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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, August 19, 2024
Updated: Wednesday, August 14, 2024
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How to Run Meetings People Want to Attend
If you work in higher education then you have meetings. Lots of meetings. Long meetings, unproductive meetings, meetings about meetings. Don’t be part of the meeting problem, be part of the solution!
You may not be able to control how someone else runs a meeting, but if you’re the host, you can follow a few tips to ensure that when your meeting is over, the participants aren’t running for the hills or sound asleep.
The point of a meeting is to have a conversation about an issue or topic and come to a decision. Sometimes there are multiple topics and multiple decisions to be made. As the meeting organizer, you are the facilitator of the conversation and the guide
leading the participants toward the decision.
Give Them Something to Talk About
Ahead of the meeting, send out the agenda and include whatever it is that is up for discussion. Whether that’s a policy draft, a project timeline, a list of goals, a link to related information, etc. It’s easier for the conversation to get going when
there is something participants can react to. This allows the meeting to get right to the point, rather than waste time waiting for everyone to read a draft or review information. It also lets everyone know ahead of time how many topics are on the
agenda.
Be Observant
Pay attention to who is talking and who isn’t talking. If the meeting is in person, watch how participants react to what is being said. If someone seems to squirm in their chair or cringe, ask them what they think. They may have a useful counter opinion.
If the meeting is online, watch for people to mark their hand raised and be sure to call on them. You may have to cut someone off who jumps in without raising their hand, but you can do so politely. Keep the chat window open in case anything gets added
there that needs to be brought to everyone’s attention. If you don’t think you can do all those things at once, elect someone to watch the chat for you.
Watch the Clock
In addition to paying attention to the participants, pay attention to the time. Keep your agenda in front of you so you can see what is left to discuss. If the conversation is going on longer than you expected, but is productive, you may have to save
one of the agenda items for another meeting. Conversely, be willing to end the meeting early if the discussion didn’t take the full time. If the conversation is straying off topic, it’s your job to let everyone know when it’s time to move to the next
item.
Consider what can be accomplished offline. When time runs short, be flexible about what has to get done in the meeting and what can be done via email or shared documents outside of the meeting.
Listen
Just because you called the meeting, doesn’t mean you have to talk the whole time. As I said before, I see a meeting as a conversation. If all you want to do is present information, that doesn’t necessarily require a meeting. Gathering people together
implies you want to hear what they have to say. As organizer, you pose the questions and then sit back and listen.
Know When to Step In
Sometimes one participant dominates the conversation or has an unending supply of questions. While you don’t want to skip over that person or ignore them, you may have to rein them in. A few ways of doing that are to say something like, “I hear you saying
(briefly summarize their point), does anyone else want to comment?” You can cut in with, “Joe/Susie/whoever has had their hand raised for a while now, let’s hear what they have to say.” If the end of the monologue is nowhere in sight, you can interrupt
the participant and let them know you’d be happy to talk with them offline, but that you need to keep the meeting going.
If time is running short and people’s hands are still raised, you need to decide whether to end the discussion and call for a decision or table the decision for next time. Either of those options is better than letting the meeting run long.
Take What You Can Get
Sometimes a final decision can’t be reached in the meeting. Instead, look for action items that will move the issue forward. If more research is needed, ask for a volunteer or assign the task to someone. If the document needs to reflect suggested edits
from the meeting, have the scribe (which might be you) make the edits and send the document back out before the next meeting. If there isn’t a next meeting on the calendar, try to set one up while everyone is there. Often, that is easier than trying
to get everyone to give you their availability via email or polling.
Follow-Up
When the meeting results in action items, it’s helpful to send an email to the participants afterwards with a list of who is doing what and when it is due. If several people missed the meeting and there was important information they will need before
the next meeting, provide a summary or minutes that everyone can access. This allows you to post the information once for everyone to read, rather than wasting time at the beginning of the next meeting bringing everyone up to speed.
What things do you do to ensure your meetings are purposeful and productive?
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Jessica Teets
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, January 15, 2024
Updated: Thursday, January 11, 2024
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Articles on Topics that May Affect Your Policies To kick off 2024, the Blog Committee shares some of the articles they have been reading related to policy administration in higher education. Academic Integrity A Brief Guide to How Colleges Adjudicate Plagiarism Cases By Beth McMurtrie, The Chronicle of Higher Education, January 3, 2024 Administration 3 policy developments college leaders should keep an eye on this year By Natalie Schwarz, Higher Ed Dive, January 10, 2024 Biden admin dives into next round of higher education regulations By Michael Stratford, Politico Weekly Education Newsletter, January 8, 2024 Education Dept. Outlines Possible Changes in Accreditation, Distance Education, Other Rules By Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, January 3, 2024 AI Creating an AI Policy for Your Marketing Communications Team By Georgy Cohen, Inside Higher Ed, January 9, 2024 How Will Copyright Law and Plagiarism Change in the Age of GenAI? By Dan Lohrmann, Government Technology, January 8, 2024 Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility After Months of Political Pressure and a Failed Vote, Wisconsin’s Regents Approve Deal on DEI By Erin Gretzinger, The Chronicle of Higher Education, December 14, 2023 Better integration policies for international students needed at universities By Benjamin Maiangwa, University Affairs, October 10, 2023 Judge suspends adoption of pro-Palestinian policy by McGill student union By Jesse Feith, The Montreal Gazette, November 22, 2023 University of Rochester Creates New Digital Accessibility Policy By news staff of Government Technology, January 5, 2024 University principal slams Quebec’s proposed French language policy By Isaac Lamoureux, True North, December 24, 2023 UPEI releases 5-year plan for fixing problems highlighted in scathing review By Carolyn Ryan, CBC, January 3, 2024 Will New House Bill Help Pregnant Students? By Katherine Knott, Inside Higher Ed, January 9, 2024 Free Speech Can a simple procedural reform fix universities’ speech policies? By John Hasnas, The Hill, December 29, 2023 Institutional neutrality policy adopted at Laurentian University By Heidi Ulrichsen, Sudbury.com, December 31, 2023 The Ford government is ignoring its own campus free speech policy By Creso Sá, University Affairs, November 28, 2023 Human Resources DOL independent contractor final rule announced, will take effect March 11 By Ryan Golden, Higher Ed Dive, January 10, 2024 Illinois becomes third state to enact paid time off for all workers By Lauren Warnecke, WGLT.org, January 4, 2024 These universities have embraced remote work—and they’re seeing some big wins By Alcino Donadel, University Business, October 10, 2023
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, September 11, 2023
Updated: Wednesday, September 6, 2023
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When to Get Rid of a Policy
Is there such a thing as too many policies? How many is enough? The answers to these questions vary by institution and depend on the type of college, how many students attend, whether research is conducted, how many campuses make up the university, and
what fields of study are offered. A commonality among all institutions, regardless of demographics, is the purpose policies serve. Some policies fulfill a legal, accrediting, or agency requirement, which means they need to remain in your library for
as long as the requirement is in place. Other policies provide consistency in the way a particular issue is managed or addressed across the institution. Policies that fit this description help the college/university community know what to expect,
regardless of their role. Lastly, policies may be used to manage enterprise-wide risks or operational efficiencies. When you need to get everyone on the same page, a policy can serve as the source document for stipulating conditions, limitations,
and authority for making decisions.
Policies are meant to be read and used. A library that has so many policies that the common user doesn’t know where to start is not very useful. When a policy is read only by the office that wrote it, the message isn’t conveyed to the people who need
it.
Most policy programs include a review cycle every three to five years to ensure that policies stay current. Consider including the option to eliminate a policy as part of that review. A few reasons that may warrant the withdrawal of a policy include:
- A history of making exceptions to the policy;
- Provisions that are tied to the availability of funds, meaning that individual offices and departments choose whether or not to utilize the policy;
- Stipulations that are optional;
- Requirements that are not value-added, and may go so far as to present an administrative burden; or
- Conditions that are contrary to your institution’s culture and/or mission.
When you come across a policy that meets one or more of the above, it may mean that the policy needs to be reworked. For example, eligibility requirements may need to be changed or some of the limitations may need to be lifted. But it might also mean
that you don’t need the policy at all. Don’t be afraid to toss it out.
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Jessica Teets
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Tuesday, May 23, 2023
Updated: Monday, May 22, 2023
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Considerations for Defining Your Governing DocumentsClear definitions for the types of documents your policy program manages help the program administrator and policy owners determine whether and when to codify a matter in policy. It also can provide guidance for determining what policies to retire. Here are some key points to consider when crafting your definitions.
Are the stated provisions and/or limitations required?
When units or employees have the option to choose whether to follow the guidance or not, the matter likely doesn’t warrant a policy. Recommendations and best practices can be communicated outside of policies. For example, if your institution allows individual units to determine whether and how to implement flexible work schedules and remote work for their employees, a policy that covers all possible scenarios would be difficult to craft. Instead, HR can provide resources for managers, such as position evaluation checklists, employee agreements, and offer letter templates. Where remote worker status coincides with other legal or policy implications, such as out-of-state income taxes or travel reimbursement, those policies or procedures can address the issues.
Who gives final approval for a policy?
Your institution’s culture will likely weigh into this decision. Policy approval needs to happen at a level high enough to demonstrate the authority of your policy program. However, consider whether that level needs to go all the way to the top. If your governing board has to sign off on all policies, your program’s ability to enact new or revised policies quickly may be limited when the board only meets six times a year and has a lot of other matters to address. Many institutions send policies to the president or chancellor for final approval, which is a more accessible last stop than the board. Another option is to have your president/chancellor delegate approval authority to a group that meets regularly for that purpose. This delegation can be achieved by defining the group and its responsibilities in your policy on policies.
Does each policy need an owner?
This, too, may depend on your institution’s culture. A policy owner is typically an executive officer who is seen as the “sponsor” of the policy. When looking at policy programs that oversee systemwide or campuswide policies, there are options for determining the owner. Some institutions assign the president or chancellor as owner of every policy. Other institutions list various senior executives as owners. When that is the case, it’s helpful to identify the criteria used to determine which executive owns a policy. Also consider whether you need to assign a responsible office for each policy. Most of the real work administering a policy happens further down the ladder from the executive rung. A responsible office may not oversee every aspect of a policy, but assumes the role of coordinating compliance efforts.
What do your policies look like?
An essential tool in the policy administrator’s toolbox is a policy template. When all your policies are outlined in a similar fashion, users learn how to read them and find the information they need quickly. Templates ensure that important information isn’t left out. One question that often comes up is whether the policy template should include procedures. I won’t advocate one way or the other here, but if your template does not include procedures, consider whether you should define what an operating procedure is. Which leads me to the next question.
Are policies the only way to convey information?
Your institution likely has varying levels of policies, such as systemwide, campuswide, and unit level. Consider defining in your policy on policies what the difference is between each type and what happens when there is a conflict between policies on the same topic. Other types of documents you may want to define include operating procedures, standards, and guidelines. Ask the same questions about whether something is required or optional, who has final approval, and whether the document must adhere to a template. Also, be sure to explain how the various types of documents relate to one another.
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, November 14, 2022
Updated: Monday, November 14, 2022
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How Knowing What Others are Doing Can Help You
Why does this policy have these requirements? Why does that policy exclude those? Why do we even have a policy on this? These are questions that often garner the response, “That’s just how we’ve always done it.” If that is the best answer you can find,
it’s time to benchmark. This post offers a few suggestions for organizing your search.
What to Look For
First, decide what aspects of a given policy you want to review. Just reading through policies from other colleges and universities without an idea of what to look for will be a waste of your time. Consider what it is you want to change about an existing
policy or what questions about a new policy you want to answer. This may include things like:
- Policy owners. Some policies have an obvious owner, like HR, IT, or Dean of Students Office. Others might be a little gray if they have wide application and straddle more than one area, like records retention or volunteers on campus. This is
a data point that you can easily look for.
- Administrative structure. This includes things like whether to have a committee review something or just one person, the level at which a decision can be made, and what needs to be approved in advance.
- Scope. Which employees are covered by the policy? Does it also apply to students? Is there a dollar limit or threshold? Should the topic be broken down into more than one policy or should two policies be combined? These are just a few examples
of the kinds of things that you might be questioning about your policy scope.
- Forms. Maybe you have a great policy already but need to create or update a form. Benchmarking can be used for that too by identifying which fields to include, whether to require a signature, etc.
Where to Look
Which institutions you include in your benchmarking will depend somewhat on who will be reviewing the results and how drastic the proposed changes may be.
- Your conference peers. If your college has athletics, you can’t go wrong benchmarking the institutions within your conference. This often holds a lot of water when you need to share the results with executives and/or faculty. Most schools have
their policies posted online, especially public institutions. Bookmark the policy libraries of your peers so you can quickly browse to them when you need to. If your conference includes schools that publish their policies behind a login, you may
need to email each institution individually to ask if they will share their policy with you.
- ACUPA colleagues. Post your questions to the ACUPA forums. Many of our members are willing to share their documents, and posting to the forums prevents you from having to send individual emails. The results can supplement the findings from
your conference peers or be used alone.
How to Document
I find spreadsheets to be the best way to organize my information. Use one axis to list all the institutions and the other for your findings. Try to word the headings in a way that allows for easy comparison within a column or row. For example, using
a question that can be answered yes or no makes it easy to see whether there is a strong tendency one way or another. Not all information can be answered with a yes or no, so in those cases, consider converting terminology, office names, or titles
into ones that your institution uses. This allows you to compare apples to apples rather than a hodgepodge of terms. I also like to include a link to each policy as one of the columns or rows for easy reference.
Whether it’s time to revise a long-standing policy or draft a new one, benchmarking what other institutions are doing can save you time in the long run.
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Jessica Teets
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, July 18, 2022
Updated: Thursday, July 14, 2022
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Does your policy support or stress your employees? Death affects us in different ways. As much as we may think we understand someone else’s grief following the loss of a loved one, we can never really know how they feel. Many factors go into the way we experience grief. Our relationship to the individual, the circumstances of their death, the last memory we have of that person, the things we said or didn’t say to them before they were gone, what we believe others expect from us after the death. As an employer, does your institution’s bereavement policy bring needed support to the grieved or does it add stress to an already difficult time? Consider a few aspects of your bereavement policy to ensure it works for both your institution and your employees. Number of Days in Paid Status For most employers, the number of days of paid bereavement leave depends on the relationship of the employee to the deceased. More time is given to close relatives like parents, spouses, children, and siblings, with less time offered to more distant relations like uncles, aunts, and cousins. But families are complicated. What about relatives that live in the employee’s home? What about in-laws and step-relatives? If an employee’s spouse loses a parent and needs to make arrangements, it seems likely that the employee would be involved in those arrangements and would need the same amount of time as if it were their own parent. While lines do need to be drawn somewhere, consider whether widening the circle of relatives for whom the employee is allowed longer bereavement leave causes any real detriment to the institution. An employee who is granted sufficient time away will be more productive when they return to work. Timeframe for Taking Bereavement Leave In the United States, it is common for funerals and other services or memorials for the deceased to happen within several days or a couple weeks of the death. Common, but not absolute. The circumstances of the individual’s death may require a delay in mourning rituals. Weather could play a factor in fulfilling the decedent’s wishes. A pandemic could prevent family from coming together right away. If your policy imposes a time limit by which bereavement leave needs to be taken, consider whether that limit allows enough flexibility for the employee. A two-week limit to take leave is a pretty short period of time. The weather is not likely to change much in two weeks if it’s January in New York. Offering employees a month or even six months can help them make decisions without undue pressure. Does your policy require the employee to take all the leave consecutively? That, too, could put undue pressure on the grieved. If your policy allows five days of leave, it may be more helpful to allow the employee to divide that time up as they need it. An employee who feels supported in their time of need will likely be a more dedicated employee in the long run. Documentation Does your policy require that the employee turn in an obituary or other proof of loss? If so, why? Trust isn’t given, it is earned. Yes, there may be a few people who come up with phantom relatives or friends in order to get a day off. But do you really need to put your supervisors in a position of policing bereavement leave? Just because someone turns in an obituary for a sweet old lady who died last week, doesn’t mean that lady was really their aunt. Trust employees to be honest and do the right thing. The employees who need the time will be grateful that the process for taking leave was easy.
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Jessica Teets
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Updated: Tuesday, January 11, 2022
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Seemingly Similar Words Can Be Very Different
Policies would not exist without someone to write them. That may or may not be your responsibility. Once they’re written, they need to be reviewed—for content, accuracy, use of template, comprehension, and grammar. If you are involved in policy administration,
some aspect of review is bound to be your responsibility. My job affords me the opportunity to both write and review policies to one degree or another, so I see examples of good writing and not so good writing all the time. A common mistake I see
when reviewing policy drafts is using one word to mean another. Let me explain what I mean…
Ensure/Insure
These two words used to be synonyms. However, sometime in the 1800s, as insurance policies became more common, the definitions diverged.
- Insure means to have some kind of financial backing for the potential loss of an asset, your health or life, etc. It should only be used when referring to insurance.
- Ensure means to make a promise or guarantee that something will happen.
- Examples:
- The real estate agent recommended we insure our barn.
- The vice president for human resources will ensure that background checks are conducted on all new hires.
Since/Because
Most people say the word “since” when they mean because. For this reason, acceptance of the two words as synonyms in dialogue is growing. However, when writing formal documents like policies, the difference between the words should be recognized.
- Since refers to a period of time between two events or from the last occurrence of an event.
- Because refers to the reason for something happening.
- Examples:
- Since the last time employees had training, the regulations changed.
- Because the regulations changed, employees will be required to go through training.
That/Which
The difference between these two words often comes down to a comma. Both are used to provide further explanation of something, but one is used when the explanation is essential to the understanding of what is being described, and the other provides nonessential
information.
- Use that when the information is essential, and do not use a comma.
- Use which when the information is nonessential, and put a comma before it.
- Examples:
- Information Technology is responsible for maintaining the system that employees use to submit travel requests.
In this sentence, without the information after the word “that,” IT would not know which system it has to maintain.
- Employees must use the travel system, which is maintained by Information Technology, to submit travel requests.
In this sentence, who maintains the system is irrelevant to the employee’s understanding of how to submit requests.
He/She/They
This is another example of language changing with culture. Once upon a time, we used “one” as the pronoun for anyone. “He” also was acceptable as a less formal option to refer to persons of any sex. As times changed, and women demanded more equality,
we began to use “he or she” or “he/she.” As Bob Dylan sang, “the times they are a-changin’” once again, and a more inclusive pronoun is “they.” However, many grammar wonks are not comfortable using a plural pronoun when the noun it describes is singular.
Here are some options that may help make everyone happy.
- Use the word “individuals”
- Instead of: An employee must include their date of hire on the form.
- Write: Individuals must include their date of hire on the form.
- Omit unnecessary pronouns
- Instead of: The vice president, or their delegate, will review the application.
- Write: The vice president, or designee, will review the application.
- Restructure the sentence
- Instead of: When the employee returns from leave, they will need to provide documentation to their supervisor.
- Write: Employees need to provide documentation to their supervisors upon returning from leave.
Word usage and the ever-changing rules that apply to the English language fascinate me. Language is a living, breathing organism that grows and morphs as culture demands. This can make it difficult to keep up with the rules. Are there any examples you have come across in your work?
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Jessica Teets
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Word tips
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, September 13, 2021
Updated: Monday, September 27, 2021
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Learn All You Can so You Can Forget It The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of ACUPA or Purdue University. “Jack of all trades, master of none.” That saying is one I use frequently to describe my job. As a policy administrator, I need to learn all that I can about whichever policy or policies are being developed or revised at a given time. The more I know, the better support I can provide to the policy owner with regard to language, organization of information, and stakeholder input. Researching policy topics is what makes me a jack of all trades. One of the main ways I learn more on a topic is to look at other institutions’ policies. Benchmarking allows me to identify commonalities with regard to scope, affected groups, exclusions, definitions, etc. ACUPA forums are an easy way to get a handful of policies to review. I also have the policy websites of peer institutions bookmarked, so I can search for topics. Often, there are relevant laws or regulations that need to be considered. I have the U.S. Code, the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations, and the Indiana General Assembly websites bookmarked – talk about some dry reading! Government agency and institute websites provide a fair amount of information in the form of brochures and FAQs, which makes it much easier to get an understanding of the main points. Once a policy is approved, I move on to the next one. It’s a cycle that has both pros and cons. I enjoy learning new things, so researching policy topics gives me an opportunity to do that. What I don’t enjoy is realizing a year later that most of the information I packed into my brain has disappeared. That is what makes me a master of none. I’m OK with that, because what never changes in this cycle is that drafting and editing policies is like putting together a puzzle. I am continuously gathering all the pieces and figuring out how to put them together so that they create a cohesive image. Maybe that makes me a master of puzzles.
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Jessica Teets
Policy Administration
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Monday, June 21, 2021
Updated: Monday, September 27, 2021
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Can a policy management system track as well as I can? The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of ACUPA or Purdue University. I track a fair amount of data with each of the policies in the Purdue University policy library. Currently, I use Excel to manually track all my data. Even to me, this seems a bit archaic with the variety of policy management systems out there. I have looked at a couple vendors, but have stopped short of pursuing a contract because I am afraid I won’t be able to capture all my data. Some data are pretty standard, such as the date of issue, the responsible executive, the responsible office, and the volume and chapter (see my post from October 2020 on Organizing a Policy Catalog to learn more about the last two). It’s easy to designate a field that captures these data. It is also easy to track the date a policy was last revised. Even systems that are not designed exclusively for policy management can track version dates. Where I run into trouble is finding a way to automatically track the last date a policy was reviewed. Policies get revised all the time. Titles, phone numbers, and email addresses change frequently, which require an update to the affected policy, and thus, a new version date. Most of the time, however, these small administrative updates do not coincide with a comprehensive review of the policy. If I were to use the version date to determine when a policy is due for review, I would likely have a lot of policies that never get reviewed because the version date never falls outside the review period (which, at Purdue, is every five years). I also get tripped up when a policy supersedes another policy. This can happen for a number of reasons, such as the title of the policy changing, two policies being combined into one or vice versa, old memos being updated into policies, etc. With my Excel spreadsheet, I am able to track a current policy all the way back to its origin, even if that is a memo from 1952. I can tell you the name and number of the policy or memo that addressed a given subject on a given date, and I can find a copy of that document in our e-archives. I have not had to track anything back to 1952, but I have had instances when our legal counsel needed all the versions of a policy going back several years. I just don’t see how a system could track this kind of serpentine information. Last, but not least, we allow for interim policies. This means a policy can go into effect without having gone through all the required steps. The policy owner then has six months to finish all the steps and finalize the policy, or request an extension of the interim status. I mark policies as interim and track the six-month deadline in Excel. It seems to me that I would have to continue to track this sort of thing manually even if I had a policy management system. Maybe I am making things too complicated. Maybe I need to let something go. What do you think?
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Jessica Teets
policy management
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Posted By Jessica Teets CCEP, Purdue University,
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
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A Desire for Better Days Ahead
The views expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not represent the views of ACUPA or Purdue University. Tomorrow, Joe Biden will be inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. My hope is that the ceremony is the most notable event of the day. My fear is that we will see more violence. I do not have statistics, but it seems to me that the past six to eight months have collectively been one of the most violent periods in recent U.S. history. Protests turning into riots in nearly every city in the country. So much anger, so much antipathy, so much intolerance, so much hypocrisy. Would we see this much violence if we weren’t in a pandemic? Would we see this much violence if we had different leadership? Was all of this bound to happen no matter what? We are cut off from the social safety nets we take for granted, the in-person conversations, laughter, and physical contact that normally temper our negative thoughts. We are mired instead in online communications—emails, texts, tweets, posts—that are truncated and lacking in nuance. We are hit with headlines, videos, and photos that highlight the worst events in our communities and across our nation. Healthy discourse struggles to see the light of day. It is too easy to say that there is nothing I can do about it. True, I do not have any way to speed up distribution of vaccines or stop angry mobs from storming the Capitol. I may not have the ability to influence members of Congress or even members of my local community. I do have, however, the ability to touch the lives of my close family and friends. I can talk to them over the phone or on a virtual platform instead of only texting. I can plan safe, individual encounters with them. I can choose to limit how much news I watch and read. I can immerse myself in activities that boost my mood. For me, that includes doing puzzles, reading fiction, playing games with my husband, and dreaming up vacations for when this is all over. These are the things that keep me going, that give me hope for better days ahead. And maybe, just maybe, the few minutes I spend typing a post for ACUPA’s blog that has nothing to do with policy administration will allow me to connect with one or two readers. What are you doing to keep yourself going?
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Jessica Teets
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