As we all work to transition back into the rhythm and routines of a new fall semester, here are a few quick Total Organizational Health (TOH@UTC) updates for you. This post (~ 5 minute read) should help clear things up if you are wondering, “What is happening with TOH?”, or if you are among the few who have not yet heard about this initiative. If you have any questions or would like any more information about anything highlighted here, please feel free to reach out to me (Dr. Chris Cunningham) at toh@utc.edu or 423-425-4264.
First, a quick reminder why this TOH@UTC initiative exists: Simply stated, your campus leaders and I sincerely care about protecting your health, safety, and well-being. This initiative is an effort to understand and improve your work-related experiences here at UTC. At the same time, this initiative is focused on improving the overall health and resilience of our institution. As this TOH initiative continues through its second year, the emphasis is now on working within specific units across campus to address specific TOH needs. Now, getting into those updates…
- At the end of the Spring 2024 semester, all campus employees had the opportunity to respond to one of our recurring TOH progress check evaluations. More than 500 staff and faculty did so, and these data were analyzed and used to generate detailed reports that were distributed to more than 70 campus unit leaders in June. Overall, the campus-level TOH data shows stability across the core TOH dimensions from Fall 2023 through Spring 2024, and a strong positive increase in general willingness to recommend UTC and one’s own department or work area to others who are seeking employment. Open-ended feedback was analyzed over the summer and respondents reported substantially more positive than negative work-related experiences in their Spring 2024 semester (this is really interesting, given that negative experiences often tend to stand out more in our memories). The positive and negative issues or events identified in these comments were codified and all of them mapped cleanly on to our existing TOH@UTC framework (validating again the comprehensiveness of our approach). The big takeaway from the Spring 2024 progress check is that TOH is holding steady or improving, but that the factors that contribute to TOH are not consistently and equally present for all employees across campus. There is still work to be done and to keep things moving through the summer, I had the privilege of meeting with campus leaders of nearly 20 separate work units to dig into these data and begin discussing strategies and plans to build on their specific TOH-related strengths and work addressing TOH-related challenges as we head into the fall semester. I look forward to working with many more units across campus this fall to interpret and plan responses to these insights – If you lead an area or department on campus and would like to dig into TOH matters, please reach out to set some time for us to connect (toh@utc.edu).
- In case you are wondering, here’s a quick snapshot of the anticipated timing for upcoming campus and system surveys that gather TOH-related information: (1) early Fall semester – an abbreviated McLean Employee Engagement survey for all UTC staff; (2) early November – fall TOH progress check for all UTC employees; (3) early Spring semester – COACHE Faculty Engagement/Satisfaction survey for all UTC faculty; and (4) early April – spring TOH progress check for all UTC employees. Thank you for taking a few minutes to respond to these surveys when you receive your invitation to do so. These surveys are some of the best tools we have to provide a voice to all employees.
- Also over the summer months, a new TOH@UTC website was developed to provide a homebase for this initiative: www.utc.edu/total-organizational-health. This website provides more detail on the TOH@UTC initiative and includes a growing list of campus and system-level resources and information pertaining to this ongoing effort to protect and improve all UTC employees’ experiences at work. Many thanks are owed to our very talented IT folks (especially Bridget Hornsby) for helping to transform my concepts into a functional and appealing website for our campus.
- Connected to this website is a new TOH@UTC blog that is hosting this post. As this academic year continues, there will be a steady stream of TOH-related information and resources shared via posts through this blog. This is being done to provide a more interactive and searchable way to communicate about TOH-related matters with the campus community. I sincerely hope you will take a few minutes now and then to review some of this forthcoming content.
- Our campus also gained an important new personal TOH-related resource this summer, as Dr. Anovia Slaughter became UTC’s ombuds. In case you missed the formal announcement in June, here’s a link to that story: Dr. Anovia Slaughter named University ombuds | UTC News. You can reach Dr. Slaughter at utcombud@utc.edu or 423-425-5729. Look for additional information on ombuds services in an upcoming TOH@UTC blog post.
- The final quick TOH@UTC update from this summer is that this emphasis we have at UTC on employee health, safety, and well-being is starting to catch on across the broader UT system. This is encouraging and important to note, given that some of the challenges we all face are linked to system-level forces and factors. Look for upcoming messaging from the UT system for more information about these broader efforts that will support and enhance or efforts here at UTC to build a culture that protects TOH.
Thank you for continuing to trust and work with me this semester as we promote and strengthen TOH@UTC.