"Rather than sitting here in College Hall thinking we can figure out what's best for the campus community, we've got to reach out and bring people into the process with us."

Charlie Matteis came to Montclair State a year ago to head the new organizational development and training program in Human Resources. Although he spent more than 10 years in the field of organizational effectiveness, change and performance management, he had never worked in academia.

But an M.B.A. in management from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a B.P.S. in data processing management from the State University of New York and his extensive efforts for the United States headquarters of Ciba-Geigy Corporation made Matteis an ideal candidate to initiate the University's program.

"One of the things that attracted me to the position was that it wasn't an already defined role," he said. "I'm always excited about building something from scratch and influencing the way it goes. I saw an opportunity to use my corporate background and apply it to shaping the University's efforts."

Matteis has learned the ropes around the Montclair State environment and is gearing up to implement programs to enhance performance across the entire campus community.

Q: How would you define your role as director of this program?
A: An important part is the organizational development aspect that tries to understand the root of problems. It's about diagnosing what's going on. An organization might say, "Here's what the presenting problem is: we need customer service training." But when you look into it, is it really customer service training or are the work processes that we're using to deliver the services not effective, preventing us from delivering to the customer? It's about trying to drill through the problem to understand the contributing factors. What I see as the greater charge is how we can make Montclair State University as optimally effective and efficient to deliver value to our customers, whether that's faculty, staff or students.

Q: What are some of the challenges you've faced this first year?
A: I've never worked in academia before so one of the real challenges is understanding how an organizational and development training group within a university can actually add value. Montclair State is a diverse community. It's in many ways separate and distinct--each of the colleges and schools has its own mission and challenges and while the glue that holds them together is that they are all Montclair State University, finding the common theme can be difficult. One of my goals has been to sort through all of this and find what lands as the common need for the common good.

Q: What initiatives are you taking to find that common need?
A: One of the things we're doing is putting together--for lack of a better term--a "Think Tank" group. Representatives from various parts of the University meet to brainstorm about the issues, the concerns and the common things we need to go after to help us understand where the hot buttons are and the kind of programs we need to ensure we have in place to support the University.

Q: What is the next step?
A: To take more of an approach of inclusion. Rather than sitting here in College Hall thinking we can figure out what's best for the campus community, we've got to reach out and bring people into the process with us. They are the ones who are out there, who really understand what the real needs and concerns and problems are. One of the other things I'd like to change is the "fix-it" mentality, which is go in, give people training and check that off the list and then move on to the next thing. Nothing ever changes if people don't understand why. In order for those who are at the service delivery level to deliver effective service, not only do they need good skills, good work processes and the right resources, but they require effective leadership, effective management, problem-solving outlets, and effective goals and visions about where they're going.

Q: What advances in training and development have you seen over the past year?
A: There is a more focused and systemic approach to putting some formality and structure around how we're going to make all this change occur, how we're going to develop the right kind of training programs by figuring out the right competencies and skills people need. We can do that now because we have some internal resources and that's my job. I'm getting a better sense about where the University is heading and what some of the real issues are. And those who I have had an opportunity to work with are getting a better sense about who I am and how I approach things, and we're building a mutual trust. I'm relying more on my senses in reading what's going on. I'm starting to understand the environment more so my diagnostic skills are getting better and the people I'm working with are feeling more comfortable about working with me. I get the sense from the candor of some of the conversations I've had with people that they are starting to open up. Hopefully what we will see roll out toward the end of this year and the beginning of next year are more University-wide programs.

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