Posted by Carlyn Foshee Chatfieldon March 24, 2010

Improving Internal (within IT) Communications: How to get IT staff to talk to each other

Everyone was adding ideas to the chat notes, which are posted below.

• • Social events to break down barriers

  • More formal information-sharing resources

Oklahoma State University - within Communications team, the Director assigns each of her direct reports to two groups within IT; their role responsibilities include talking to representatives of these groups weekly and reporting back to the Communications group, which then updates Sharepoint sites with the collected information

Miami University in Ohio - have meetings to get second tier (managers) to talk to each other

Rice University started a phone-text mailing list where anyone in the group could send out an "I smell smoke" message to the rest of the group. This was ideal for field staff to report problems or potential issues and make other customer service reps aware there might be a looming issue.

Chat Notes:

• • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: Hi everyone - ITComm leader 1 is Carlyn Chatfield at Rice

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: University of Hawaii - summer get-together, set up by CIOs office, throw water balloons at the managers and each other

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: More on Hawaii, good overall attendance, breaks down barriers

  • Dana - Pepperdine: I would like to hear more about how IT dept share project information across divisions...does everyone have a project site like SharePoint. How do you make the decisions transparent across divisions?

  • Jeff - Washington and Lee: In the relationship-building area, we celebrate accomplishments from time to time; completion of significant projects, etc. Do quick office gathering with refreshments

  • Dana - Pepperdine: We have several options for building relationships in IT. We have monthly celebrations where one staff member and one team is recognized as the team of the month. We also have a holiday and summer party, and lastly we have a Wellness Resource Committee that plans fun, healthy events throughout the year such as hikes, visits to local art museums, pot-luck lunches, etc.

  • Jeff - Washington and Lee: Relative to grade school theme - I think IT staff can be very sensitive to anything they perceive as touchy feely - need to strike good balance there

  • Dana - Pepperdine: We allow family to come to the summer party.

  • Cathy @ Miami (OH): Our summer picnic is also a family-friendly event.

  • Lisa-UAlbany: The chili cook-off is a great idea.

  • Dana - Pepperdine: This spring we had a 90-day fitness challenge in IT that anyone could join. It was a huge success. Many people started working out together during lunch or after work. The people who participated helped motivate each other toward meeting their fitness and health goals. Every other Tuesday we would check in to see progress on individual goals. We just ended the 90 days and we are goign to start another one.

  • Cathy @ Miami (OH): I had thought of something like a baseball/softball game to get our networking staff and the student staff in the Support Desk together. There has been a bit of negative feeling between those two groups.

  • Brie - TAMU: it.tamu.edu

  • Cathy @ Miami (OH): www.muohio.edu/uit

  • Valerie - UChicago: http://scoop.uchicago.edu

  • Brie - TAMU: It's our IT site by Audience. We recently did a survey to the campus (mainly students) with great results.

  • Marie, Iowa State University: We have held a summer picnic where all staff and families plus retirees are invited. The department pays for the grilling items (burgers, hot dogs, vegetable burgers) and supplies plus lemonade. Attendees brought side dishes, a la potluck, so the overall cost to the department is very reasonable. Staff begin to see each other as people and there's lots of good interaction.

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: Rice - weekly managers meetings, CIO Town Halls twice a year helps maintain transparency and keep everyone working in the same direction.

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: Rice - change log calendar http://change.it.rice.edu/

  • Marie, Iowa State University: A now-annual Chili Cookoff event began as a way to bring staff together in the same building who did not know each other. (A merger of four deparments into one meant that not all knew each other.) To keep the event free (i.e., no cost to department), I chose the chili competition method so that the entrants were providing the majority of the food. Attendees are encouraged to bring crackers, desserts, etc., but it's not required. All I ask is that those who wish to attend sign up so we can get a head count on the amount of chili needed. Extra cooks are standing by to bring some, if needed. A panel of staff judges determine the categories for judging, usually creative and humorous, and we also have a People's Choice Award on which the attendees vote. It proved to be a popular event, well-attended, and attracted entrants and attendees from all four major buildings where our staff are housed.

  • Cathy @ Miami (OH): We have a monthly meeting of all the Technical Service Reps (decentralized IT staff). Anyone can talk about what's going on and ask questions. The meeting is recorded and posted to the web as a podcast. The TSR group and IT staff also have a shared wiki.

  • Lisa-UAlbany: Must go; nice talking to everyone!

  • Dana - Pepperdine: I have the same problem with managers not passing on important information. We are trying to build an internal wiki now. A small committee is trying to choose the right wiki platform.

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: how Rice chose their wiki - Educause presentation

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: http://net.educause.edu/SWRC08/Program/13571?PRODUCT_CODE=SWRC08/SESS30

  • Dana - Pepperdine: thanks!

  • ITCOMM CG Leader 1: Rice's follow up presentation - What's not in your wiki addresses getting IT-wide adoption: http://net.educause.edu/E08/Program/14627?PRODUCT_CODE=E08/PS006

Comments

We have an annual softball game against our Facilities department, who we work with on many projects. The game is friendly but competitive. And as all great sporting events do, it really rallies our IT employees behind "our team." With the reality of budget cuts, this is a low-cost, high impact event for team building.

Posted by: guyekora@uww.edu on May 14, 2010