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F&A on journey toward MUSC Excellence by Jennifer Hoel Engineering & Facilities The Medical University's Finance and Administration Division (F&A) is on the journey to MUSC Excellence. MUSC Excellence is our commitment to making MUSC a great place to work, learn, and receive services. Everyone employed at MUSC plays an important role in fulfilling this commitment. At this point in our journey, the F&A Pillar Goals are in place, divisional leaders have attended three Leadership Development Institutes (LDI), and our six service teams are working hard.    Five pillars (Service, Quality, Financial, People, and Growth) provide a balanced approach to setting organizational goals. The senior leadership team has aligned the F&A goals with each of the pillars. These goals lay the framework for consistent evaluations, agendas, communications, and work planning.  As we move forward on our journey to excellence, the pillar goals are the benchmarks against which we measure our progress.   Employee Health administrative coordinator Leslie Hucks attaches MUSC Excellence information to her department's communications board. Showing support for the Excellence initiative are communications team leader Jennifer Hoel, left, and team member Sheri Zolner. LDIs are quarterly training sessions for divisional leaders. They are designed by the LDI team to facilitate leader development. Each LDI brings leaders together for group learning and team building.   The service teams play an important role in helping F&A  achieve our pillar goals. By focusing on initiatives that improve employee and customer satisfaction, the teams become internal experts who help to accelerate the change process and to sustain results. The purpose is to generate new ideas, empower employees, and cross over traditional department and functional boundaries in the pursuit of excellence. The teams help bring the best ideas to leadership.   F&A has six service teams: communications, customer service and service recovery, LDI, measurement, reward and recognition, and standards and leadership evaluation. Each team is made up of a cross-section of employees from various units throughout F&A. Approximately 60 high-performing employees, supervisors and staff, serve on one of the six teams. Each group’s mission is summarized below. Communications—working to ensure that  inspiration and information get passed throughout the F&A Division. Their goal is to make sure that all employees receive consistent and accurate communication about the MUSC Excellence process and the division’s progress. Customer Service and Service Recovery—ensure that the highest level of service is consistently provided to customers. They will develop new ideas for continually improving that service and to share best practices among departments to help others learn.  They are also charged with developing a service recovery policy for customers whose expectations have not been met.    q  LDI—develop leaders’ skills that enable the achievement of organizational goals. They are working to align leader competencies with organizational values and focus, improve individual leadership performance, and rekindle passion and commitment in all F&A employees.       Measurement—analyze customer satisfaction and quality data to identify strengths and weaknesses. They will also develop reports to be provided to unit managers that will form the basis for action plans that align resources to service excellence goals.     Rewards & Recognition—assist in creating a culture of excellence within the F&A Division by raising the level of employee satisfaction through an ongoing reward and recognition program.  They are developing an employee reward and recognition program where employees value, respect, and promote achievement of the organizations goals.    Standards and Leader Evaluation—develop the standards of behavior for all employees and develop the tools to ensure that employees understand and live by the standards. They will also support the development of a leader evaluation that holds leaders accountable to measured goals. The F&A Division has begun its next step toward building a culture of service excellence, bringing the mission, vision, and values of MUSC to new heights. Join us on our journey to MUSC Excellence. This is your opportunity to affect the future of our organization.    For information about F&A MUSC Excellence visit http://academicdepartments.musc.edu/vpfa/excellence.      Friday, March 16, 2007 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. 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