HR's Hand in Leader Excellence
Charlotte Fugett has served as president of Pima Community College, East Campus, in Tucson, Arizona, for the past two years. For nearly 30 years prior she held senior positions in human resources at University of Richmond and at PCC, most recently as executive vice chancellor of administration, which oversees the HR function. In this interview, Fugett discusses the key influence her human resources background has on the strategic decision-making required in her current role. E-mail: cfugett@pima.edu.
What lessons from your professional experience within the human resources arena have become embedded within your personal management or leadership style?
Three lessons come to mind. The first is to respect the inherent worth of the contributions made by individuals and teams of individuals to the organization's success. Every employee can add value to the organization, but even the most talented can flounder without management's respect for their efforts. In addition, it is the role of leadership to provide an appropriate framework or structure in which work is performed, coupled with a strong administrative support system to nurture the employee's efforts. Doing so will leverage talent and will prioritize and focus collective employee efforts toward the goals of the organization. This will assist us in getting the best from our workforce in higher education and will support our number one priority—the success of our students.
A second lesson that has shaped my management approach is to make good decisions derived from reliable and relevant data, facts, and other information. It is my responsibility to ensure that the information I use to make a decision goes through a comprehensive, perhaps exhausting, analysis. This is important because it is incumbent upon management to be accountable for our decisions. We have to be honest with employees about the basis for our decisions, whether we are addressing a change to an employee compensation or benefits plan, or whether we are investigating a problem with an individual employee's performance. These kinds of decisions are highly scrutinized and require a level of forthrightness about the way we make our determinations. The same is true for decisions that we must communicate to the public and to other constituents to whom we are accountable.
Finally, my background has taught me the importance of communication. How you communicate decisions can make or break the success of any initiative. To get the most from your workforce, communication cannot be top-down only. It must also be bottom-up, and sideways, formal and informal, and you must employ a range of venues and media to make sure everyone receives, hears, and understands the message. That same focus on clear and comprehensive communication is critically important for conveying the strategic priorities of your institution and its mission.
What additional insight do you bring to your current role as a result of your understanding of key HR issues and challenges such as talent development?
I would characterize my contributions for nearly 30 years as being from "back room operations" so to speak. Now I am on the frontlines. But my background has given me heightened appreciation for how everyone within the institution is involved in educational delivery and student learning—no matter his or her role in the workplace.
On a daily basis, I also must address issues of conflict and interpret policies and procedures—all knowledge gleaned from my HR experience. Every day, part of my role is to develop the talent of the workforce at my campus, and once again, the knowledge gleaned from my HR days has been instrumental in these efforts.
Perhaps most notably, I also know from my insider's perspective what HR can do for me as a president—a luxury that not all my administrative colleagues share. As a result, I am not at all shy about asking for that department's assistance, knowing the expertise that HR can offer to achieve institutional goals and objectives. Particularly in the arena of talent development, HR professionals can partner with higher education administrative colleagues to achieve long-range planning efforts to build the kind of workforce we need to thrive.
What do you think is most important for every institution leader to understand about the value of its people within an organization and what motivates them collectively and individually?
I have been fortunate to work for two institutions of higher education, the University of Richmond and Pima Community College. At both, those in leadership positions hold a high regard for the value of people. That said, we cannot deny that we are all facing difficult times, and finding ways to motivate employees is essential. If I have one message to put out there, it's that now is not the time to shortchange employees on professional development. Given the current state of affairs in our institutions, employees are being asked to do new or additional work for little or no additional financial incentive. This is occurring at a time when our employees and their families may be experiencing financial stress of their own. There are also a host of new challenges that institutions are facing beyond the impact of the economy. For instance, we are seeing an influx of returning veterans to our campuses, many of whom have special needs we must meet. Our workforce needs to be equipped to respond to these new demands. Rather than minimize staff development, we should emphasize it and equip our employees with cutting-edge knowledge and skills. The more employees feel equipped to do their jobs, the more motivated they will be to work hard.
Leaders must also be mindful that efforts to motivate employees should take center stage because so much of our success depends on our faculty and staff. Large monetary rewards are problematic right now, but even smaller rewards and gestures can make a huge difference in motivation. It may be as simple as taking time for a personal thank-you or a public acknowledgement of a job well done. I know that, for instance, when I send a personal "thank you" e-mail to an employee, he or she will often tell me how much my time to acknowledge them was appreciated.
As leaders, we can also remove the barriers that keep employees from doing their best work. This could mean getting employees the equipment they need to work more efficiently, or developing processes that are more effective and removing work that is redundant. We also need to be open to employee suggestions and include employees in discussions about the big picture of the institution. What I tell myself and my administrative staff is that especially right now, we cannot afford to retreat to our offices and hunker down, despite the fact that we, too, are feeling increased pressure. Rather, we need to be present and particularly visible to employees, visiting them on their turf, and exhibiting empathy and support for what is on their plates. In that process, we start building a respectful relationship that also serves as a source of continued motivation for employees.
Within the context of the current economy, when many institutions are facing significant budget cuts or faculty and staff reductions, how do you balance being financially responsible with being fair to your institution's people?
This is a hugely important question. Finding the right balance of fiduciary responsibility and fairness to employees is critical to any organization at any time. But I do think you can make a reasonable argument that fiscal responsibility, accompanied by transparency in operations and systems, actually encourages respect for employees and results in an organization's fair treatment of them.
Pima Community College has had to take action to address the fiscal constraints of the current economic situation. As a result of the current economic climate, we have had to reduce discretionary spending, reduce administrative travel, and delay filling vacant positions. Our unfilled FTEs are up from what is normally about 5 percent to about 14 percent. At the same time, we have double-digit increases in enrollment and declining revenue from the state of Arizona. Still, we have managed to sustain our operations and we have not had to enact mandatory furloughs or layoffs of college-funded employees, nor have we eliminated instructional positions—something for which we are all grateful. We have already reduced the number of administrative positions by about 15 percent through attrition and elimination of vacant positions. We recently announced that we will be reducing the number of staff positions by 7 percent, through attrition and elimination of vacant positions—again, not through layoffs.
Of course, all of this is of genuine concern to our employees. The approach we have taken is to avoid surprising people. We have communicated the state of our budget to employees on a regular basis in small group meetings, through newsletters, and through special e-mail messages from leadership. What is key to us is to include employees in discussions in advance. We prefer to err on the side of being overly informative. As a leader, I am convinced that if you take the opportunity to prepare employees and invite their input, your employees are more likely to become invested in helping you find a solution.
Let me give you an example of how PCC seeks to balance financial responsibility and fairness to employees. Earlier I spoke of how much PCC values employee professional development. I also mentioned that Pima has reduced travel funds, and we all know that face-to-face, instructor-led training is expensive in both direct and indirect costs. To offset some of the expense in providing professional development, about two years ago the college invested in securing a learning content management system: a desk top solution that delivers professional development, on-line training, and library-type resources electronically to our employees. In addition, we are developing conference rooms that we can use for on-site webinars and group learning. So, at the very same time we must deal with the financial realities before us, we have found a fiscally responsible way to maintain a commitment to employee development. Therefore, we continue to have a skilled and trained workforce to meet our student and community needs.
What do you see as the biggest HR challenge facing institutions today that also carries potentially significant financial concerns or risks, and how can this challenge be addressed by institution leaders?
It's hard to single out one thing, but two of the biggest are the driving influences of the economy and the demographics of the workforce within higher education leadership positions. Enough said about the first, so let me elaborate on the second item. We have the potential of soon facing a significant knowledge and talent drain within the leadership of higher education. Research by the American Council on Education shows that more than half of college presidents are 60 years of age or older and only about 8 percent are under 50. Those within the second tier of leadership positions are similar in age. If we don't address this key concern in quick order, it can have real financial implications for our institutions. When you lose a key talent base, systems tend to break down. When institutional systems break down, it costs the organization time and financial resources.
I believe it is incumbent on every leader to nurture effective leadership in others. Obviously HR has a critical role to play here as well. While we still replace most of our top leaders from within higher education, those recruited from outside higher education have a tremendous learning curve. And even from within the system of higher education, there are knowledge and skill gaps depending on whether you've followed a largely administrative or academic career path. The reality is that we need to do a better and more comprehensive job of nurturing the entire pipeline of leaders.
Since many leaders of retirement age have, in fact, delayed retirement due in part to current economic conditions, once the economy does turnaround, we could see an even larger number deciding to leave all at once. This scenario makes it all the more important that we act now to begin analyzing current skill sets and addressing institutional plans to identify likely talent gaps. It's not a simple matter of tapping someone to let them know they are next. We need to start having conversations with employees to understand where their interests lie and then give them opportunities to explore new roles and develop new competencies. Strategies can include creating a leadership academy on campus, giving faculty and staff opportunities to temporarily fill higher-level vacant positions during recruitments, or establishing mentorship or job-coaching programs. While education is a key component of talent development, just as important are those "hands on" active assignments and projects that really give people experience and an opportunity to test and fine-tune their leadership skills.
What do you think is most important for chief business officers to understand about HR priorities and concerns, and how can these two functions best complement and support the other?
First, I think we should turn this question around to ask: What do I think is most important for HR to understand about the priorities of the institution? To that question, I would respond that I think it is critical that HR understands the business of higher education and how the role of HR can enhance student success. I don't think we always draw a direct connection from HR functions and activities to a student's academic success, but we should do exactly that. Placing the work of HR in that context can influence how we see our work and can increase the value of the work that we do for our organizations. Sometimes HR professionals become engrossed with such matters as legal liability and costs of employment. All that is important, but you can become so mired down that you become disconnected from the institution because your focus is too narrow. The HR function has to see itself as part of the fabric of the business of higher education, and HR professionals must understand their role in academic progress and student success. For instance, at PCC, our employees are trained that each of their roles are embedded in our student learning outcomes. This reinforces that each of us influences learning regardless of the capacity in which we serve—whether as a cashier, financial analyst, or human resources manager.
As to your original question, an astute business officer will connect the intrinsic value of the HR function to the business and academic goals of the institution and will encourage a meaningful and productive partnership. After all, HR is usually the place we turn to for resolving internal conflicts within our organizations. HR staff typically have a highly honed communication skill set. HR is where employees go to seek trustworthy, reliable advice on matters that are often highly confidential. HR staff know how to develop talent, understand employment law, and have strategies to increase productivity and reduce waste in staff operations. And HR can assist in breaking down barriers and silos and facilitating change within the organization and its workforce. All this opens the door to real value for employees and supervisors alike.
Karla Hignite, principal of KH Communication, is editor of NACUBO's HR Horizons. E-mail: karlahignite@msn.com.
