Friday Focus: Supporting each other

Jan. 19, 2024

— By Nickole Conley, chief of staff

Last year, I wrote the Friday Focus around this time and mentioned that I don't set resolutions but goals. Over time, I've found that resolutions just didn't work for me, but goal setting did. When creating a goal, I develop small milestones to reach that goal or goals. I work best when I can break something down and eliminate the potential of it overwhelming me.

Last year, I set a professional and personal goal to be more present in all things, work and personal. No matter who you are, we find that in some aspects of our lives, we experience mission creep. While I don't believe this can be avoided, I can do a better job of being present. I made a conscious effort to assess my work-life balance and make adjustments as needed regularly. While it took a concentrated effort, I reached many small milestones of that goal and found it impactful and now routine.

I plan to continue focusing more on that this year while also hoping to help the UAF campus community more through policy committee work, the work of the Signers Business Office, and moving UAF's mission and strategic plan forward.

Someone asked me how long it takes to review a policy from start to finish, and I responded, "It depends"! The time it takes depends on so many factors. We've done updates in as little as two meetings, and some have taken as many as 10 or more meetings. So, if you are serving or served on any of the 12 policy committees in 2023, thank you for your work and the work that continues as we update all UAF policies for the upcoming NWCCU accreditation review. The teams working on these policies have spent hours updating/creating concise, streamlined, and effective policies that work for UAF where we are today and where we'll be in the future. Committees are asking hard questions of each other and evaluating why the policy is in place or written in the manner it was to set a solid policy foundation for every policy reviewed. One last plug on policy: if you're ever looking for a policy, you can find all updated policies on the UAF Policy page on the Chancellor's website. On that page, you can also find a master spreadsheet of policies under review and the ones a committee is reviewing.

I've talked about the Signers' Business Office in the past, but I wanted to reiterate what a great resource this team is for all of UAF. SBO's service model can provide support to your units in the areas of grant management, human resources, procurement, or any function a business office provides. SBO is still learning and growing; we hope to do this with other campus units as a team. It is essential for all of us to have resources across the campuses and the ability to work together. If you ever need business office support, contact Brad Lobland, SBO director, or me directly. We are happy to discuss your unit's needs and our ability to help during any transition period.

Overall, these things, plus many more, impact the things we do at UAF. So, if you want to serve on a policy committee, contact me. I would be happy to talk about what policies are currently under review or in the process of going into review. Call me if you need business services support due to staff turnover or low staffing. I would love to discuss how we can work together to create a seamless transition or provide bridge support during a time of need. My role as chief of staff is to help support all of campus and assist in supporting our students, staff, and faculty in any way possible.

In closing, thank you to everyone for all you do, especially all of my policy committees and SBO. Your hard work, dedication, and time are appreciated.

Stay warm, UAF!

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