcompetitive! Not -at all. At one point theother team (whose team name eludes me)

.?

sent Rich Andrews to spy on us. "Cheaters,"Rich proclaimed. "We didn't get coloredmarkers! Why did they?"

Finally, the time was up. We stepped .forward with our fleet. Plane after planesoared across Pack-Hall amidst shouts andcheers. What an astounding feat! Whatteamwork! And then the other team steppedinto position. Reluctantly we admired theirthree dimensional airplane. B~t did it fly?Who knows! "Top secret," announced Rich ."Of course itflies but we can't really revealgovernment secrets now, can we?" He dem­onstrated four mo!-e airplanes, all different. .Several flew the minimum distance beforecrumbling to the ground. "Governmentwork," we muttered, shaking our heads. The

remaining no~-flyers joined t he ~p secret >"

heap. While there was no accession of defeatby the other side , the SST's declared them­selves the superior team!

. What was the purpose of this exercise? Tohave fun, of course. But also to make apoint about team dynamics a nd the need forflexibility. We work in a world where therules are constantly changing. The survivorsamong us will be those who can adapt

quickly and easily. Heck, Darwin figuredthat one out-ages ago.

All I Want to Do Is Dream, Dream Dream

Wednesday turned into Thursday. Wespent the morning reviewing the recentFinancial Management staff survey and theafter noon discussing changing workplace

Five or ten minutes intothe exercise, Debby changedthe ground rules. With theclock still ticking, we werenow told to build five air­planes, at least one of whichcould fly nine feet. Our team,suitably named the SSTs,scoffed at so easy amodification in the assign­ment; We were practicallydone. Ruth snatched a box ofcolored markers. We beganto get even more creative.Each airplane was coloredwith an artful design andduly christened: the BallBreaker, Breck's vVreck, theBennett Bomber, Ruthless and

Vve were to bui ld an airplane. "Oh boy,oh boy, oh boy," mutteredDoug. Wasting no time atall, I declared myself teamleader, Doug and Charles 'production engineers, andRuth grunt laborer. Evenbefore the words were out ofmy mouth, Doug had com­pleted a prototype. Instantly,Doug rose in rank to ChiefEngineer. We moved beyondthe design stage and intoproduction. Within minutes,we had two or three paperairplanes. Andboy did theyfly. Beautiful.

Each team was supplied with chart paper,paperc lips and ta pe. Debbv announced the

. assig nment and told us we had thirty min­utes.

·91 EmployeeSuruey ResultsListed below arc selectedexcerpts from this vear's

employee Sltrl}~J'.

• 99% feel that quality iseveryone's responsiblity.

• 98% reported that theygive their customers thehelp they need when aservice problem arises.

• Given the choice. 89%would continue usingQI principles and toolsin their work.

• 88% felt that QI con ­tributes to effectivecustomer serv ice.

• 87% of us have been onat least one QI team.

• 830/0 reported enjoyinga collaborative workenvironment.

• Our overall effcctivesswas rated; at 79%.

• QI Team effectivenesscame in at 74%.

DirectIOns is published quarterly by theOffice of Fina.ncial Management, Univer­sity of Washington.

For more info rmation , please .contact :Ruth Johnston , Editor

685-9838 or ruthj @u .washington .edu I.l

\

~ Page 7

• DIRECTiOnS . . . September Iggl

awards."

~ Page 8

fJ

·91 EmployeeSurvey Results

Listed below are selectedcomments from thisyear's

employee survey.

• "The only time I feelthat I'm not providinggood customer service iswhen the work load istoo much."

• "Our department hasthe 'bare bones' mental­ity and could be mademore comfortable foremployees. "

• "We should be able to,give awards to peoplewho do an extraordi­nary job but who donot meet the formalcriteria for the other

• "The team leadershould be less authori­tative and respectmembers more."

our mid-morning cinnamon rolls as they hadfailed to order any of their own. My goodintention to pass on cinnamon rolls thesecond day was quickly forgotten in thecompetitive rush to claim whatwas rightfully ours.

Back in the conferenceroom, Ruth conducted asession on Myers Briggs typesand change. A fascinatingdiscussion made all the more ;meaningful as each of sharedchallenges from the past yeardrawn from both our homeand work lives. Before wecould finish, it was time forpasta primavera.

Will the Circle Be Unbroken

After lunch, V'Ella Warrenfacilitated the wrap-up discus­sion. By 2:30 the retreat drewto a close and Cindy Fenwickasked that the EIT step­outside and form a circle. Eachof us placed our arms aroundthe shoulders of the person oneither side. "Damn it all," Iheard one unidentified EITmember mutter, "I just hate allthis touchy-feely stuff." As youmight expect, the womenmoved easily into position ,while the men stood off to oneside. Not a problem. Rutharranged the men within thecircle- in classic boy/girl/boy/girl fashion.

The exercise itself was asimple one. Each of us de-scribed one thing that we really liked aboutthis year's retreat. "Great facilitator," saidone. "Lots of food," said another. "Wonder­ful agenda." "Single rooms for all." ''Alearning experience." "Coed housing." "No

. pre-work." So it goes. Next time around weidentified what we ,might change for next

demographics and values. In between worksessions, we ate. French toast at 7:30.Cinnamon rolls at 10:00. Taco buffet atNoon. Cookies and 'pop at 3:00. Just in caseanyone got hungry between feedings, wekept a supply of junk food in our conferenceroom. To keep us stimulated for the. after­noon session, Debby/led us in group song -­the Everly Brother's hit from the 60's; All IlMznt To Do Is Dream, Dream, Dream. In point ·of fact, "dream, dream, dream" probably wasall that any of us warted to do after the tacobuffet. But, we carried on.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down

Finally it was 5:00 and we had all of twohours until dinner. It was still raining. Abouthalf of the EIT, including all of the heartymembers of the coed house, headed out for awalk in the woods. At 7:00 we were back atthe mess hall competing with a large groupof new arrivals for the baked chicken andrice pilaf. By 8:00 most of us were ready tocheck out the nightlife in Eatonville.

Within minutes we were sitting)n the BigFoot Tavernsipping beer and pluggingquarte!s into the juke box. Doug Breckel andAnn Anderson played a few rounds of pool.Patti Kimpton tackled the pin ball machine.Other than the proprietor, we had the tavernto ourselves. J~st as well. At some point inyour life, you no longer relish smoke-filledrooms and riotous crowds.

Day Is DoneI

At what would seem like a ridiculouslyearly hour to most of you , we headed -home.

, At the coed house we sat up until 11:30 ­sharing stories. Ruth passed around herwedding pictures and we reveled again in herrecent marriage. A nice evening. We shared alittle more food and a little more wine andfinally headed off to,bed. Hard to get enoughto eat when you're roughing it in the woods. "

The Good Times We Had

Before you knew it, Friday wa~ upon us.Scrambled eggs and hash browns for break­fast. We had to fight off the larger group for

-

vcar. "More sun." "More sleep." "Pack Forest toourselves. " Again we went around the circle. Weturned first to the person on our right and then to theperson on our left and identified something about theperson that we appreciated. This was the mushy, 'feelgood' part of the retreat. Suffice it to say, not one ofus was at a loss for words. Before we knew it, our ­arms were unlocked and we were headed home.

"The Last Thing On My Mind"

Well, it's not exactly Peyton Place but what didyou expect? (Have any of you even heard of PeytonPlacer') This is a group of middle-aged finance andaccounting professionals'. Most of 6s lead pretty dulllives. Or so you think. Of course I've offered onlyone view of the retreat. There are tenothers outthere. Without a doubt, I've missed meaty conversa­tions and momentous happenings. You will findsignificant differences -among our stories. On oneissue alone will we come together. This was the bestretreat ever.

express IOns...[conrd]( ,

And last! but not least, on August 20 th, a rightsmart of our colleagues got together at the PhysicsPavilion and had themselves an old fashionedCountry Fair, complete with a snake "oil' salesman.Although the weather was not all that we hoped for,precipitation generally held off until everyone left.Posters prepared by individual departments-high-

,lighting Financial Management accomplishrnents-s­- graced the area and served as a focus for all the

improvements achieved by our division.

Keep up the good work and keep those Expressescoming!

-Attendees at the Summer event, 8/20/97

Office of Plnanclal man~gement200 Gerberding Hall. 80x 3512QOSeattle.lUn 90195-1240

Cooley l Diane L355870

• DIRECTiOnS .._"September 1991