Part 5: Establishing a Plan and Using the Toolkit

Begin with the end in mind. Look ahead 3 to 5 years, and envision your department’s long-term hopes and ideals in relation to climate. What will your department look and feel like in relation to climate?

Connect this vision for climate to your department’s mission, vision and current objective: To foster a healthy academic climate in your department.

If you don’t have a documented mission and vision, take a quick moment to write them down.

• Mission - What “business” are you in? What makes us come together as an organization?

• Vision - What do you hope to accomplish over a defined period of time (~5-10 years)?

Examples of department mission and vision

• UC Mission²The university's fundamental missions are teaching, research and public service.

• Berkeley Optometry Mission³ - Advancing optometric education, clinical practice, and vision research for the benefit of a diverse and inclusive society.

• Berkeley Optometry Vision³ - Preeminence and leadership in optometric education, community service, patient care, and vision science.

• UC Davis Nursing Mission⁴ - Provide science-based, technologically precise, compassionately delivered patient care.

• UC Davis Nursing Vision⁴ - The highest quality of patient care provided through the advancement of nursing practice.

• UCSF Health Mission⁵ - Our mission — the reason we exist — is Caring, Healing, Teaching and Discovering.

• UCSF Health Vision⁵ - Our vision — what we want to be — is to be the best provider of health care services, the best place to work and the best environment for teaching and research.

Vision for climate

With your department’s mission and vision as a backdrop, and your objective for climate front and center, here are questions to spark your brainstorming:

• If you are successful in fostering a healthy climate in our department, what would that look like 5 years from now – in research, teaching, and public service, in expanding pathways to access and success, in recruitment? What would that look like next year?

• What are the changes you hope to achieve – for the members of our department, for the department itself, for the campus as a whole? What differences will there be for each of your constituents? 

• What would you most like the department to be known for in relation to climate – either here at Berkeley and/or within our field?

List ideas

The Climate Survey helped you identify challenges and opportunities to address. Start listing out the ideas, which will address these challenges and opportunities. The ideas you have could be activities, strategies, resources, etc. They may address one constituent group or multiple. Don’t limit your ideas. Write them all down. 

Organize ideas

The ideas you gather may fall under a focus or priority area. They may be a way to cluster them in a group. Most departments will focus on 1 to 3 key priority areas, which have 1 to 3 ideas that will be put into action. Currently, you are focusing on implementing a few really high impact interventions right away.

Priority areas can include organizing by constituent groups, e.g. we’ll focus on doctoral students and staff.  Or you can organize by the themes of the modules, e.g. we’ll focus on workload equity and satisfaction and mentoring and support.

Again, don’t limit your ideas. Write all of this down. Next, we’ll work on narrowing these down and determine what is actionable and attainable.

Use the Toolkit to generate ideas.

• The Toolkit has a number of tools and examples. Every department is unique, and every intervention and combination of interventions may affect your department climate differently. These tools are meant to be mixed and matched. You may need to revisit the tools as you go through the twists and turns of this change process.
• The Toolkit is oriented towards action. Actions can be immediate-, medium- or long-term. Every small action makes a difference and all together can lead towards the possibility for deeper change and transformation.  
• The Toolkit is a work in progress. It is just the beginning. Read through the various sections of the Toolkit and see if it works for you. Give us feedback and share additional ideas and resources.
• The Toolkit is a guide, not a guarantee. The tools and examples are aimed at being practical and pragmatic responses towards the larger vision of a healthier and sustainable department. As these approaches, skills and attitudes become part of the everyday department norms, the capacity to resist a less healthy climate will strengthen and will shift the collective energies towards greater well-being for all.
• Shift expectations and definition of success. Success may mean not reaching every goal you set or doing every activity you list. Attempting any part of this process can be useful and valuable. Success can often take unexpected forms.

Toolkit contents

The Toolkit has various types of tools. It can be filtered by the module it supports, by types of tools, and by source - the origin of the tool (from Berkeley, Davis, San Francisco, other UC campuses and other resources “external” to UC.)

Here are the different tool types:

• Awareness and skill-building - workshops, readings (articles, books), podcasts, videos, courses/certificates, difficult dialogue/courageous conversations, language, techniques, approaches/frameworks, learning labs (case studies, scenarios)

• Building capacity - train-the-trainer, mentoring, plans (strategic plan, communication plan), narrative, learning community, leadership academy, restorative practices

• Consultation - 1-to-1 guidance, facilitation, mediation,  referrals - individuals who are internal or external individuals, peer-to peer, consultants 

• Community building - events, socials, speakers, icebreakers questions

• Data collection - focus groups, interviews, polls, feedback form, self-assessments (learning styles, strengths finder), listening sessions, map marking 

• Inspiring Examples - policies (manuals), templates (syllabi, agenda, website), step-by-step guides, processes, rubrics, orientation and onboarding, recruitment, shared governance

In the DEIBlueprint planning worksheet¹, you will begin to fill in your one-page plan¹. You have brainstormed your vision for climate and listed and organized your ideas. Enter this information into your one-page plan¹. If you have an idea of timing, you can input estimated dates.

Take a moment to check in and do a process and gut check.

• How are you experiencing all of the ideas and opportunities?

• Do any adjustments need to occur to our collaboration, practices or work agreements?

• What’s the best way to approach what’s next?