Symbolism and Legend-Making: From Day One

In the years before President Satterlee, President Arthur Vailas operated within the structural framework, utilizing a fairly strict top-down structure. The university operated under a strict top-down structure, with little room for dissent. As Lee Bolman and Terrance Deal point out in their textbook “Reframing Organizations,” structural frameworks tend to work well in organizations that rely on repetitive work, or work that is more automated. At University, which by nature has a wide variety of professionals, this framework can lead to resentment. And, in Idaho State University’s case, it certainly did. 

After several months of public arguing between the faculty and upper administration, and just one week after faculty overwhelmingly blasted President Vailas in a vote of no-confidence, President Vailas asked the state board of education to disband the faculty senate, a clear signal in the faculty members’ minds that their voices would not be heard. 

This was the environment President Satterlee entered in 2018. In his candidate open forum with faculty before he was hired, one faculty member asked him how he would be able to lead faculty without a Ph.D. Satterlee was trained as a lawyer, not an academic. He said he would not apologize for his education, but throughout the forum, set a tone of humility. When asked why student retention was down, he told the audience, “I don’t know why, but I'd be willing to bet that you do.” 

It was a stark contrast to the president who disbanded a faculty governing and advising board. And from the first day in June 2018, President Satterlee employed the symbolic framework to create stories and send a message. Quietly, and without fanfare, he made small changes, first with the front door to his office suite. Under President Vailas’s leadership, visitors were buzzed in through a locked door. Under President Satterlee, the doors were opened. There was no announcement- but news of the open doors spread through word of mouth, which is even more powerful because it creates a persona- one of a humble leader who genuinely wants to openly hear ideas from anyone. 

He spent his first few months committing to small, but important wins. He promised to restore the “I” to Red Hill, a nod to alumni, and a symbol that he cared about tradition. 

And he worked immediately toward his goal of improving employee morale.  At his first fall address, Satterlee told employees two things- first that they would no longer need a code to dial long distance, and second, that their timecards would be simplified and less like a time clock punch. These were incredibly small changes, but the way they were framed was huge. He told the crowd that these tasks- filling out a timecard and logging long distance phone calls created a feeling that employees were not trusted, and he wanted to change that, because he trusted his team. 

With a combination of personal stories and tidbits from history, President Satterlee painted a picture- one of a team who had experienced tremendous adversity, and continued to work hard, innovate and do the right thing. He told them, and several news organizations, that he had only applied for one job- Idaho State University- because he saw such incredible potential. With this and other stories, he worked to create a sense of unity among employees, and also gave them the feeling that they were seen and heard, and, most importantly, respected for their love of their craft. It was the beginning of a sort of “humble hero” narrative. President Satterlee, a first-generation college graduate, a lifelong Idahoan and a firm believer in the power of education, understood the challenges and the rewards of working at Idaho State University. 

He also unveiled four words that would become a continuing theme throughout his presidency. He told employees that there were four ideals he wanted them to feel in their workplace- trust, compassion, stability and hope. At his first fall address, he promised employees that every decision made would embody these four principles, and over the next five years, they became a sort of mantra, a symbol of the culture he was trying to create. 

The symbolic framework only works if the symbols and stories and legends are backed up by truth and action. This is the space where many leaders falter. But Satterlee did not. In his first few months, he made another move- one that was talked about for months. With little warning, he asked the vice presidents, housed in large offices in the president’s suite, to move. Instead, vice presidents were assigned to offices, many of them smaller or makeshift, in the areas where their teams were housed. For both faculty and staff, this was a huge shift from a previous presidency, where vice presidents had been criticized for their lack of transparency, resulting in a vote of no confidence in the provost, for example. Moving leaders closer to their team was a symbol, and the beginnings of a story, but it was also a decisive action, one that carried meaning. 

The symbolic framework, like all four frameworks Bolman and Deal studied, does not stand on its own. Organizations are made of humans, and therefore, each is unique in its needs.  In the next installment of this series, we’ll look at the ways President Satterlee employed the human resources framework to help both boost his narrative, create a supportive work environment and improve employee morale.