MWI Organizational Ombuds Panel Manual: Client Engagement

Goal:     Know the organization well enough to understand the bigger picture behind visitors’ concerns, help them navigate available options and resources, and understand organizational context that is necessary to inform effective, credible upward feedback.

Questions to Guide Client Engagement Efforts:

• How well do we understand the organization’s culture, structure, priorities, and current challenges?
• Do we know the relevant policies, procedures, resources, and support services?
• Are we informed of changes and new initiatives that may affect our visitors?
• Do we understand the formal processes as well as how things actually work?
• Do we know who to contact when we need information or context?

Practical Steps:

• Meet at least quarterly with your functional contact with these considerations and questions in mind
• Get access to the intranet, employee communications, and relevant listservs
• Review policies, procedures, resources, and organizational materials
• Confirm that ombuds team members receive organizational updates sent to employees, managers, and leadership
• Join existing meetings where organizational updates or relevant issues are discussed
• Schedule periodic conversations with knowledgeable organizational contacts
• Attend orientations, town halls, trainings, or other internal events
• Keep a current map of key resources, functions, leaders, and referral options

Goal:     Build relationships across the organization so that key stakeholders understand the ombuds role, trust our perspective, and are willing to engage when concerns or opportunities arise.

Questions to Guide Client Engagement Efforts:

• Do key leaders and stakeholders know who we are and understand our value?
• Do we know who to call as needed?
• Would they answer our call, listen to what we have to say, and trust our perspective?
• Do stakeholders seek our perspective when they are navigating difficult issues?
• Do we have enough trust and credibility that our feedback could lead to leadership action?

Practical Steps:

• Identify key stakeholders and establish regular standing meetings
• Meet with the organization’s senior leader at least once per year
• Join existing committees or working groups where the ombuds can provide an independent perspective
• Offer workshops or briefings at existing meetings for leadership teams, HR, compliance, etc.
• Capture and share stories of our work that show value to leadership

Goal:     Ensure that people throughout the organization know the ombuds exists, understand when it can be useful, and can easily access it.

Questions to Guide Client Engagement Efforts:

• Do we know how our visitors find us and where our information is being advertised?
• Are our potential visitors hearing about us in a variety of ways (in meetings, on policies, via a newsletter, etc.)?
• Are visitors coming from different parts and levels of the organization?
• Do HR, leaders, managers, compliance, and other partners regularly refer people to us?
• Do visitors have easy opportunities to encounter the ombuds outside of a crisis?
• Are we seeing enough visitor activity to understand what people are experiencing (with a rough goal of 1%-3% of our visitor population)?

Practical Steps:

• Develop strong referral relationships with HR, leaders, managers, compliance, EAP, ERGs, and other resources
• Run information sessions, workshops, and trainings strategically to reach a wide audience
• Add marketing content to recurring orientations (new manager, new employee, etc.)
• Present briefly at existing all-hands meetings, orientations, and employee events
• Contribute brief content to newsletters and internal communications
• Host virtual office hours where people can drop in and meet the ombuds, ask questions, etc.
• Work with the relevant stakeholders to get ombuds information included in policies, procedures, and boilerplate language sent out during times when people might want to engage the ombuds (performance review season, closing an investigation, etc.)

1. Go to your Chatter group in Salesforce.
2. Navigate to the Input tab.
3. Complete the fields with the details relevant to the activity.
4. Click Save.

The activity will appear in Chatter once its status is marked as Complete.

After an activity has been completed, update its status to ensure it appears in dashboards and reporting.

1. Go to your Chatter group in Salesforce.
2. Navigate to the Overview tab.
3. Locate the activity and click the blue text in the Type column.
4. Update the Status field to Complete.
5. Click Save.

View the current list of blogs and articles targeted for visitors compiled by MWI here in SharePoint. You can access SharePoint when logged into your MWI email account. .

Lunch and Learns can be accessed in SharePoint when logged into your MWI email.

View the current list of MWI's Lunch and Learns here .

This list of tips is a resource to support CE efforts. They span different communication and conflict topics that might be relevant to your client. Please share tips with clients (functional contacts, communication contacts, etc.) so they can distribute them to potential visitors through whatever medium makes the most sense in their context. Ideally, these would be regular features (monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly) in things like newsletters, blogs, message boards, etc.

Conflict Management Tips

A sample agenda is available to help guide meetings with client contacts and ensure key topics are covered during regular check-ins.

View the Sample Agenda for Client Contact Meetings

Simple, straightforward tools, guides, articles, or videos that are easily accessible and that can augment the work of an ombuds in a visitor meeting.

Resources for Ombuds Visitors (Corporate)

Resources for Ombuds Visitors (Higher Education)