On Feb. 22 from noon to 1 p.m., attend the Spring Leadership Series and listen to Laurie Betting, Interim Vice President for Student Affairs, present her thoughts on the construction of high performance teams.

Betting has been with the university for just under seven years. Through those years on campus, Betting has had to assemble teams of her own. It’s because of her extensive knowledge of the subject that the university chose her to be the primary speaker of the event.

Building a high performance team isn’t an easy task, it takes trial and error. One thing Betting credits to her success as a faculty member of the university, is her ability to fail and continue pushing forward.

Betting believes embracing failure is essential to personal growth; to celebrate the experience of failure at face value, but move on shortly after.

Growing up in a house with many siblings, Betting was exposed to the lifestyle of a high performance team at an early age. Betting was able to retain valuable lessons during this time, helping her apply it to the workplace.

“I grew up with seven siblings,” Betting said. “With that many family members, you learn a lot about give and take. You don’t have to agree with them most of the time, but you’re going to have that person’s back no matter what.”

Understanding nobody is the same, some people operate differently than others, Betting constructs her team based on an individual’s strengths. Bettings mission is to see how she can get people to perform at their best.

“I think a good leader is someone who creates a vision,” Betting said. “It’s a vision people can buy into; it’s about creating something they aspire to that aligns with their values.”

For 30 years, Betting has kept a short passaged framed in her office. This passage has been the base for what she believes a high performing leader should be for their teammates.

“The person who delights in, recognizes or encourages the best in others, is a joy to experience,” Betting said. “There’s no finer gift than the ability to sincerely validate another person, and there’s always something good to be found in another.”

Before she got involved in Student Affairs, Betting was initially interested in physical therapy. Acquiring a few degrees from the university, Betting was coaching people to get the best out of them, as well as helping them solve problems.

Betting loves problem solving. Even though she’s not a physical therapist anymore, she still does the same work, the title is just different. When asked, “Why is this subject important to you?” Betting replied with a statement many could get behind.

“When difficult global problems arise, we are going to need people to work together in ways perhaps they never have,” Betting said. “They need to be interdisciplinary, they need to working from across different fields, they need to be committed to some vision. Even though they may not have come from similar backgrounds, they can find some synergy of working together that advances the effort.”

Betting hopes people leave the discussion energized with more than they expected. She also hopes students and staff feel valued for attending.

In addition, the event will include free pizza and the chance to win a $100 gift card to the UND campus bookstore.

Sheldon Hatlen is a staff writer for The Dakota Student. He can be reached at [email protected]