For a decade, ombuds trio has demonstrated the power of listening

Before his plane landed in New York City, Wayne Blair knew he would be booking a flight back to North Carolina.

He had just visited Chapel Hill to talk with then-Chancellor James Moeser and Tommy Griffin, the longtime chair of the Employee Forum, about the prospect of leaving his ombuds position at Columbia University to create a new ombuds office at Carolina.

Before that discussion, he had been skeptical.

Too often, he said, organizations start an ombuds program in reaction to a bad situation just so they can say they are doing something to fix it.

“Window dressing,” Blair said.

But the idea of establishing an ombuds office at Carolina had sprung from the Chancellor’s Task Force for a Better Workplace, which listed the idea as its top recommendation in fall of 2004.

“You have to give credit to University leaders because it took a leap of faith to allow an ombuds program to run true to form,” said Blair. “From the chancellor on down, there was a real commitment to make it work.”

For Blair, University ombuds and director of the office, the job offer presented the opportunity to create an ombuds office from scratch.

As the office celebrates its 10th anniversary this year, he has no regrets. The office is widely regarded as one of the best in the country, and university leaders thinking of creating an ombuds office often turn to Carolina’s program to find out how it should be done.

There are two other reasons why the program has proven to be as successful as it has, Blair added. One is Laurie Mesibov, associate University ombuds; the other is Victoria Dowd, assistant University ombuds and program specialist for the office.

The three have worked together for 10 years.

In Mesibov, the office has someone who knows the University inside and out. She has lived in Chapel Hill for 41 years and has been part of Carolina since 1980. After graduating from Carolina’s School of Law, she joined the School of Government, specializing in public school law.

From 1996 to 2000, she worked in the Office of the Provost, dealing directly with campus units on a range of work-related topics. She also chaired the Performance Management Review Board, advised employee grievance panels and served as a member of the Faculty Grievance Committee.

Dowd said Blair and Mesibov complement each other in ways that make each of them better and the office stronger.

“Wayne is an outgoing kind of individual and Laurie is somewhat reserved, but they are both great listeners,” Dowd said. “And in this profession, you have to be a great listener.”

Mesibov said she is happy working under Blair’s direction. This partnership works, she said.

“If you meet us for the first time, there are many outward differences. Wayne is male; I’m female; he’s black; I’m white; he’s younger, I’m older. He is more gregarious. I’m quiet,” she said. “But beneath the surface differences are a tremendous sharing of values and a commitment to do good work.”

Mesibov and Blair, in turn, praised Dowd for her growth as an ombuds professional. Not only does she run the office, but has completed training offered by the International Ombudsman Association.

“She knows how to handle people and to manage up,” Blair said of Dowd. “I jokingly call her ‘Boss.’”

The work comes naturally to her. She has served on various committees and boards across campus, including the Performance Review Board, SPA Grievance Committee, Employee Forum, Personnel Issues Committee, Graduate Studies Committee and served as an SPA Grievance support person.

Dowd has 21 years of experience working in a university setting. She spent two years at Fayetteville State University before coming to Carolina in 1996 to work as a student services manager in the Department of Communication Studies.

“The three of us together make a good team,” Mesibov added. “Our work is enriched by experiences and skills developed in other settings.”

Not much has changed in the office over the past decade, except a growth in visitors and a new location. In summer of 2012, the office expanded its services to include students as well as staff, faculty and administrators. In 2013, the office moved from a building on campus to 137 E. Franklin St., on the second floor of the CVS/Pharmacy Plaza.

It remains what it started out to be – a safe place where all Carolina staff, faculty, students and administrators are welcome to come and talk in confidence about any campus issue, problem or dispute or to share good news.

“We are honored to serve the campus community,” Blair said.

What makes it safe is the core principle of confidentiality. Everything discussed there is officially off the record. Nobody will know a visitor came to the office – or why – unless the visitor allows it.

The ombuds office reports directly to the chancellor, Blair said. “But because we must protect confidentially, we cannot tell the chancellor whom we met with or what we discussed about a particular department. We can only discuss broad, macro-level issues, concerns and trends across campus.”

Another bedrock principle is neutrality.

“We do not take sides,” Blair said. “We do not advocate for any one person or any one position. Neutrality allows us to serve everyone.”

The office supplements, but does not replace or participate in, the University’s formal channels, such as the grievance policy or honor code.

“Our informality allows us a great deal of flexibility on how we can help people help themselves,” Blair said. “Sometimes, we are coaching people how to deal with very complex, delicate situations. Other times, we are moving information back and forth between individuals or facilitating difficult conversations.

“More often than not, we help people by calming them down so they can decide what their next step should be, even if it is going home to talk the issue over with someone they trust or contacting someone else on campus,” Blair said.

For 10 years, Blair, Mesibov and Dowd have faithfully attended monthly Employee Forum meetings and given periodic reports about the volume of traffic to their office that, in some respects, serves as a barometer of the campus mood.

In the early years, Blair said, much of the focus was on employees who didn’t feel appreciated because of the lack of state pay raises or other types of recognition or support from their supervisors.

After the state’s fiscal crisis began in 2008, the early years of the program seemed like “the good old days” as employees’ worries shifted to losing their jobs. Students bring entirely different concerns.

The issues are always changing, Blair said, which is why he advised a fellow ombuds, “Never say that you’ve seen it all.”

The constant change is what keeps the job exciting. “When you think about it, we are at the epicenter of cultural changes in higher education,” he said. The interpretation of Title IX as it applies to sexual harassment, cyber security, elder care, gender identity and expression, conflict management – these are some of the challenges the office faces today.

Who knows what tomorrow holds? “Everything is fluid. The culture shifts and changes, and it is so interesting to watch,” Blair said.

But one thing that will remain constant in this cultural ebb and flow is the ombuds office: a confidential, neutral and safe place to talk.

Contact the ombuds office at 919-843-8204 or ombuds@unc.edu or visit the website.