The Office of the Chief Operating Officer held an all-hands meeting on Oct. 21. Here are the top five messages from the presentation:
- Re-emphasize safety across the site and the Office of the COO. Trends indicate that we must continue to put safety at the forefront of all that we do. One thing that we all can do immediately is clean and organize our workspaces, which can help to create a safer environment. Going forward, we can also all benefit from more walking around our spaces, talking with each other and making it a priority to talk to our team to make sure they have what they need to operate safely.
- Supporting the sections and the Office of General Counsel. FESS: project execution, centralized facility management, Operational Excellence and service. WDRS: training, diversity and inclusion, Operational Excellence and service. OGC: business ethics and compliance, staff transition and development, and intake process improvements.
- Managing challenges ahead. Meeting the lab’s expectations, focusing on operational excellence, balancing requirements and keeping our eye on our resources will be challenging. We must identify the work that we can do, that which we cannot, and understand the associated risks.
- Communication. We can and should all think about improving communications. Feedback from the climate survey consistently said that management has room for improvement. The flow of information from the director’s all-hands meeting to divisions/sections to departments is important so that everyone better understands how their work contributes to and impacts the lab. The COO and deputy COO will join field visits with section heads. Communicate, communicate, communicate.
- Operational Excellence. We’re taking what we learned from the consulting firm (CARA Group) and continue work on process remapping, use of metrics, Operational Excellence Actions and culture change. A steering committee and working group lead the effort as change champions.
Kate Gregory is Fermilab’s chief operating officer.