An independent consultant recommended Thursday that Washington State Community College's president receive executive coaching and emotional and social intelligence training and that the board of trustees have refresher training, but also indicated that workplace issues at the college go far beyond just the campus leaders.
The team from Performance Consulting Services, which presented results of a cultural audit to the board, said employee reliance on a rumor mill for information has been damaging, as has an abundance of blaming and finger-pointing.
The company was hired by the board of trustees in March at a cost of $21,856 to assess the college's work culture, on the heels of several employee surveys and complaints about President Charlotte Hatfield's leadership of the college and her style of leadership, which some claimed was abusive.
It's important for the college leadership to now make themselves approachable and available for questions and comments in order to make progress, the consultants said.
"The president and the board cannot have their defenses up if people want to talk and ask questions respectfully," said James White, president of Performance Consulting Services, based in Columbus. "If they don't, employees are going to go with their own assumptions and it's back to the rumor mill."
About 40 people, mostly current and former Washington State employees, attended the public portion of Thursday's meeting. Directly following, there were three meetings for consultants and employees only that were not open to the public.
Only the board members were allowed to ask questions during the public meeting.
Faculty President Tom Steckel said he felt most of the recommendations given Thursday were policies that were supposed to already be in place, ranging from providing a forum for employees to express dissatisfaction without a fear of retribution to having open board proceedings.
"Eighty to ninety percent of the recommendations they gave in their report can be found in the college's policy and procedure manual," he said after the meeting. "The majority of this was not new. They're reinventing the wheel for $22,000."
Steckel said he did find the results from the firm's interviews, surveys and focus groups to be valuable.
"It's a wake-up call for the board that there are definite problems on campus," he said. "The results clearly indicate there are problems."
Board of trustees members said they agree.
"We need to take this seriously," said Chairman Mike Oliver. "There are issues that need addressed."
The board scheduled a work session for 2 p.m. Aug. 16 to specifically address the audit and how to move forward, at the request of board member Ken Schilling.
"There's no other time to start change than now," he said. "If we're going to develop trust, it needs to start with us and we have to start dealing with this."
The Results
The consulting firm found that there was little trust of the administration or the board by employees.
"Blame, mistrust and fear were some descriptors used throughout the survey," said Melony Brunson, vice president of operations for Performance Consulting Services. "Many people felt that the board of trustees was not necessarily working on behalf of the college and lacked cohesiveness and unity ... and they felt the president influenced every decision made on campus."
Employees also expressed that they believe many workers have been fired or have chosen to leave due to the president's practices and low morale at the college.
White said data didn't support that and that he had found only one such example. Later, when questioned by Trustee Shoshanna Brooker, he said he "didn't have solid data" and had looked at only a spreadsheet made available from human resources and not personnel files or other documents to make that determination.
The report also noted that other employee beliefs included that campus-wide communication is poor and the college does not work as a cohesive team.
Overall, the 14-page report concluded that the college has "critical issues relative to trust, adherence and consistency in policies, procedures and practices, communications, fairness/equity and vision" and that the problems "have been incubating for several years."
The consultants noted no impact to the college's service to students or instructional quality, and employees who took part said they feel students have a good experience.
The Recommendations
There are several things the board of trustees and those at the college can do immediately to begin shifting the workplace culture in a positive direction, the consultants said.
The first is to acknowledge the audit and the issues mentioned within to employees and then work to address and neutralize all rumors as they come up.
Long-term, it was recommended that specific plans be developed to address each individual issue, complete with time parameters, and that a committee be formed from a cross-section of staff members to help design and monitor the plan.
"If each department has members that are part of the committee and can be involved, that will help deal with the whole myth of everything coming from the president's office," said White, who added that there must be an outside, objective facilitator for the process.
Consultants advised that Hatfield acknowledge and take full ownership of the audit findings and ensure that a recovery initiative will be designed.
Part of the plan should include executive coaching for Hatfield as well as emotional and social intelligence assessment and training to help her identify her strengths and weaknesses as a leader, they said.
"This is really about a style of leadership," said White. "Some styles may come across to some people as abrasive, but it doesn't mean it's right or wrong - it's the way people perceive it. It may not leave other people feeling comfortable, and this assessment allows a leader to understand that."
In the meantime, White suggested the President's Strategic Team work to build a rapport and credibility with staff since they are currently perceived by some staff as being manipulated by the president.
Recommendations for the board of trustees included the members having mandatory refresher training, observing and adapting the procedures of a "healthy" board and building relationships with campus staff as appropriate.
The board had been criticized by employees in the past for only getting information from Hatfield.
The attitudes of everyone on campus must change to successfully shift the workplace dynamic, said Brunson.
"You have to stop, then realize that all these things happened in the past and that you've got move forward," she said. "No one wants to work in an environment where they feel there is a lack of trust and they have to watch their back ... when they can spend that time being creative."
College spokeswoman Jeri Knowlton said she felt the report being shared marked a turning point for Washington State and praised the board's commitment to working on the issues.
"These issues are bigger than any one person, any one event," she said. "We will all have to work together to restore a healthy environment that benefits our employees, our students and our community."
In a post-meeting news release, Hatfield said she was committed to "changing and improving the environment for all of us."
