DOEC in the Field: Ashley Sipocz on Building Workplaces Where Employees Thrive
What motivated you to do the DOEC program?
I was working in public health, but I had always been interested in the topics that fall under the learning and organizational change umbrella. I had not realized that it was all interconnected until I discovered MSLOC through the Northwestern program fair. Once I started learning more about the programs though, a lightbulb went on for me.
I was thrilled to discover DOEC because, prior to that, I had no idea that there was a program so focused on application, not just theory. This combined all of the things that I’ve gravitated towards throughout my career - design, design justice, user-driven design. One thing that attracted me to public health was the social justice connection. I could see all of these things that I am passionate about coming together in order to make change beyond the individual level. Being able to work in public health on different levels of change.
What about DOEC did you appreciate the most?
I loved the program from my very first class. The content was totally my jam, and I finally felt like I found people who “got it.” In a lot of roles throughout my career, it felt like I had to sell people on the importance of these organizational concepts. For example, with knowledge management, at one of my organizations, you had to hunt for everything. You’d go on these laborious searches for information and, most of the time, the result wasn’t very useful. I did not want others to have to go through this. For the first time, I was with people who were speaking the same language, had the same values, and truly cared about making organizations better places for people to do good work.
What surprised you about the program?
The program exceeded my expectations entirely. I remember that when I was completing the application, there was a strong focus on community. I have seen programs that talk about the importance of community, but don’t walk the talk, so there was a small part of me that did not expect them to hold up their side of the bargain.
But when I started the program, I felt that sense of community right away. I saw frequent efforts to build community and saw the values of the program being lived out by the students, staff, and faculty. It is also very cool to be in a program where your professors are using the concepts that they are teaching you in real time. It strengthens your understanding of the concepts and provides you with clear examples of how to use them.
How would you finish the statement, “The DOEC program is perfect for you if…”
You care about people’s experience at work and want to find ways to make it easier for people to do their work. You have ever said, “there has to be a better way of doing this!”
We spend so much of our time at work and with the people that we work with. For me, it is not great when that experience is frustrating or inefficient or unbearable. We need to make working as good of an experience as possible for people. People put a lot of trust in organizations. They rely on their employer for insurance, career progression, livelihood. I believe that it is the responsibility of organizations to be good stewards of that trust. I want to play a part in helping organizations be good stewards. I want to ensure that small frustrations at work do not get in the way of employee effectiveness or happiness.
Organizations can either replicate the larger systems around them (that are often beyond their control), or they can be a microcosm for change, focusing on what they can influence. Organizations can be at a more feasible level to enact change and social good.
In what ways do you put your DOEC learnings into practice?
At Lurie’s Children’s Hospital, I work on the learning & development team and manage a lot of the enterprise-wide leadership development programs. One of the big projects I worked on was to redesign the leader orientation program. I was able to pull in a lot of the design thinking approaches and concepts from DOEC - bringing people along, user interviews, journey maps, designing “with” not designing “for.” I applied everything I learned to all aspects of my work - principles of effective learning, knowledge management, reflection-in-action. I have been able to share these practices with the entire team as well, contributing to ongoing improvements to how our team works