By Rebecca A. Doyle

Trust is a word that comes up often when you talk to Brenda Herman about quality management and the approach the Housing Division has used.

Herman, who is an administrative associate for residence operations, saw personal leadership and trustworthiness as very important to quality management and, with several other employees from Housing, proposed that the leadership theories become the foundation of the unit’s quality program.

In January 1992, all senior management personnel in the division were offered the Covey Leadership course, and the response was so positive that the course will be offered to all employees.

The workshops are based on Stephen R. Covey’s plan for leadership, noted in his book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, which are:

n Be proactive. Control your own responses to outside stimuli. You choose how to react to situations and other people according to your own set of values.

Begin with the end in mind. Make your decisions based on the deep values you have and that you want to be remembered for.

Put first things first. Decide what things are most important to you and do them.

Think win/win. Work for solutions that are successful for everyone.

Seek first to understand, then to be understood. Listen with the intent to understand, not just to reply.

Synergize. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Sharpen the saw. Take the time to renew the physical, social/emotional, mental and spiritual parts of yourself.

“The leadership program was developed to apply to either an individual’s home or work life,” Herman says. “I think this kind of individual training is essential to the success of any quality management program.”

The leadership program stresses teamwork and understanding. A workshop that has been an intensive three-day session may be modified to span a longer time period for some other groups in the Housing Division to fit work schedules, Herman says.

Senior managers in the division will meet in February, one year after the initial workshops, to assess the program and its successes.

“I think there have been some very visible results,” Herman says. “I can see the difference in meetings. People are communicating, actively listening and trying to understand each other.

“People respond to me differently because I’m treating them differently,” she adds.

Tags:

• archive