UCSF Graduates First Class from Leadership Program
Don Deittinger, manager of Development & Training for campus Human Resources, talks with Lori Yamauchi, assistant vice chancellor of Campus Planning, who graduated recently from the UCSF Leadership Academy.
Despite bleak economic times, UCSF is investing in the professional growth of its staff through a leadership development program that recently graduated its first class and will continue with a new, yearlong course this fiscal year.
The UCSF Leadership Development Program consists of two academic programs for emerging leaders, who are trained in improving communication, collaboration, relationship building, strategic planning, leading teams and managing change. The purpose of the program is to enhance UCSF’s current leadership capacity and to create a diverse pipeline of future senior leaders. The class of 2009 reflected the diversity of the pool of applicants.
Nominations for the class of 2010 are being accepted through Wednesday, July 15. Nomination criteria, forms and guidelines are available at the Leadership Development Initiative website.
Senior Vice Chancellor Steve Barclay was among campus officials to congratulate the 108 managers who graduated from the inaugural year of the Leadership Academy and the Leadership Institute on June 24.
“This program was funded with the endorsement of all deans and vice chancellors,” Barclay noted. The program is part of a series of staff initiatives aimed to “grow tomorrow’s leaders. We are committed to continue it despite budget issues because our workforce is our most important asset.”
Barclay said he briefed Chancellor-elect Susan Desmond-Hellmann, MD, MPH, on the program and fully expects her support in professional development initiatives when she begins her tenure on August 3. Desmond-Hellmann told the campus community gathered in Cole Hall for her introductory visit to UCSF that she believes every employee deserves a great manager.
The Leadership Development Program, which consists of the Leadership Academy and the Leadership Institute, is designed to make managers great leaders. The academy is open to career campus employees who are in the managerial and senior professional (MSP) classification at Grade 5 and above who are currently in director-level roles. The institute is open to career campus employees who are at MSP Grades 1 through 4 and those in MSP Grade 5 who are not currently in managerial roles.
Good Reviews
Graduates from both the academy and institute shared their experiences and received accolades and plaques at the midday luncheon at the UCSF Faculty-Alumni House on the Parnassus campus.
Many participants said they are using the tools, techniques and tactics taught in the program in their professional and personal lives. Some say they found several ideas often reinforced in the lessons to be extremely valuable. Among them are “the answers are in the room,” which invites team problem solving from those who are doing the work, the notion of being “forward-focused” rather than dwelling on the past and asking effective questions to get at the root of an issue.
Luke Hones and Susan Wright were among the graduates of the UCSF Leadership Development Program which celebrated commencement at the UCSF Faculty Alumni House on June 24.
Michael Kamerick was among those who applied his newly developed skills in one of three campus projects, which were an extracurricular part of the program. He and his team were charged to work with the UCSF School of Nursing to address the challenges of its aging information technology infrastructure. “One of the reasons why we were so successful is that we applied the lessons we learned to the project,” he said. “We learned to ask effective questions.”
Eileen Lloyd, a facilities, health and safety manager at the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, participated in a project that involved helping Student Academic Affairs to fine-tune classroom scheduling and planning. “We are really and truly proud of the strategies that we developed,” she said. “This project gave us a chance to practice the enlightened leadership strategy away from our regular workplace.”
The leadership development program, which began last fall, comes at a critical time when many UCSF leaders are retiring or nearing retirement and when UC, like most public institutions, is struggling with sequential state budget cuts that challenge all employees to work amid constant change and uncertainty.
The program also follows through on UCSF’s goal to provide a supportive work environment, one of seven strategic directions cited in the UCSF Strategic Plan. That plan, unveiled in June 2007, was the product of input from hundreds of people from within the campus community and beyond. The strategic plan charts the course for UCSF in achieving its mission of advancing health worldwide™ over the next decade.
State of Leadership
Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Eugene Washington, MD, said the matriculation of the first class of trained managers in the Leadership Development Program “bodes well for UCSF.”
Asked to talk at the graduation celebration about the state of UCSF’s leadership, Washington offered an optimistic assessment. “I believe the state of UCSF’s leadership is excellent.”
He gave three reasons to justify that belief: UCSF’s strong foundation of excellence across its people, programs, partners and supporters at San Francisco General Hospital (SFGH), San Francisco Veterans Affairs Medical Center, in the community and elsewhere; UCSF’s values of integrity, excellence, innovation, collaboration, inclusiveness and diversity; and its strong sense of the future, shaping it and knowing where the entire enterprise is going as spelled out in the strategic plan. “It clearly defines the framework and charts the broader course,” Washington said.
Washington stressed the increasing importance for the campus community to improve accountability and transparency, a move that is in part being driven by a UC-wide initiative. Late last year, UCSF issued a two-year goals report that stated what it plans to accomplish through 2011.
UCSF will be asked to achieve its peak performance by setting goals, deliverables and timetables and measuring results, Washington added. He advised that employees who want to excel should have a strong sense of where the University is going, find ways to be engaged and to “push” a word he had often repeated as an obstetrician who once delivered babies at SFGH.
Washington also commended the selection of Desmond-Hellmann as UCSF’s next chancellor during a challenging time. He quoted Abigail Adams in a letter to Thomas Jefferson in 1790 when she wrote, “great necessities call forth great leaders.”
In his closing remarks, Randy Lopez, interim vice chancellor of Finance and Administration, said that he doesn’t lose sleep at night worrying about how UCSF will balance its budget. “Why? Look around you. The talent that is in this room is phenomenal. I know the answers to this question are in this room.
“I anticipate, expect and demand this is a beginning, not an end that you apply what you learned,” Lopez said. “Go forth and multiply.”
Editor’s note: Lisa Cisneros, assistant director of UCSF Public Affairs, was part of the first class of the UCSF Leadership Institute.
Photos by Susan Merrell
Related Links:
UCSF Leaders Approve Initiatives to Improve Staff Diversity, Work Climate, Professional Development
UCSF Strategic Plan Website, March 17, 2008