UNT System Chancellor Lesa Roe sent this email to all team members on Feb. 15, 2019:
UNT System Faculty and Staff,
After internal discussion with system and campus leaders, we have decided to move forward with the Gallup Survey in April 2019 – the survey will open on April 5 and close on April 17. Simply put, we need to hear from you. The insightful feedback received through this annual survey will give us three years of rich data to analyze and build our engagement strategy going forward.
Past survey data has already led to new initiatives at each UNTS institution – especially in the areas of faculty and staff recognition. Additional activities spurred by your response to the Gallup survey include:
• UNT: Supervisors have been provided with engagement toolkits and training opportunities. This includes leadership training for team-members at the director level and up. UNT has also focused on engagement with faculty and staff senates, which has led to recognition awards and team lunches.
• UNT Dallas: Created a “Culture Committee” made up of faculty and staff that meet regularly to foster open communication and create touchpoints that resonate with team members as a means of building engagement and constructively working to overcome workplace challenges.
• UNT Health Science Center: Intentionally focused on engagement and making it a priority in the strategic plan. All of the President’s Cabinet members and Deans have discussed the Gallup questions with their teams, identifying focus areas, setting team goals and developing action plans for improvement.
• UNT System Administration: Holds system-wide town hall meetings each quarter and launched a new weekly HR newsletter to open lines of communication and break down barriers. System administration has also launched a compensation study based on Gallup input, and has plans to launch a new “Days of Caring” initiative based on several leaders’ desire to layer community service opportunities into the workplace experience.
Why do we put so much emphasis on creating a culture of engagement and becoming a Best Place to Work? It’s not for a title, but for what it means for our team. When we are engaged in what we do, we love coming to work and we care deeply about our purpose and our mission. We are more productive. We have better retention rates and improved health and wellness that comes along with a less-stressful work environment.
We can’t get there without you. We need to hear from you, and learn what’s working well and what areas still need some work. The Gallup survey is a tool for you to provide that valuable feedback.
Formal details about the Gallup survey will be distributed in the near future.
Your participation in the Gallup Q12 survey this April will help us all better serve our employees, our customers and ourselves.
Thank you.
Lesa Roe
Chancellor
UNT System
Chancellor@untsystem.edu
214.752.8585