Come Together: Bridging the Gap Between the Pre-Award Office and the

Department

Patrick Fitzgerald

Harvard University

Elizabeth Foote Denise Moody

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Today’s Session

• Problems that can occur when pre-award and departments don’t work well together

• Root causes of these problems

• Advice and techniques for avoiding problems and fostering relationships

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A Sampling of the Problems that Can Occur

• Poor communication• Ineffective or adversarial relationships• Ambiguity or disagreement about roles and

responsibilities• Lack of commitment or participation• Mistakes, inconsistencies, costly “rework”• Poorly developed policies, systems, & procedures• Lost opportunities (e.g., not-submitted or rejected

proposals)• Compliance, audit, reputational risks

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Root Causes of Problems

• Lack of effective communication between pre-award and department administrators

• Poor relationships which impede collaboration (“blame game”)

• No advice or buy-in sought from departments for major changes in policies, systems, procedures

• Inability to comply to poorly-written policies (audit risk)

• Constant staff turnover or reorganization

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Root Causes of Problems (cont.)

• Inadequate or ineffective training– Courses may not be adequate or sufficiently

offered to meet the needs.– Individuals may be unwilling or unable to take

training.

• Lack of understanding of individual or office roles or responsibilities

• Unwillingness to participate or contribute

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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?

• Policies and procedures developmento Develop policies which incorporate the user’s

perspective; get advice and buy-in from departments.o Listen to your users before implementation to avoid

unintended consequences; users should provide honest feedback.

• Effective communicationo Email is one-dimensional and can be deadly!!o Telephone is better → face-to-face is best!!

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Sample Email “Mis”InterpretationSample 1: Don’t “shout”

WHAT DO YOU MEAN???????Sample 2: Don’t “react”

Of course I know the rules!!!!!!Sample 3: Work as a team

Dept to Preaward: Can you assist us in reaching out to the PI?Preaward: No, this is your responsibility.

Sample 4: Provide guidance, not accusationFrom Preaward to Dept: Your budget justification is wrong, and you didn’t follow the policies.

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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems? (cont.)

• Clearly defined roles and responsibilities (R&R)o R&R matrix (i.e., table) should clearly delineate the

responsibilities and functions performed by pre-award office, department, PI, etc.

o Responsibilities should relate to specific tasks (e.g., who is responsible for transferring expenses off a grant at closeout).

o Development of R&R matrix should be a collaborative process with everyone affected.

o R&R matrix should be a living document which is periodically reviewed and updated.

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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?• Effective working relationships

o Get together frequently; get to know each othero Familiarity doesn’t have to breed contempt!o Relationship building should happen within your

own office (i.e., central pre and post-award) and between offices (i.e., pre-award and departments).

o Relationship building takes time, patience, and perseverance.

o Be cautious about changing the assignments of pre-award staff ↔ department staff.

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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?• Effective training programs

o Do we have the training we need?o Is the training offered frequently enough or

accessible (e.g., web-based) to “onboard” new employees?

o Is the training effective? How do you measure?o Do the staff that need the training take the

training?o Are staff required to take training before they are

given responsibilities involving grants?

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What Can We Do to Avoid Problems?

• Other things we can do:oWe need to change the culture from “us vs. them”

to “we”.o Responsiveness is the key to providing exceptional

service; being non-responsive breeds contempt.oMake the point-of-contact for pre-award and

department simple; ideally we will have one person to go to, which helps foster relationships.

o Be consistent (within office staff and between offices) - e.g., pre-award office shouldn’t have different practices for different departments

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What have we missed?