Michael Dorman wins Staff Excellence Award for Service Excellence

National Manager Enrolments, Fees and Scholarships (EF&S) Mr Michael Dorman, has won the Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award for Service Excellence for the delivery of a motivational workshop that has boosted the morale of staff across the University.

Michael's autonomous decision to create this workshop and refocus his team on Service Excellence in a collaborative and personal way not only meets the strategic goals of ACU, it provides inspiration for his peers and colleagues.

In mid- 2015 Michael created and implemented a staff professional development workshop on Service Excellence, designed to reinvigorate his team and re-focus them on their raison d'etre for work.

The all-day workshop asked groups to focus on why they choose to work at ACU: What is it about our workplace that brings us back every day and encourages us to empower students to change their own lives and the lives of others, through study.

The workshop included personal reflection, team collaboration and an analysis of how Student Administration fits within the Mission of ACU and the goals our students set for themselves.

Initially, Michael delivered the workshop to his own team in EF&S, and the content was positively embraced. Together the group was able to create a section motto that is now found around the office as a point of inspiration and a reference for service improvement.

Given the success of the program, Michael adapted and shared the workshop with teams from Timetabling, Examinations & Results and Admissions.

Again, the outcomes were reinvigorated teams with an identified purpose that binds and encourages them during stressful peak periods of work.

The benefits to staff morale were immense and this renewed focus on the Mission of ACU and how that plays out in our daily work benefits the students we serve in different sections.

Furthermore this focus is a platform for analysis of our efficiency and effectiveness and gives direction for continuous improvement.

Michael said consideration of the student experience is central to his effort of not only applying Service Excellence but also ACU’s Mission to his daily work life.

“In any process we design, and we need to keep asking, ‘How can we make this easier for students?’, while also ensuring we meet the University’s business requirements,” Michael said.

Michael said working in a back office administrative area could make it very easy to forget that we provide services to real people “not just names and numbers on a screen”.

“To counter this we try to get involved as much as possible in student facing events, such as Open Day and Graduation Ceremonies,” he said. “This keeps us in touch with the fact that our students are individuals with families, hopes and aspirations.”