Streamlining Faculty Hiring: Lessons from UGA's Provost Listening Tour
Discover how process overhaul and reducing handoffs cut faculty hiring delays at UGA, revealing key insights into customer service and organizational efficiency.
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Chapter 1
Imported Transcript
Timothy Chester
When Jack Hu joined the University of Georgia as Provost, he embarked on a listening tour. The complaint he heard most consistently was not about budget or strategy, but about the sheer time it took to hire faculty.
Timothy Chester
From securing final position approval to the new employee’s start day, the cycle time stretched into months on end. This delay was generating frustration across every college and school, becoming a significant drain on competitiveness.
Timothy Chester
Given my background, Jack asked me for help. I tasked a student to diagram the process end-to-end, and the resulting diagram revealed 32 swimlanes of handoffs. Each handoff often resulted in defects, causing significant rework loops. End-to-end, activity time was a tiny fraction of the overall queue time.
Timothy Chester
Jack took action to eliminate handoffs, eliminate steps, and delegate authority to speed the process, with some success. In today’s Dispatch, we discuss what I believe is a near-universal truth: that most customer service problems are rooted in poor process flow, lack of structural discipline, and excessive queue time, not a lack of staff or resources.