Friday Focus: Helping our Nanook Nation to do its best work

Feb. 3, 2023

— By Julie Queen, vice chancellor for administrative services

As we enter the new year and a new academic semester, there are many things to feel optimistic about. It is a time for assessing how we did over the past year and for setting new goals for the coming year. Some targets we miss, and learn from - those are usually the ones that help us the most! Some things we achieve, and could be better at celebrating. However you approach it, turning the corner on a new year helps us put in perspective how far we have come. In Administrative Services, we are excited to hit the ground running in 2023 and we’re already thinking about ways to celebrate the achievements yet to come.

As part of this reflection, one highlight from the past year comes to mind: our UAF Administrative Services Division senior leadership team came together to review and reframe our Purpose, Vision and Values. This was also particularly useful after a time of several unprecedented changes (e.g. budgetary reductions, the pandemic, leadership transition), allowing us to build a vision after learning from those experiences. Although most of our team has been in their roles since 2019 creating a collaborative culture between very distinct functional areas, we wanted to take stock of where we are and set a shared, more formalized direction. We also wanted to create aspirational objectives, share with internal and external partners what we do, and hear from our employees to explore ways to best support them as part of their career development at UAF. This is a great way to start the year - with a little vision and redefined purpose! 

In order to put this together, we asked some key questions: What do people share with us about the work we do? Are we meeting the mark? Where do we exceed expectations? Where can we improve? What does it mean to feel connected to the work we do at UAF and to move the mission forward? What do our employees need from us to do their best work? I would like to share the results of these worksessions, and ask for your feedback on our draft ASD Purpose, Vision and Values. 

So far, we have shared this internally with our ASD employees and the feedback is positive. One person made my day when he let me know he really saw himself and how he views his job within these words. This makes all the difference. I welcome more thoughts on where Administrative Services could go in the future. This will help us set more tangible goals and milestones as we work toward our aspirations.  

Very soon, our leaders will be checking in with their teams - we will be conducting a division-wide survey to get some feedback on how to better support and develop our employees. With this information, our goal is to provide some tailored training options that help meet our people where they are with what they need now. Then we keep going. 

My hope is that we are able to live by our Purpose: Helping our Nanook Nation to do its best work, and to demonstrate our Values as we strive for our Vision:To have a sustained culture of excellence, reinforced by our reputation for extraordinary service and leadership. Not because we wrote it on paper, but because we talk to people, understand how to support them, and feel it in the work we do on a daily basis to support others achieving their desired outcomes - ASD shares expertise and knowledge to help get the job done right. 

This is one part of the role we play at UAF which contributes to the broader UAF Vision: Excellence through transformative experiences. I happen to like that Vision too, and am glad to find ways to connect to it, and help create connections for others.

Friday Focus is written by a different member of UAF’s leadership team every week.