Agenda

• Introduction & SAT Reminders
• Discussion with New Vice President For Human Resources Caitlin Goss

Notes

• Introduction & SAT Reminders
  • Staff Council Update
    • Reminder that staff council open meeting are usually recorded and can be found at: Staff Council Meeting Recordings: https://sites.middlebury.edu/mcsc/
    • Council is pulling in the results from the staff survey, and recently shared some very preliminary findings with Board members. Had good conversation with SLG, hoping to do some sharing at the next open meeting later this month.
    • Open Enrollment Reminder – needs to complete by Nov 12
    • GMHEC Benefits Team are available Monday through Friday from 8:15am – 5:00pm EST and weekends during Open Enrollment from 9:00am – 4:00pm EST. Email us at benefits@gmhec.org / https://gmhec.org/human-resources-staff-faqs/
  • Food Drive in Progress
    • We have successfully deployed empty barrels around campus, and are already collecting some food (thank you!) Feel free to swing by Samson, Office Services, or McCone lobby. The barrels are out there – we only have until the 19th to reach our goal of 1,000lbs of donations.
  • Reminder about the Doctoral Studies Panel: November 16, 2021 · 12:15–1:30 PM
    • Come learn about the doctoral research that Institute faculty and staff have conducted in pursuit of their doctorates. Doctors Julie Johnson, Carolyn Meyer, Rogers Walker, and Patricia Szasz will share the findings and insights drawn from studies related to mindfulness instruction for interpreting students, the short and long term effects of practicum experiences, how peer review of writing may increase self-efficacy in English language learners, and efforts to foster innovation practices among Institute staff. After short presentations on each study, the panelists will answer questions about their research as well as their experience pursuing a doctorate while working at the Institute. Simultaneous interpreting will be provided for the event.
  • Open House: 787 Munras
    • Join Middlebury President Laurie Patton to celebrate the grand opening of the 787 Munras Avenue student housing complex, 4:00-5:30 p.m. on Tuesday, November 9.
    • Munras Open House RSVP: https://engage.middlebury.edu/pages/events/miis-new-munras-student-housing-open-house
  • Professional Development Opportunities
    • Workshop Series: Building a Thriving Community with Restorative Practices
      • These workshops will provide an opportunity to expand your leadership skills for building relationships, engagement, and trust by drawing from the proactive restorative practices framework. Staff, students, and faculty are welcome. You can participate in one or both workshops, and you do not need to complete them in sequential order.
      • Workshop 1: Building Community & Relationships (choose between two available times in November)
      • Workshop 2: Building Engagement & Trust (choose between two available times in November/December)
      • Restorative Practices Workshop Series sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdDVGU2SQmJUk4m38o9IhtcsjocOaByzDxCZJgbfOXZfGpVxg/viewform
    • Leadership Development Podcast Chats: Next Meeting November 18
      • Join a community of practice structured around leadership development podcasts. This group meets informally every other week for 45 minutes to discuss an episode drawn from a range of leadership-focused podcasts
      • You are welcome to sign up even if you can only attend a few sessions. These meetings offer informal opportunities to learn, discuss, and connect while carving out time for meaningful professional development. Join when you can, and enjoy receiving thought-provoking episode recommendations even if you aren’t able to make each session.
      • Leadership Developments Sign up: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdY3gNm_pdpPjlSu8u_i6O_u-4RMu_W8VxFrObaW0fDlOPsXQ/viewform
• Discussion with New Vice President For Human Resources Caitlin Goss
  • Welcome
    • Caitlin Goss is Middlebury’s vice president for Human Resources and chief people officer, a role she took on in mid-September. Caitlin’s full bio is available here.
    • Caitlin met with Staff Council during last month’s open working meeting, and met yesterday with the ILG (Institute Leadership Group) – we invited her to share with us about what she is learning and early impressions of Middlebury, the Institute in particular.
  • Introduction: Caitlin Goss
    • Have been taking the first six weeks at Middlebury as a chance to speak to folks across the organization. Trying to connect with as many people as possible, and I look forward to having many more conversations.
    • Emerging through-lines and trends that I am starting to see. At only six weeks I don’t pretend to understand the full complexity. Want to ensure we are co-creating the way forward.
    • Had the pleasure of sharing an initial read-out with my team, and happy to share some key themes from that discussion.
    • Trying to aggregate information in a way that I can understand demand and complexity. There are lots of different needs, experiences, and situations within Middlebury. Looking to see what rises to the top, and understand those big strategic priorities.
    • Examples of what is working:
      • Pride: See an immense sense of pride in individual roles and team contributions. Proud of the work they do and the impact created for students. Proud of what we deliver to our students. Consistent mention, this is a wonderful place.
      • Great ideas: Our leadership style invites forums for input and there is lots that is on the shelf for people to pull from. We have thought about onboarding, rewards and recognition, etc. This makes our work easier.
    • Examples of opportunities:
      • Clarity: There can be experiences with unclear decision-making and shared governance can make things blurry. Priorities and focus can become unclear.
      • Belonging: longing for connection with supervisors, teams, community. Wanting to cultivate sense of connection with colleagues. Connection with broader Middlebury.
      • Steady State: Moving from idea to execution, how do we get moving on ideas and how do we continue them. There can be frustration when things don’t move forward.
    • What comes next: These themes will continue to evolve as I learn and have more discussions. There is some real demand to get moving on key issues, and I will want to be in listening mode and moving towards action.
    • Want to develop a holistic framework for our approach to HR, capture things that are working, and help to elevate some solutions, next steps, and opportunities. Starting with team in HR to make sure I am reflecting back and really aware of that they are doing. Aim is to understand how these different piece of HR fit together. Think of HR and people strategy as something that is best approached from an ecosystem lens – how do we support the full experience of the employee – hiring, retainment, etc. Within these blocks, what are our priorities? How are we supporting those experiences? Cant retain without helping people grow and drive impact. All the things that make all the different parts of the people experience work together.
    • Emerging priorities:
      • Staff compensation, planning, and performance are some of the top priorities that have been part of the conversation. Working to understand historical context. Interested in transparency, want to be up front about where we are in our decision-making processes. Don’t quite feel like we have got the plan sorted out yet – working to balance urgency with the co-creation process.
  • Discussion:
    • Note: Important for employers to be thinking about retention as well as recruitment.
      • CG: Talking around full employee work cycle – creating on and off ramps across that entire experience.
    • Question: Want to drill down holistic framework. What would that look like?
      • CG: What I mean by that is that we are not trying to solve things one-off – let’s use compensation, we are all thinking a lot about that. Ensuring our thinking includes the broader relationships between compensation and experience, promotions, retention, etc. If we solve problems in isolated vacuums then we solve that problem, but create ancillary challenges where the exception becomes the rule. Details and tactics to capture the map of the world and articulate how things fit into the whole.
    • Question: How will the differences between our campuses play into this holistic approach so that there is equity across Middlebury as much as possible?
      • CG: Don’t have a fully formed answer, balance – how do we work to create and foster more of that connectedness. When we talk about belonging, flexibility, and equity. How do we have that equity lens, but make sure there is flexibility where we need it.
    • Question: What is the best way to reach you or your team?
      • CG: You are welcome to reach out to any of the other HR staff members including myself. Open to 1:1, small group discussion, and grateful for input and insights. Bob Cole is the Staff Council VP and there is a standing monthly call, so that is also a pathway for communication.
    • Question: Onboarding and opportunities you see for growth
      • CG: Fresh in my mind, people were really generous and welcoming and open to sharing a lot of information with me. Team did a great job with the structure in place and brought a lot of positive energy. See opportunity to reimagine a more robust onboarding and welcome to the Big M community. Not sure everyone has the opportunity to travel around “campus” (Zoom and real life_ and meet a lot of people. There is a lot of magic in this place, would love to prioritize facilitating an onboarding experience that is more robust. See HR as facilitating and organizing and inviting in lots of collaborators. Hope that will be something you see sooner rather than later.
    • Note: Any new onboarding programming might also be of interest to existing employees (learning more about Middlebury, various departments, refreshing understanding of benefits, etc.)
    • Question: Do you anticipate coming out to Monterey any time soon?
      • CG: Plan to be present for the board meeting in Monterey in January. Balancing travel precautions, trying to be mindful of what that looks like from a personal perspective. Out there as soon as possible.
    • Question: What is happening with performance evaluation process?
      • CG: Trying to wrap arms around historical context and where we are going. Want whatever we do to fit into our overarching strategy and make sure we are being really thoughtful. Opportunity to think critically about what is additive, and want this to be something that creates inspiration and is what people want to do. Trying to learn and understand what worked and what didn’t – it’s been on pause, there is some urgency in getting a plan together. Taking the time to figure it out and get it right. Fine balance that we need to figure out. Normally we start in spring – assume we are not doing anything this year? Too soon to know, hesitant to say one way or the other, have some hypotheses and ideas. In conversation with my team and others.
    • Note: For performance evaluations will be helpful to have transparency as early as possible on what to anticipate (if anything) in the spring.
    • Question: Mentioned the concept of ‘organizational drag’ in ILG meeting, can you elaborate?
      • CG: Organizational Drag – if you have something you do in your daily work, that requires a workaround or other supplemental process, it adds up to organizational drag. Think about how we focus on some of the little stuff that becomes big stuff, something that is an extra box to check and adds up for our time and energy. For an HR example, there is quite a bit of manual entry between our recruiting and onboarding systems. How do we prioritize that integration, do it once and do it right.
    • Closing note: Prioritizing honesty and transparency, and hope that comes across in these meetings.