What we value

Last week in Davos, many of the world’s billionaires gathered to discuss topics of the day. So did ALT, except for the Davos part. We didn’t have private jets or Greta Thunberg, but the Davos gang didn’t have Tom Hewitt in a hoodie. (Can’t unsee that).

ALT spent most of the day last Wednesday discussing the rollout of the strategic plan, as well as objectives for the 2020-2021 fiscal plan. (See key dates below). We also, as we always do at these meetings, talked about how the ALT is working and what we need to do to improve as a leadership team. We spent a fair bit of time talking about “receptivity” – because our group DiSC score skews heavily towards “challenging.” To that end, each of us will be working on our openness to ideas, different perspectives, and opinions in an effort to find balance between receptive and challenging leadership. Please let us know how we’re doing.

We also spent a considerable portion of our day talking about how we move forward with our goal of establishing a single, unifying mission, vision, and an agreed-upon set of values for the Office of Advancement. We worked together to build a mission statement to focus everyone on the same goal. Now we’d like to pursue establishing a set of values for Advancement. We’ve also decided that the process to establish these values will not be top-down.

Before we jump into any process to establish a set of values for Advancement, we first want to do a little self-reflection about how we as a leadership team are adhering to the principles we adopted to govern our own conduct. In 2018, ALT developed a Team Charter – a set of rules to help guide ALT meetings, decision making, and team interactions. The charter is three pages long, but here are the key points:

• Our role is to lead an innovative advancement team in support of Queen’s University’s strategic direction.
• The desired characteristics of the ALT team are: Accountability – Committed to learning – Consistent messaging – Co-ordination – Each unit is distinct, but connected – Empowered – Focus on future state – Invitations for key stakeholders – Professional – Trust and support

We believe we have made real progress in making our meetings work better, streamlining the decision-making process, collaborating among teams, and sharing common goals and objectives. We think we are moving in the right direction, but acknowledge there is always more progress to be made. What we are not sure about is whether we’ve done a good job projecting these principles to the entire Office of Advancement. We want to take some time to think about that and how we, as a team, demonstrate our accountability to the attributes we’ve agreed we value. But what do you think? Do you believe ALT is demonstrating the characteristics mentioned above? Your ALT member would love to hear from you.

In the meantime, please think about the values you would like to see for the Office of Advancement. Each ALT member will start conversations about values over the coming weeks and we will start a formal process to establish a set of values in the spring.

Winner, Winner

Last week we learned that the 25th Anniversary celebrations at the Bader International Study Centre have won two CASE District 2 Accolades Awards. Congratulations to everyone who worked so hard to bring the 25th together and those who worked on the award submission. The Alumni Review was also honoured by CASE – for staff writing. Congratulations, Andrea! Well done!

Here are the results:

Alumni Relations Events and Affinity Programs

SILVER
Queen's University
Bader International Study Centre 25th Anniversary Celebrations

Community Relations Programs, Projects, and Special Events

BRONZE
Queen's University
Bader International Study Centre 25th Anniversary Celebrations

Staff Writing

BRONZE
Queen's University
Staff writing Queen's Alumni Review

Jobs with Advancement

We need your recruitment help. Know great talent that would be a good addition to our team? If so, please promote the vacancy below with your networks and let’s find some amazing new team members.

Applications (including a cover letter and resume) must be submitted through CareerQ. For additional information on this posting, please reach out to either Katelyn, Carla, or the hiring manager for the position you are interested in.

Available Position:

Fun Fact

The Academic Chair

The academic chair organized in 16th-century England when a chair – complete with arms, legs, and a back – was a prized piece of furniture. In those days commoners sat on stools or wooden benches; the gentry used cushions on the floor. However, when a worthy teacher was accorded the rank of professor, the reward was not only a life income but a handsome high-backed chair as a symbol of new status in the world of learning. The oldest academic chairs are the Regius Professorship at Oxford University. These were established in 1546 by King Henry VIII. They are regarded today as the most honoured seats in English Academic life.