Listen now:
This week’s episode of the Faculty Factory podcast features an interview with Cheryl Welch. She is the Director of Faculty Affairs at the University of Colorado School of Medicine.
Cheryl has been in her position for about 18 years with a few different title changes wedged in-between. She started as an administrative assistant at her institution in the late 1980s. Then a career shift into court reporting for a few years took her away from the University.
She came back to the University of Colorado for a high-level administrative role in 1998 and she’s never looked back. When the faculty affairs position opened up it seemed like a natural fit given her professional and life goals.
A True ‘Open Door’ Policy
As she mentions in the podcast, Cheryl looks at herself as a bridge between the faculty and all of the policies and procedures of her institution. Her open-door policy allows faculty to pop-in to her office at any time.
As we discussed, in my opinion, the actual value of an open-door policy depends heavily on who is offering it. It’s only as good (or valuable) as the person whose inside. If you have an open-door policy and no one trusts you, then it’s all for naught.
Having a personality that’s open and warm and giving off a calm and cool vibe goes a long way. This is certainty what makes Cheryl’s open-door policy so meaningful.
Empowering your Faculty
How can Cheryl realistically meet with ALL her faculty in person? Of course, logistically, it would be impossible on a daily basis. Through creating robust faculty websites with resources available at their fingertips, there is a reduced need for faculty to meet with her.
Cheryl believes she can help her faculty out immensely with thoroughly crafted websites. This cuts down on face-to-face meetings with faculty, although her open-door policy always remains in place. Obviously, it would not be the best use of their time to have to meet with her on every detail, and that’s why a website that’s easily navigable with these policies and resources is so crucial she said.
The Power of a Conversation
Changing culture is difficult in our world, and there’s never been a question about that. Institutions can be places where changing something is like (as Cheryl put it) trying to make a cruise ship make a right turn. It takes time. However, sometimes—as we discuss in this week’s episode—it is as simple as just picking up a phone and talking out the reasons for why you need something done a specific way. Communication always comes in handy!
Check out the entire episode by listening to the embedded podcast player located above.