More than 200 faculty and staff heard the results of the 2010 Campus Climate Survey on Wednesday, Sept. 8, either by attending the town hall meeting or by tuning in via web video.
During the day, which offered five sessions, common questions arose regarding employee responses on salary questions, employee-supervisor relationships and communications between junior and senior faculty.
Employees wanted to know if peer institutions responded comparably to the question about their satisfaction with salaries. They also wanted to know how employees could report good relationships with their direct supervisor, yet find communications with the supervisor to be lacking. Richard Boyer, who delivered the presentations on behalf of ModernThink, the consulting firm that conducted the survey, suggested that a positive employee/supervisor relationship might serve as a hindrance when either party may choose not to critique each other for fear of damaging the relationship.
During a special presentation to the Faculty Senate at the end of the day, questions addressed communications between junior or non-tenured faculty and seasoned/tenured/tenure-track faculty. Boyer said the data showed that junior faculty may choose not to speak out on issues at the College for fear of retribution. He also pointed out that supervisors who have terminal degrees may not believe they need supervisory training, when it in fact the extra skills gained from such trainng may provide them better management and supervisory skills.
The survey and the results “will allow us to get information to advance our institution,” said Campus Climate Survey Chair and Interim Associate to the President for Diversity Myron Anderson. “I thought it was excellent that we had the best of both worlds. We were able to have 60 core questions to be benchmarked nationally and 20 questions specific to Metro State.”
Next steps
President Jordan has asked key groups in the College to utilize the survey results to develop strategies to help improve the work environment at the College.
The President's Cabinet has been asked to come up with three ideas to improve campus communication in their respective areas. Jordan has asked the 15 leadership areas to convene their constituents to further communicate the survey results to them and begin to use this data as an information resource to advance their areas. Vice presidents have been asked to review the survey results in detail and identify both micro and macro opportunities that resonate in their areas.
Jordan has also charged and initiated a 2010 Strategic Planning Committee to use results from the 2010 Campus Climate survey to determine important initiatives and strategies for improving the work environment at the College.
Employees can review survey results and stay abreast of progress on next steps by regularly visiting the Campus Climate Survey website.
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