Among Christian colleges and universities, the loyalty of Taylor people is a key differentiator in what makes our university special. Faculty and staff are the essence of how we carry out our mission of developing servant-leaders. Over the next five years, Taylor aspires to become the strongest and most engaged Christian workplace within the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, as measured through surveys administered by the Best Christian Workplace Institute. As part of this, Taylor will invest time, resources, and energy to equip faculty and staff department chairs, as well as leaders across campus to become better managers. We also want to develop emerging leaders on campus and build career paths to keep faculty and staff colleagues engaged and excited about their futures at the University for many years. Finally, we want to model for other institutions how to develop and deepen servant-leadership, not only among students but also among faculty and staff year after year.

We want to be a place that attracts, develops, rewards, and retains a diverse and talented workforce that is deeply aligned with Taylor’s mission and foundational documents. We want our senior leaders and managers to demonstrate workplace best practices. And we desire to set the pace among Christian colleges and universities at onboarding, developing, and motivating faculty and staff. To these ends, we will invest in more robust communication and performance-management efforts so that our faculty and staff feel informed, inspired, and involved in the University’s future. The following outlines our strategic objectives for Priority Pillar 3: Developing and Investing in Our People.

Primary Components of Priority Pillar 3: Developing and Investing in Our People

We desire that, for any senior leader vacancy, there would be multiple qualified Taylor staff or faculty who would be viable candidates. A number of workforce initiatives will help us make progress towards this goal.

  1. Develop an annual set of leadership development opportunities for faculty and staff who are already serving as managers or department chairs with the first cohort participating in year one of the strategic plan. [Years 1-5]
  2. Launch an additional set of opportunities for emerging leaders who are not in formal roles of responsibility to bolster Taylor's talent pipeline with the first cohort participating in year one of the strategic plan. [Years 1-5]
  3. Create on-campus programming and secure funding for the intentional development of leaders from underrepresented groups with the first cohort participating in year one of the strategic plan. [Years 1-5]
  4. Annually invest in the personal and professional development of the President's Cabinet, Senior Leadership Team, and academic leadership, through off-campus vision trips, retreats, and meetings as well as through on-campus developmental programs, helping them to serve more effectively in the years ahead. [Years 1-5]

Taylor’s workforce has always been among our greatest strengths, but we aspire to build a stronger and more supportive workforce culture.

  1. Be the most engaged workplace among peer institutions, as measured through surveys administered by the Best Christian Workplace Institute. [Year 5]
  2. Develop a set of goals for improving campus communication efforts and input mechanisms from employees beginning in FY2023. [Year 1]
  3. Review a set of key policies, including Taylor's family leave policies, and explore appropriate adjustments to improve Taylor's ability to recruit and retain key personnel. [Years 1-2]
  4. Evaluate and then overhaul Taylor's new employee onboarding process and the protocols for departing employees (such as exit interviews). [Year 1]

We believe that growing the diversity of Taylor’s workforce is essential as we seek to serve the global church. It will pay dividends by adding to our ability to care well for all within our community, and that the University’s decisions will benefit from hearing diverse voices in our deliberations. We believe a set of strategies to increase the number of relationships with communities of color will help ensure success when we later create and implement specific protocols related to diverse representation in searches.

  1. Work to build 10 relationships with churches that serve those beyond the Taylor campus, including a particular focus on outreach to ethnically diverse churches. [Year 1]
  2. Set a baseline for and then work to incrementally increase the number of relationships and connections Taylor has with communities of color, looking to establish four new relationships annually. [Years 1-2]
  3. Develop protocols whereby recruiting pools will not be complete (and able to move forward in the screening and selection process) without diverse (ethnic or gender) representation. [Year 2]

Taylor will be participating in institutional and individual goalsetting amongst employees. We believe that implementing a regular goalsetting and performance review process, combined with realistic goals for increasing faculty and staff compensation, will make an important difference in elevating the engagement and motivation for Taylor’s talent.

  1. Launch a regular practice of granting one-time bonuses to all employees when the University achieves institutional goals. [Year 1]
  2. Create a total compensation strategy that motivates and rewards staff and faculty for their contributions. [Year 1]
  3. Implement a regular goal setting and performance review process for all employees that ties to annual compensation increases for most employees. [Year 1]
  4. Raise endowment dollars for endowed faculty positions (exact measures to be presented to the Board in fall of 2022). [Years 1-5]