Lori Willett

I started my career about 35 years ago working in manufacturing, where we had personnel departments rather than HR. I noticed that personnel wasn't really addressing everything that needed to be addressed, so I just kind of started taking care of investigations, holding people accountable, dealing with the attendance policy, and things like that. It just kind of blossomed from there. When that plant closed, I had enough experience to get a training job with Federal Express, and from there I just stayed in HR. I've done generalist work and specialty work in organizational development and labor relations. I've been at Lansing Community College for 17 years now. Most of that time, probably 15 plus years, was in labor relations, and now I'm full-time in organizational development. I came up with the Know How in 90 program a few years ago, which is a monthly 90-minute training where every supervisor attends either virtually or in person to learn about one topic. It has changed the level of communication and understanding in this organization to a degree I never would have predicted. We also started Supervisor Boot Camp last year, which is a multi-day program where supervisors spend the day learning about different topics from speakers all over the place. I also run the OD Roundtable, a group for HR and organizational development people who work in higher ed in Michigan, where we talk about common issues and solutions.