School of Drama’s Hopefully “Not Unusual” View on Professional Development and Why Affinity Groups Matter

Caitlin Griffin & Daniel Cress, Yale School of Drama
March 23, 2016

Between the Yale Repertory Theater, Yale Cabaret, and their namesake productions, the Yale School of Drama staff puts on 40-50 productions each year. When they’re not busy running rehearsals or promoting the Yale Rep’s upcoming 50th anniversary season, the School’s staff is active in four of Yale’s affinity groups–and their goal is representation in all seven (soon to be eight). We spoke with Daniel Cress, Director of Marketing, and Caitlin Griffin, Marketing & Communications Assistant, to learn why they make the time to get involved.

What is your role in your affinity group?

Daniel: I started with LGBTQ in 2012, and four months later I became so vested in it that I volunteered to become the co-chair of the Community Service subcommittee. We go out into the community and either raise money for other non-Yale entities or we volunteer for their events.

Caitlin: I just joined the FLY Communications team and I coordinate the monthly newsletter. I joined because I saw an opening on the Communications team and I thought why not. We have that empowerment [in School of Drama] where we can do something if we feel it’ll benefit us, and I thought it would be a good thing.

Daniel, as a manager how do you accommodate for the time commitment of staff who want to participate in an affinity group?

Daniel: I hope that I’m not unusual in my very, very broad definition of professional development. I want someone to be growing in whatever way they see is growth for them. If they’re happy and they’re getting fulfillment then they’re going to find their work much more enriching. I say just go out there and go do it because you’re going to come back and be a better person when you’re here working for us. 

I’m also really interested in people having a broader experience at the university and in the community, and I think that in the long term that leads to happier employees and less turnover.

What would you say to another manager whose hesitant about their own staff’s time commitment volunteering in affinity groups?

Daniel: I see the value of allowing Caitlin to participate at whatever level she wants. It’s important for managers to understand that each of the affinity groups have different functions and different responsibilities, and they each come with different time commitments. As the chair of the community service subcommittee, I do about 4-6 different events a year, but if somebody wanted to serve on that committee, they could just take on one event. There are so many different ways to be involved at different levels.

Caitlin, how do you manage your time between your job and your affinity group role as a C&T?

Caitlin: Our time is flexible in this office depending on what’s going on in a given time. I’m learning to build in time for meetings. I have it scheduled out in a particular way so I’ll save FLY work for the early afternoon when I’ve gotten all the things I want to do in the morning out of the way and the things in the afternoon are starting to roll in and get prioritized. I can also be doing things for the newsletter as it fits in. I haven’t minded staying at my desk a little longer on newsletter weeks because I’m used to it on other given weeks [for my job].

What support does Daniel give you to accommodate your involvement?

Caitlin: He says yes and that’s all he really needs to do. There’s a workshop coming up that I’d love to attend but we have something else going on and Daniel offered to attend the other commitment for me. So we have that flexibility. I’ve covered for Daniel at things and he’s covered for me where we have the ability to do that. But mostly it’s just saying yes.

How has your affinity group connected you with professionals who influence how you see your job?

Daniel: It’s learning from other people who are not necessarily me or the School of Drama. It helps me think differently about how to approach people whether they’re students or employees or our audiences. So it’s a constant breaking down of assumptions that everybody makes every day by talking to people who have had a different life than you’ve had. We’re in the business of depicting real lives on our stage and different voices.

Anything else?

Caitlin: Professional development is something that I have always considered differently than where I worked before but that Daniel and I feel very similarly about. I think “If this will benefit me in any way, it will benefit my in every way.”

Daniel: My definition is so broad that if you need to take an hour to go to yoga in the middle of the day and you are going to come back with your mind clear, well rested and ready to go, that is professional development.