Mike Seamon, vice president for Campus Safety and University Operations, was spotted in Grace Hall last week delivering campus mail with Tina Schaal.
“I think bosses should do this more often,” Schaal says. “There are five of us who deliver to almost every single building in one day.”
Seamon says he wants to walk a mile in the shoes of employees in his division, which shifted in March to include Campus Mail and some other areas new to him.
“To me it’s the best understanding of what it takes to do the various jobs. The only way I’m going to learn is to do their jobs. So staff have been gracious enough to let me shadow them,” he says of the departments in the division he supervises.
“How do you sort the mail? How do you deliver? What’s your route? What’s a good day look like? You can’t get that from a presentation. You can only get that when you’re doing the actual work,” he says.
Mike Seamon pictured with Tina Schaal on Wednesday, Oct. 16, in Human Resources, Grace Hall.
Shadowing workers allows Seamon to meet more staff and get a better understanding of how departments operate.
And what will he do with the information?
“My biggest job is to find ways to make their jobs easier. How can I empower them? How can I support them? If I get a better understanding by doing the job, hopefully I am a better advocate for them and a better leader.”
Originally published by at ndworks.nd.edu on October 18, 2019.