Q&A with Clint Davidson, vice president for human resources
Clint Davidson will retire this spring after 12 years at Duke. During his tenure, he has seen Duke's workforce grow from 17,000 to more than 31,000. When he arrived at Duke, many described a goal of becoming an "employer of choice." Early in his career here, Davidson developed a road map to reach that goal. Duke is now commonly cited as one of the best places to work by diverse organizations and publications such as Carolina Parent, The Chronicle of Higher Education and AARP. Working@Duke sat down with Davidson recently to talk about the evolution of Duke's work culture and the challenges ahead.
What were your first impressions of Duke?
The spirit of the place and love for the institution were deep, but when you looked at the systems, policies and infrastructure to respond to diverse and changing needs, it seemed lacking. Duke found itself with an emerging health system and an economy that was heating up. You had people who wanted to do things and do them fast, but we didn't have the infrastructure to support it. We still had to do many things manually such as benefit enrollment and changes, registering for training classes and compiling information on applicants.
What steps did you take to respond to the needs of a growing organization?
We spent a lot of time during my early years integrating and aligning the policies and programs that resulted from the expansion from a university hospital to a health system with three hospitals and a growing number of health care services. You not only had to understand the needs at that time, but you had to be able to look down the road in anticipation of the growth and evolution of Duke University & Health System to understand needs three to five years out.
Part of our early work also involved identifying where we were and where we wanted to be. People described a desire to become an "employer of choice," but when asked what that meant, the depth and breadth of responses weren't precise. We worked with former Duke President Nan Keohane and her leadership team to help establish a set of values that became Duke's Guiding Principles, which described the vision for the type of institution we intended to be.
We can say with pride now that our work culture has strengthened year by year as evidenced by the number of notable organizations now recognizing Duke as a best place to work.
What key changes helped Duke get recognized as a best place to work?
We've made major strides in several areas, including benefits, supervisory management, professional and career development, the health and productivity of the workforce and communications. Our national prominence in benefits, particularly retirement, tuition assistance and health and wellness programs, is something that continues to move us ahead as we compete with the best here in the Triangle and across the country.
Much of our progress and our capability as an organization is defined by the ability of our supervisors and managers. Human Resources doesn't hire, develop, retain, or guide the performance of employees. Those responsibilities are a function of the 2,500 supervisors we have across Duke. Programs such as Managing at Duke and the First Time Supervisors program have made a significant difference in the skills and capabilities of managers. Through a redesigned performance management program and new professional development options such as the Employee Tuition Assistance Program, we've better equipped supervisors to support the ongoing development of staff and prepare them for advancement. Through the Professional Development Institute programs, we've also seen a significant number of minority employees move up the ranks.
At a 2007 Primetime employee forum, Davidson answered questions about human resources and the work culture at Duke. Here are audio excerpts from the forum. (Real Player required):
Does whom you know make a difference in getting promoted?
What if your manager doesn't support professional development?
How does Duke's rate of promotion compare with our peer institutions?
Why is there a restriction on the new employee tuition benefit to credit courses?
Another distinguishing effort is around health and productivity. Our health promotion programs such as Duke Prospective Health are considered a model by other institutions. These programs have helped many people at Duke significantly improve their health and quality of life, while keeping the cost of health care well below the national average.
The last area is around communications. Fundamentally, what we've been about is trying to build successful relationships at Duke. That requires more than just distributing materials. So, we've introduced new tools and resources such as Working@Duke, Primetime forums, manager communications and open enrollment materials that have helped foster dialogue and enhance understanding.
What challenges do you see as Duke's work culture evolves?
One of the things I think will continue to be a challenge is how we integrate all of our diverse efforts. We've got so many options and so much data that it becomes hard to focus and prioritize around the discreet few that will really make a difference. I think part of our challenge is making strategic priorities and having things build on each other. There needs to be a road map. That doesn't mean we won't need to take detours. If there is a hole in the road or the bridge goes out, you've got to address those needs. But we need to be clear about where we're going and what the priorities for this institution are to fulfill the ambitions we have.
Amidst all the complexity and our busy agendas, we also need to ensure that we are really superb when it comes to building and sustaining relationships with each other and with those we serve. One of the things
I believe that has made Duke as good as it is over the years is the commitment of the people who invest themselves in this institution. At Duke, we bring together people to fulfill a common purpose. Going forward, we must continue to reinforce, recognize and celebrate the impact every individual can make through their work here.