Synergy at the center

General Article

Administrative Managers Leadership Team guides forums, enhances center communications and builds professional skills

Committee members view serving on the AMLT as a way to hone professional skills and contribute to making a positive difference in the workplace. Photo by Todd McNaught

The early morning inspiration hit Marcia Whitten before her alarm clock went off: A fedora filled with career tidbits would be a perfect introduction for a presentation by Banks Warden, HIV Vaccine Trials Network (HVTN) core operations manager, at the June Administrative Managers Forum.

"He's done so many different things in his career and worn so many hats," said Whitten, a member of the forum planning team. "I wanted to do something unusual to highlight that. I thought, 'Hey! I could use a hat as a prop.'" Whitten wrote Banks' many different job experiences on pieces of paper that she pulled out and read as an introduction: He sold dictionaries and Bibles door to door. He worked at Pacific Medical Centers for 11 years, as both COO and CEO. He lived in a coastal fishing village near the Bering Sea while working for the Indian Health Service in Alaska.

The result of Whitten's effort was an entertaining and informative introduction for Warden's forum presentation. The monthly forums provide administrative managers with a chance to network, get to know their peers and hear topical presentations that increase their understanding of center operations and help make their jobs easier.

An administrative forum is a valuable organizational tool, used by many forward-thinking institutions. But the group and process that plans each forum is a unique and equally valuable leadership tool. Rather than running meetings dictated by upper management, the forums evolve from the work of the Administrative Managers Leadership Team (AMLT), a seven-person committee of forum volunteers.

"The AMLT members are part of the forums. By planning and facilitating the forums, they take creative control in what's presented, making sure it's relevant to them and their peers," said Myra Tanita, executive vice president and chief operations officer and sponsor of the forum and AMLT.

"Working collaboratively with others is critical to the success of an administrator at the center. The forums are important because they are the only time that all center administrative managers have to get together as a group, share ideas, and learn from each other," Tanita said.

Skill-building benefits

In addition to providing administrative managers with this valuable service, serving on the AMLT provides members with an opportunity to build their own leadership, public-speaking and teamwork skills, which in turn benefits the center.

The AMLT is currently comprised of Whitten, assistant controller; Terry Brown, mailing services supervisor; Bob Cowan, facilities engineering manager; Neil Hickey, HRIS manager; Marcea Kato, Basic Sciences administrator; Sonja Outlaw, server operations manager; and Mike Radder, hazardous materials manager. Eileen Stonebraker, executive assistant to Tanita, assists them.

As part of their AMLT responsibilities, members work with the speakers to ensure thoughtful presentations, and plan introductions that provide the forum attendees with some background information about the speaker.

AMLT members take the time and effort to communicate with forum speakers about audience interests. Kristie Logan, project manager in the Clinical Research Division director's office and speaker at May's administrative forum, said the forward thinking of the AMLT made her May presentation much easier.

"They had a meeting with me and gave some great guidelines for what they felt the attendees would want to hear," Logan said. "They know their audience very well."

AMLT members focus on the details that make a presentation successful. "I had never in my life worn a lapel microphone," Logan said. "They walked me through everything and eliminated the stressors."

This effort has been beneficial not just to the presenters, but also to the AMLT members.

Whitten, who joined the committee because she wanted to give something back to the center after being employed here for nine years said, "I've gained an appreciation for what goes into putting on a presentation, from audio-visual needs to making fliers."

Radder, current chair of the group, didn't know quite what to expect when he first joined in 2002. "I didn't know what it would be like, having only attended a couple of forums," he said. "No one told me I would be inviting center leaders to speak, planning their introductions and designing promotional fliers. But the experience of working in a team has been great."

But being on the AMLT is much more than planning the monthly forums.

"It's an opportunity for managers to hone public-speaking skills, learn to run meetings, plan programs, work in committee — fine-tune their abilities," said Kim Wells, the center's organizational-development manager and behind-the-scenes mentor of the AMLT.

Outlaw agrees. "Being on the committee is a great way to meet managers and build a support group. It's helped me integrate into administration, to get to know people and stay connected," she said.

Hickey said being part of the AMLT helps him stay more in touch with the center's mission.

Cowan said he sees being on the AMLT as a way to make a difference in the workplace. "You get insight into other people's worlds," he said. "And it's a great opportunity to help influence the future of Fred Hutchinson. We solicit ideas from our colleagues to make sure we're giving them something of value."

Diverse gifts

AMLT members come from all walks of administration and with differing levels of managerial experience, but when they enter their monthly planning meetings, these differences are a plus.

"Everyone brings different work experience, and that creates synergy. All our approaches are different, but we're focused on the same goal," Kato said.

Two examples of this synergy are the scientific speaker series, open to all staff, and the May Madness Basketball Tournament, both of which are sponsored, planned and facilitated by the AMLT.

Developing the teamwork required for planning the monthly forums and facilitating events such as the conference and basketball tournament positively impacts AMLT members and the center as a whole. Center administrative managers have an opportunity to learn more about their work environment and network at the forums, and team members enhance their own skill sets.

"It's about so much more than just planning the forums," Kato said. "It's an interesting combination of personal and professional development."

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