Managers, mark your calendars. The Office of Human Resources’ popular Supervisor Academy will be piloted as an intensive on-campus in-person experience over two days this summer: Monday, July 17, and Friday, July 21.

“We are hearing from people that they want more opportunities to be together in person, that aren’t just centered around their work. People want high-value in-person experiences, and this Supervisor Academy can be a way we can bring those to our staff,” said Sheila Way, program lead and director of leadership and organizational development at AU. 

Participants learn strategies that cultivate AU’s culture of inclusion, respect, and belonging for staff through supervisory practices. The program focuses on delegating, creating an inclusive culture, managing relationships and communication, resolving conflict, enabling change, and using coaching and feedback for peak performance. External partners facilitate sessions that focus on AU-specific content through group exercises, case studies, and office hours where participants can gather to collaborate and ask questions. All supervisors with at least one full-time staff member must complete the program by summer 2024, and it will be offered each semester until then. 

“We want to make sure that supervisors [have] the tools [to] help them understand their role. A big piece of that is understanding where you sit in the organization, what your responsibilities are as an agent of the university, and what expectations the people you manage have of you,” Way said. 

The summer 2022 pilot and fall 2022 and spring 2023 offerings were held virtually over three-month periods, and feedback from those cohorts pointed to the need for a shorter, in-person offering. Though about 30 percent of AU’s 550 supervisors completed the training by May 1, it often takes two training cycles to finish the program due to AU’s varied calendars, schedules, and working styles, Way said. 

Kristi Vanoy, director of special events, Office of the President, was part of the fall 2022 cohort after joining AU in April 2022. She said the academy helped her “define expectations, gain access to tools, and network with other supervisors early in my career at AU,” which she found especially helpful as she planned and executed her first commencement in December 2022. 

“Although we work with and rely on so many AU departments to make this particular event successful, participating in the Supervisor Academy helped me to extend that network and get to know fellow supervisors even better. I got to see the unique strengths and opportunities to connect with others going through this journey,” she said. 

As associate director of recreational sports and fitness, Chris Nasti, who has been at AU nearly eight years, directly manages four full-time employees and indirectly supervises a large team of student and part-time employees.

He said that the academy is packed with content supervisors can apply directly to their work. “Overall, the sessions reinforced many best practices in managing and supervising staff. Two of the sessions focused on creating an inclusive culture. These were good reminders of how managers play a critical role in setting the culture of their teams and included time to develop meaningful action items.” 

Vanoy urges other supervisors to register for this opportunity for learning and community. “This is a safe space to learn, grow and find out that there are other supervisors going through the same things. . . . I encourage all supervisors to invest in themselves and, thus, their teams.” 

Register for the academy through AsuccessfulU and email questions to hrpayrollhelp@american.edu.