Meet Sara Froehlich
As director of digital communications, Sara leads the systemwide digital marketing and communications strategy for University Relations and the University. Her role is to provide strategic direction and establish processes, policies and guidelines for web and email best practices. She guides the development of the University’s Folwell web theme and strives to ensure all digital content aligns the University’s brand identity while also meeting the University’s standards for accessibility and user experience.
She has worked in different facets of digital communications for more than 20 years and has spent the last 10 years at the University of Minnesota. She spent 5 years in the Academic Health Center where she had a focus on content strategy, building Drupal websites, and informing the development needs of the Nokomis web theme. In 2018, she was part of a restructuring within the health sciences, and she was moved to University Relations.
With this move, her responsibilities included providing content strategy and support for four of the health sciences units, leading the redesign and content strategy for the University of Minnesota’s Twin Cities campus homesite, and the launch of the Folwell web theme. Since August of 2020, she has led the University Relations digital communications team of web developers and email specialists, as they support more than 40 websites and email communications for a number of units.
Q & A with Sara
As the leader of the digital teams for University Relations, we talked with Sara to learn more about what we can expect from her team.
Q: What do you envision for your common goods services team?
A: University Relations (UR) has been providing a similar set of common good services for the four health sciences units we currently support. While we are expanding our services, based on what we have heard from campuses, colleges and units, we already have a well established process and have a track record for providing a high quality, innovative, and specialized level of service. Centralizing certain services will allow the campuses, colleges and units to focus on their areas of specialization and expertise, and UR can provide support in the areas where we have the expertise.
Q: What kind of opportunities will staff experience on your team that they may not have now in their current role?
A: Currently, many of the campuses, colleges and units have very small web development teams, and in many cases it may be a team of one or two and they are expected to know a little bit about everything. Since UR is structured using an agency model, we have individuals who have areas of expertise, and their work is focused in those areas. The collaboration and innovation that comes from having cross-functional teams of experts is actually inspiring, and dare I say, fun. You aren’t alone left to figure something out on your own. Besides having a team to rely on, there will be opportunities to inform a variety of different types of projects. Whether it’s contributing a component you’ve built to the Folwell web theme, collaborating on a central tool selection RFP, taking advantage of professional development opportunities, or working towards the next step in your career, you will have a team behind you to help along the way.
Q: What’s your leadership style?
A: I work hard to listen and establish trust among my team. I encourage empathy among all of my team members. Everyone comes from different backgrounds and has different ways of approaching their work. Having an understanding of where each other are coming from is important. It is my job as a leader to create an environment among my team where you are comfortable speaking up and bringing forward ideas, questions, and concerns. Once we have a variety of viewpoints, we can make decisions and choices that are based on a shared input and feedback.
Q: How did your career lead you where you are today?
A: My career has taken many twists and turns along the way, but that has exposed me to many different types of managers which has shaped me to be the leader that I am today. Along the way, I have learned to base decisions off of research, strategy, and best practices. I also recognize that I always have more to learn, and I never know when or by whom the lesson will be given. As a result, I need to always be listening, and I need to be able to recognize when I may not be the expert and/or have the answers needed.
Q: What is the biggest challenge you are trying to solve currently in your role?
A: There are several challenges, but I will focus on what we have heard most. Clearly articulating the work that is in-scope vs. out-of-scope for our common good services has been the biggest challenge. This whole process has been a bit like the old idiom of “which came first, the chicken or the egg?” We heard high-level what common good services should be offered, but until we have more specific conversations about unit goals and strategic priorities for our service level agreements, it’s difficult to further define the work. Either way, I recognize that this is very frustrating for our Phase 1 partners, but I anticipate this is something we will learn from and make adjustments to improve for future phases.
Q: How did traveling to other campuses to talk about the initiative help your perspective and staff perspectives?
A: It has been great traveling to the different campuses to meet people. The conversations that I’ve had have been very beneficial, and it’s been great to address concerns and answer questions directly. I believe the one-on-one conversations go a long way in helping to start to establish a level of trust and understanding. I appreciate the ability to cut through all the noise and get straight to having real conversations.
Q: How do you envision the culture will work to help keep staff connected to both their campus or college and on their new common good services team?
A: Each new staff member will bring a new set of skills, expertise, and experience to our teams. Yet, they will remain the subject matter experts for the areas from which they are coming from which continues to foster that existing relationship. The difference is now instead of just one person having that inside baseball knowledge for your campus, college, or unit, there will be a team of people that can support you and will gain an additional level of familiarity. The efficiency comes into play, by having a whole team of experts that can support the work that only a couple of people could do previously.
The collaborative nature of our team structure is at the core of what we do. Ultimately, we all work for the University of Minnesota. Our work is foundationally built on our commitment to the University’s mission of a world-class education, groundbreaking research, and outreach. The work that is done within each campus, college or unit supports this mission first and foremost. Recognizing that we all have a similar purpose brings us together and will only exemplify our excellence.
Q: What do you like to do when you’re not building a new Marcom team?
A: There are two things that I do the most. First, I love the outdoors. Living in Minnesota offers so many options for hiking, boating, snowmobiling, gardening…you name it, I’m probably doing it. Okay, okay, I’m not likely to be running or skiing, but I’m game to try everything once or twice. My second favorite pastime is “junkin’.” It’s the art of the next big find that I love. Whether it’s going to thrift stores, garage and estate sales, or an antique store (sometimes even dumpster diving!) is all about the thrill of finding the next treasure. Give me a good deal and I couldn’t be happier!