Redesigning ECU's People Services and Strategies

March 2025

In October 2024, ECU’s Department for People Operations, Success, and Opportunity (POSO) – the department dedicated to fostering workforce success – began working with Huron Consulting Group to reimagine and redesign our people services and strategies.

Our partnership with Huron is organized into three phases:

1.  Assessing the Current State [Complete]: POSO engaged with Huron to facilitate an assessment of current services and operations. Through constituent engagement, including a university-wide survey conducted in the fall, insights were gathered to support the development of recommendations for POSO to prioritize in their transformation and their commitment to better serve the university.

We are thankful for the commitment this community made to contributing to the current state assessment. Over 140 individuals participated in focus groups or one-on-one interviews, and over 1,100 employees responded to the university-wide survey.

Key themes from the community-wide engagement included:

a.  Desire for more streamlined and consistent processes with an understanding of unit needs

b.  Need for more leadership and supervisory training and development

c.  Challenges arising from reliance on disparate systems

d.  Desire for clearer and more consistent communication

e.  Dissatisfaction around posting, position, recruiting, and hiring processes

POSO is committed to improving its services and addressing these key themes through collaboration with our campus constituents. In reimagining POSO’s services and operations, we will continue prioritizing the needs of all involved.

2.  Reimagining Services and Operations [Launching]: Based on the insights gathered and recommendations made, we will reimagine our services and operations through:

a.  An improved service delivery model that promotes POSO’s commitment to a culture of care, identifies tools to manage our services, and establishes governance for ongoing improvement

b.  A reimagined operating model that brings clarity to POSO’s roles and responsibilities, streamlined processes, and enabling technology

c.  An improved end-to-end hiring process and case management approach.

3.  Implementing and Building Capability [Not Started]: The third phase focuses on bringing our vision to life. This includes implementing a new organizational structure, creating a strategic plan that articulates POSO’s commitments to ECU, and establishing our capability to monitor and continuously improve our services and achieve our commitments.

While we step into Phase 2 – Reimagining Services and Operations – we value your feedback. Please email poso_cpo@ecu.edu with any questions you may have.

We encourage you to further explore our webpage where you can find additional details on this work, including survey results from the November 2024 survey.

We’re excited to continue working together to build a thriving community where everyone is empowered to succeed.

November 2024

The new Department for People Operations, Success, and Opportunity (POSO) is established to support ECU in achieving its strategic initiative of fostering workforce success and cultivating a culture of care, belonging, and opportunity for all campus members. POSO is dedicated to improving ECU’s efforts to recruit, retain, develop, and support a thriving workforce. By enhancing the University’s structures, systems, and processes, POSO aims to improve clarity, reduce inefficiencies, and elevate employee and customer experiences. 

The University has selected a consulting partner, Huron Consulting Group, to support the POSO team and campus in reimagining and redesigning the people services and strategies at ECU. Over the next 18 months, POSO will embark on a transformative journey to position our new department at the forefront of fostering workforce success. Our goal is to promote a culture where every member of the ECU community feels valued and supported, ensuring a thriving and welcoming environment. 

Our 18-month journey will be carried out in three strategic phases: 

1. Assessing the Current State: In this initial phase, the Huron team will engage with the POSO team and identified University constituents to gather critical insights. Understanding our current services and operations is essential to develop informed recommendations for future improvements. 
2. Reimagining Services and Operations: Based on the insights gathered, we will work together to envision services and operational strategies that align with our mission of care, belonging, and opportunity. This phase is about conceptualizing a future that enhances every aspect of our people operations and experience. 
3. Designing and Preparing for Redesigned Services and Operations: The third phase focuses on bringing our vision to life. This includes preparing and training our team for a culture of service excellence and care, ensuring that our redesigned processes are seamlessly integrated and effective. 

There will be opportunities for the POSO team and the broader ECU community to actively participate in this project. Your insights, experience, and partnership will be key to our collective success. Together, we can build a thriving community and an environment where everyone feels empowered to succeed. 

The establishment of POSO in May 2024 marked a significant milestone in ECU’s commitment to fostering an environment of equal opportunity, care, and belonging. With our dedicated team and our partnership with Huron Consulting Group, we are confident that POSO will lead the way in creating a vibrant and welcoming community at ECU. We will work to update the ECU community along the way and we look forward to all that we will build together.