CAPA 2006-07 communications survey begins

P&A staff invited to speak their minds

John Borchert, Intercollegiate Athletics, chairs CAPA's communications committee. At the CAPA orientation last fall, the council discussed the survey and ways to improve communication with P&A staff.

Brief, Jan. 10, 2007

Over the course of the past year, the Council of Academic Professionals and Administrators (CAPA) has dealt with topics ranging from strategic positioning and its effect on academic professional and administrative (P&A) staff to the continuing Classification and Compensation Study being carried out by the Office of Human Resources. Recurring issues--like tuition benefits, sick and bereavement leave, vacation, and professional development--also remain important.

In an effort to assess and improve the way it communicates with its constituency of P&A staff, CAPA has conducted bi-annual surveys to evaluate its effectiveness in communicating. After deferring last year's survey in the wake of strategic positioning, the 2006-07 survey is now available online. P&A staff members are invited to complete it.

Calling all P&A staff!

Take the CAPA communications survey on the Web today. It takes only a few minutes. Your responses to the survey are central to improving CAPA communications with all P&A staff.

"Please take five minutes and let us know what you think," says John Borchert, CAPA communications chair.

"The survey results not only help us understand how our communication strategy is working, but it also helps us understand the satisfaction our constituents have with the individual efforts of their respective representatives," Borchert says. "With important issues continuing to be on the table for CAPA and the University, we need to be certain we are adequately apprising P&As of what is happening, and how we as a group are responding."

At the CAPA orientation last fall, the council identified a number of ways in which communication can be improved:

• making the website more interactive with regular feature articles and more opportunities for feedback
• continuously improving the CAPA portion of the U of M-Twin Cities campus orientation
• continuing to coordinate the publication of the CAPA newsletter

"The communications survey allows those who have something to say about the way we communicate with our P&As and their respective units, both as an organization and at the representative level," says Borchert. "The way we prefer to receive information is ever-changing, and, as a result, it's important to make sure CAPA is adapting to the communication preferences of our P&As."

Borchert notes that, while specific issues change from year to year, the need for involvement and open lines of communication is ever significant.

"While it is critical for CAPA to stay in close communication with P&As as [major] issues are dealt with," he says, "it behooves us to always foster and maintain our connection with staff, no matter what is going on."

The CAPA communication survey can be taken on the CAPA Web site at http://capa.umn.edu/communications_survey.php.

John Borchert is the CAPA representative for Intercollegiate Athletics, Twin Cities campus.