Report on May Meetings

June 10, 2004

On May 25th and May 28th, joint day-long meetings of the Policy Board* and Initiative Steering Committee** took place with our facilitator***. These meetings represent the continuing commitment on the part of all participants to move the Initiative Steering Committee work forward.

The first meeting was designed to enable group members to learn how to work together and to respect each other's different learning, speaking, and decision-making styles. We are a diverse group, reflecting our University, and we all agreed that our differing styles could complement each other. We agreed that we work as a team where each of us are co-equal. We all agreed that this effort is for the long term, that a key measure of success is laying the foundation for future efforts, and that it would not be dependent upon any single individual.

December 10, 2004 of the Innovative Work Systems Initiative Steering Committee, and was authored by Marianne Dess-Santoro, Janet Lindner, and Laura Smith. After lively discussion and minor changes we agreed on the following statement:

"Guide and support a work environment that serves our University and values quality, productivity, and employee satisfaction by developing and strengthening labor-management partnership throughout the campus."

During the day, the committee split up into three groups and each one worked on the same problem-solving exercise. The group agreed that some key lessons were learned from this effort:

• Value the minority opinion and even try to advocate for it before rushing to the solution
• Honest interaction is key to the successful functioning of the
  group--no hidden agendas
• Each group's combined effort was more successful than the sum effort of
  its individual members
• Patience coupled with a commitment to solve problems is a key to success

The Policy Board and the Steering Committee agreed to continue to meet jointly for the next set of meetings. In order to maintain momentum, we plan to meet as much as possible throughout the summer. We continue to seek advice from our University community about projects we should focus on--projects that should have a significant and lasting effect on our work environment.

*Policy Board: John Pepper (Vice President for Finance and Administration), Bob Proto (President, Local 35), Jed Shivers (Chief Administrative and Finance Officer, Yale School of Medicine), Laura Smith (Account Assistant, Development, President, Local 34)

**Initiatives Steering Committee: Ron Altieri (Electrician, Local 35), John Bollier (Associate Vice President for Facilities Management), Marianne Dess-Santoro (Executive Director of Patient Financial Services & Associate Director Yale Medical Group), Yolanda Giordano (Account Assistant, Pediatrics, Local 34), Maureen Malone Jones (Library Services Assistant, Sterling Memorial Library, Local 34), Janet Lindner (Associate Vice President for Administration), Antonio Lopes (Autopsy Technician in Pathology, Local 34), Robert Schwartz (Associate Vice President & Chief Human Resources Officer), Diane Turner (Associate University Librarian for Human Resources, Staff Training & Security), Mark Wilson (Custodian, Local 35)

***Facilitator: Janet Castricum (Right Management Consultants)