Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the Department
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Transcript of Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the Department
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Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the
Department
Patrick Fitzgerald
Harvard University
Elizabeth Foote Denise Moody
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Today’s Session
• Problems that can occur when pre-award and departments don’t work well together
• Root causes of these problems
• Advice and techniques for avoiding problems and fostering relationships
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A Sampling of the Problems that Can Occur
• Poor communication• Ineffective or adversarial relationships• Ambiguity or disagreement about roles and
responsibilities• Lack of commitment or participation• Mistakes, inconsistencies, costly “rework”• Poorly developed policies, systems, & procedures• Lost opportunities (e.g., not-submitted or rejected
proposals)• Compliance, audit, reputational risks
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Root Causes of Problems
• Lack of effective communication between pre-award and department administrators
• Poor relationships which impede collaboration (“blame game”)
• No advice or buy-in sought from departments for major changes in policies, systems, procedures
• Inability to comply to poorly-written policies (audit risk)
• Constant staff turnover or reorganization
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Root Causes of Problems (cont.)
• Inadequate or ineffective training– Courses may not be adequate or sufficiently
offered to meet the needs.– Individuals may be unwilling or unable to take
training.
• Lack of understanding of individual or office roles or responsibilities
• Unwillingness to participate or contribute
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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?
• Policies and procedures developmento Develop policies which incorporate the user’s
perspective; get advice and buy-in from departments.o Listen to your users before implementation to avoid
unintended consequences; users should provide honest feedback.
• Effective communicationo Email is one-dimensional and can be deadly!!o Telephone is better → face-to-face is best!!
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Sample Email “Mis”InterpretationSample 1: Don’t “shout”
WHAT DO YOU MEAN???????Sample 2: Don’t “react”
Of course I know the rules!!!!!!Sample 3: Work as a team
Dept to Preaward: Can you assist us in reaching out to the PI?Preaward: No, this is your responsibility.
Sample 4: Provide guidance, not accusationFrom Preaward to Dept: Your budget justification is wrong, and you didn’t follow the policies.
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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems? (cont.)
• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities (R&R)o R&R matrix (i.e., table) should clearly delineate the
responsibilities and functions performed by pre-award office, department, PI, etc.
o Responsibilities should relate to specific tasks (e.g., who is responsible for transferring expenses off a grant at closeout).
o Development of R&R matrix should be a collaborative process with everyone affected.
o R&R matrix should be a living document which is periodically reviewed and updated.
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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?• Effective working relationships
o Get together frequently; get to know each othero Familiarity doesn’t have to breed contempt!o Relationship building should happen within your
own office (i.e., central pre and post-award) and between offices (i.e., pre-award and departments).
o Relationship building takes time, patience, and perseverance.
o Be cautious about changing the assignments of pre-award staff ↔ department staff.
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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?• Effective training programs
o Do we have the training we need?o Is the training offered frequently enough or
accessible (e.g., web-based) to “onboard” new employees?
o Is the training effective? How do you measure?o Do the staff that need the training take the
training?o Are staff required to take training before they are
given responsibilities involving grants?
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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?
• Other things we can do:oWe need to change the culture from “us vs. them”
to “we”.o Responsiveness is the key to providing exceptional
service; being non-responsive breeds contempt.oMake the point-of-contact for pre-award and
department simple; ideally we will have one person to go to, which helps foster relationships.
o Be consistent (within office staff and between offices) - e.g., pre-award office shouldn’t have different practices for different departments
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What have we missed?