From Silos to Synergy: The Emergenetics Impact at VCU

I recently interviewed Dr. Megan Becker, Director of Residential Life at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), to learn about the impact of her experience integrating Emergenetics programming into the Residential Life & Housing department.  

AW: What challenges or opportunities did you see within the Residential Life & Housing department that inspired you to engage Emergenetics? 

MB: We are a large organization. We have a full team of 60 full-time professionals who provide leadership to the department, and we experience silos because we have an area for facilities, residential life, another for assignments, etcetera. When we get into our silos, we sometimes start playing the blame game because we feel as though we can do the work better than anyone else. That’s when we start forming assumptions and having intent-impact gaps with one another.  

When we first experienced Emergenetics on our leadership retreat, we saw that our common frustrations were rooted in misunderstanding each other’s decision-making or how others approached their work.  

Emergenetics gave us a common language and allowed us to be more intentional about creating teams, talking through concerns, better understanding each other and gracefully executing work. Those were the opportunities we saw, which is why the leadership team wanted to extend Emergenetics programming to everyone in the department. 

AW: Why did you choose Emergenetics? What stood out to you about our programs?   

MB: When our leadership team took Emergenetics and evaluated the next steps, we were at a crossroads, knowing that we needed to invest time and energy into some type of training for the entire department. We looked at the different inventories we could do and had used strengths-based tools in the past.  

Emergenetics had a different feel that focused on teamwork and collaboration, which the other tool we had used did not have. The other inventory helped individuals recognize and play off their own strengths, which could be translated to a team. The team aspect came more naturally with Emergenetics, which made it our tool of choice.  

AW: I know that VCU’s work with Emergenetics began with a phased approach, first hosting a Meeting of the Minds and Power of WE session with the Student Affairs Leadership team and then with the Student Residential Life team. Can you share a bit about the strategy behind the methodology? 

MB: After our Student Affairs Leadership team experienced an Emergenetics training in the Spring of 2023, we wondered how we could catch up the rest of the leadership team as we hired some new folks or had some leave over the next year.  

Our goal in the Spring of 2024 was for me to become an Associate. The next goal was to train our small group of staff, who hadn’t yet been introduced to Emergenetics, before our annual retreat.  

My relationship manager at Emergenetics helped me prepare for the small group program that included 6 to 8 people. Then, at the annual retreat, I facilitated a refresher on Emergenetics for everyone since it had been a year. Ever since, I’ve held workshops as a part of onboarding new staff, which have been groups of about 20 people.  

AW: How was the Certification process for you? 

MB: I really enjoyed my Certification with Bill Zubek! He is fabulous! I was really nervous about the Associate Certification exam since I get a lot of test anxiety, although the cohort I was in and Bill as a facilitator did a great job of supporting everyone involved.  

I was in a group of primarily corporate professionals, and I was the only one in higher education. It was an interesting experience, and it was worthwhile to learn how Emergenetics was being implemented and utilized elsewhere.  

I also was nervous about it being virtual because my preferred learning style isn’t online learning. I found that, between the virtual sessions and eLearning courses, the program met my learning needs. 

AW: What feedback or sentiments have you received from your counterparts about Emergenetics?   

MB: One of our employees has worked for our department for 40 years. She is the most long-standing individual in our team with the most historical context. While she is a very positive person, she tends to view professional development from a bit of a skeptical lens, having experienced ones that don’t stick.  

After the Emergenetics training, she approached me and said that this was the most impactful experience she had in her entire career working at VCU. She also shared that it helped her better understand her day-to-day frustrations and validated many of the reasons why she naturally works better with some people than others.  

If anything, people just want more Emergenetics, which is why I continue digging through resources and working with Brandi, my Relationship Manager, to provide more material.  

AW: Can you share a little bit about your plan to use Emergenetics to support your university? What are some of your next steps?   

MB: Moving forward, my plan is to host a quarterly training to onboard new staff in the department of Residential Life & Housing. We are also utilizing some of the resources from the online Associate portal for our monthly leadership team meetings. Most recently, we completed the 3-2-1 Boost your Communication Practices activity.  

I pull a lot of the resources marketed on Emergenetics’ social media to continue to infuse the Attributes into our daily work. I am also working with our Marketing professional to create office door tags that feature everyone’s Emergenetics pie charts and Behavioral spectrums to provide a visual reminder to our staff of everyone’s preferences. 

AW: What results have you seen from implementing Emergenetics programming? Is there any evidence or stories you can share? 

MB: We love to throw the Emergenetics colors out in conversations all the time, and say things like, “You’re really leaning into your Blue right now!” And that is part of the camaraderie our team has since many of us have worked at VCU for a long time.  

Not only has Emergenetics given us a common language, it has also created a fun work environment and culture of understanding, where we recognize the impact something may have on someone and that these experiences are not coming from malintent. This way of thinking has helped us form a new culture of grace.  

Additionally, I’ve seen a lot more collaboration between the silos. We are becoming more cohesive and showing up differently at all levels. For example, we better appreciate each other and check in with each other if someone is having an off day. There has been a huge benefit in implementing Emergenetics within our department.  

AW: What have you enjoyed most about bringing Emergenetics to VCU?   

MB: I’ve enjoyed being able to understand better those I directly supervise by seeing how my Thinking and Behavioral preferences interact with theirs, and how I may butt heads a little bit more with someone depending on where we are coming from.  

Also, I’ve found the behavioral information to be really fascinating because quite a bit of our staff lives in the second-third of all three Behaviors. In situations where the room is quiet, now I’m able to say things like, “I think we are all being quiet right now because it depends. We are in that second-third, friends. What more information do you need to contribute to this conversation? What context is missing?” By recognizing who I am in the room with, I can challenge everyone differently and positively, which has been a big help in pushing our team forward. 

AW: If there was one word or phrase you would use to describe Emergenetics, what would it be? 

MB: If I had an elevator pitch to get someone to do this training, it would be, “Why wait?” There is so much personal and professional gain. Emergenetics influences every conversation I have from my three-year-old toddler to my boss. It has transformed how I see and view the world. So, what are people waiting for? 

AW: What advice would you have to other university leaders who are considering implementing Emergenetics at their schools? 

MB: My biggest piece of advice is you need full buy-in. You can’t just train a portion of a department.  You need to train the whole department to get the full effect of what Emergenetics can do to transform your work environment. If I only trained the Residential Life team and not the other teams, then some of us would’ve had this language and not been able to use it to fix the cross-departmental communication strains we were experiencing.  

Emergenetics can’t be a one-off. To maximize the benefits there must be a true commitment that you infuse into your day-to-day work. Then, it will be cost-effective and most impactful overall. 

Curious what Emergenetics could help your institution achieve? Explore our solutions or fill out the form below to speak with one of our team members today! 

 

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