The Imperative- R and R and R and...

The Imperative- R and R and R and...

It's exciting to most of us that our employer values our need to take a significant amount of time off for this holiday break. It's nice that the institution will also be closed during that time- allowing most of us to fully leave it behind for a period. Of course, many aspects of the holiday can be daunting with all of the busyness, heightened expectations, over-wrought family gatherings and potential for emotional overload. But, we must all feel called to take some time to just chill.the.heck.out! We must rest and relax our bodies and minds. Reflect on another amazing year full of opportunities and challenges- met and missed. Rejoice in our many successes and a chance to retry next year if we failed. Record all of those thoughts and look back on them next New Year's. Ready ourselves for even greater challenges in the year to come. May you take some time this holiday to take advantage of all of the R and R imperatives.

The Season of Gratitude

12/1/14 The Season of Gratitude

 

We call the time around Thanksgiving and through the New Year “The Holidays.” Personally, I am glad that we start our holiday festivities with Thanksgiving of the bounty of the year’s labor and we end them looking forward to a new year. Without commenting on any of the less savory aspects of the origin of the Thanksgiving feast, I am thinking more about the symbolism it can have for us today. As I think about the spirits of thanksgiving and gratitude, I am struck that they are grounded in the present and the future, not in the past.  As Neal A. Maxwell said, “We should certainly count our blessings, but we should also make our blessings count.” Certainly, in being thankful, we are thinking of the conditions that took place (past tense) but we are expressing thanks in real-time today and creating a condition of the mind that is moving us into the future at that very second.

 

Living in the nation we do, in the age we do, with the jobs and health insurance we have, surrounded by people who care for us, with the resources we have at our fingertips, we have many reasons to be thankful. Maybe our challenge is to be thankful at this specific moment, and to move forward living gratefully by intentionally becoming a blessing to someone else. I can think of no better or no more future focused way of living because we know that making a difference for others pays dividends into the future. Cicero summarized it well, “Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all others.”  Will our choice to live gratefully have a serious impact on the future? It certainly can’t hurt.

Time to Cut Loose?

11/17/14 Time to Cut Loose?

Am I maximizing my capacity to help our students and fellow man? Sure, I do a GOOD job, but am I being GREAT? What’s holding me back? Previous trauma? Complacency? Am I jaded or just bored? Am I too inhibited in my tenacity of the pursuit of change and making a difference? I heard a song this morning that got me thinking. It’s a song we have all heard dozens and dozens of times. I just happened to listen to the words this morning for the first time. Footloose by Kenny Loggins is probably universally vaunted as a topnotch toe-tapper that gets one’s blood pumping- especially pared in our mind with Kevin Bacon’s iconic dancing in the movie. But, the song itself is about “kicking off” the mundanity we allow to bind us and keep us stuck in ruts.  Consider this quote from the song, “You're… yearning for …somebody to tell you that life ain't passing you by. I'm trying to tell you it will if you don't even try. You can fly if you'd only cut loose.”  Certainly we should be cautious in some cases, but maybe we need to take risks in reaching others- especially where it involves the ways we help our students. Going that extra step or asking a deeper question might be the difference in just helping an immediate concern versus making a major difference in their life. My pledge for today? “I’m turning it loose!”

Taking Risks. Risky or Necessary?

10/20/14 Taking Risks. Risky or Necessary?

 

When did we get so conservative? I don’t mean to question anyone’s political perspectives. I mean, when did we get so averse to risk- the risk of taking an unknown step in our professional careers, the risk of launching an idea that no one has ever done before, the risk of connecting with someone new, the risk of stepping out of ANY comfort zone? Are you meeting your full potential right now by being just where you have been for some time? Do you even know what you can accomplish without taking on a new and risky challenge? Frederick B. Wilcox said, “Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” But, it’s so easy to stay where we are and how we are and with whom we are… and how we are comfortable. Is that why we are here on this planet?  Is that our purpose- to be safe? John A. Shedd wrote in Salt from My Attic, “A ship in harbor is safe — but that is not what ships are for.” What calculated risk can you take that might just help you grow and reach a dream you have had or acheive a potential that you may not even have dreamed of yet? And dreams, they never got anyone anywhere- action did.

The Portrait of the Successful Student

9/8/14 The Portrait of the Successful Student

We know this. I've said this, and surely you have as well. 

We are here for student success. Period. We all get that. But, I wonder… 

Do we know what that successful student looks like? What are the characteristics that you would suggest demonstrate that a student is successful? Van Gogh said, “I dream my painting and I paint my dream.”  But, perhaps to take the art analogy further, we aren’t painters of students but sculptors. We have to work within the medium presented to us. We must mold and shape the perspectives and barriers the student carries into our offices on his back. 

Here is your challenge for this Time Sheet Approval Quip… 

Imagine the finished sculpture of the ideally successful student, and let’s all work together to help ALL students take that shape.

Beginnings

8/25/14 Beginnings

I just did a quick search through the four years, or so, I have been saving these Time Sheet Approval Quips for the word “begin.” In those years, that word has come up in various forms six times. Either my vocabulary is not that great (a likely consideration), or we are constantly in a state of renewal and change. 

Each new year brings a new crop of students, new technology (headaches), new budget, new opportunities, new regulations, new accountability, new challenges, new learning and new growth. 

Each school year, we BEGIN a new cycle that is the culmination of all of our toils since early in the calendar year. 

Each year, the BEGINing carries an incredible and palpable energy that we must tap into to drive us forward through the year. 

Each wide-eyed, FTIAC student can instill a sense of hope that great things are still to come. 

A BEGINing isn't one unless it is the start of something. Take a second to walk the main hall today and tomorrow. Feel the BEGINing’s energy and gather strength from it. Know that the students you see searching for their classrooms, wearing their still new Delta College sweatshirts and checking each other out are here because you helped to facilitate their decisions and process and registrations. 

We begin.

Personal Renewal for Greatest Effectiveness

8/11/14 Personal Renewal for Greatest Effectiveness

Seeing a pattern? Perhaps these time-sheet approval quips have lately had a theme of taking care of oneself in order to provide the best service. It seems that we and/or many, many around us are moving through times of relationship, economic or health travails. These situations may not be “bad”- they may be great, but any significant event brings with it the psychic fatigue of change and extra work. We must, thus, make sure to take care of our emotional and mental states during these times. We must, each, renew our own mind and spirit. 

While others can help meet our physical needs or process our psychological ones, personal renewal is never a state that another person just gives to us. We are called to find that place that allows us to find that state where the noise of life melts away for a while. What is your place or time that allows  you to get into the reflective state of mind? Is it your car on a long commute? Is it praying or reflecting; reading a sacred text? Is it riding the lawnmower? Is it floating in your pool, kayaking down a river, tying a fly, sinking a great putt or running down the road? 

Being alone with oneself may not be the easiest thing without practice. But, I don’t think the Universe leaves us completely alone. Also, even if we are not religious, many of us know the words of Psalm 23. “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul.” Consider the thought of author Jessica Coupe, “As I leave the garden, I take with me a renewed view and a quiet soul.” Find whatever you need to be at peace and ready for guiding others through the onslaught of their own life’s decisions, changes challenges. 

The Storms of Life and Service

7/28/14 The Storms of Life and Service

The storms will come. That is a fact as absolute as taxes and gravity. Knowing that the storm is coming should be a mandate to prepare for it. And as always, we must not be defined by the storm but by our reaction to its impact. Preparation may lessen the impact and steel us for the emotional reaction to the storms’ detriments. In service, the storms may be short and rapid squalls or long and drawn out floods of irritations, toxic coworkers, serious busyness, leadership failures, budget woes, technological hiccups, CHANGE, and on and on. But, still we serve. Or, perhaps, we must even increase our service during and after the storm. 

So, we are left with the charge to let go of our psychic barriers and climb over any extrinsic ones that we might continue to provide the excellent service our customers expect- that is service that is focused on the students’ needs by anticipating those needs and meeting them where they are in their journey through their own life’s storms. We will look back and say with pride, “The storms came. We were prepared. We focused on the needs. We served. And, everything was better for it.”

The Mind/Body/Success Connection

6/26/14 The Mind/Body/Success Connection

The legacy our Western philosophies have left us with can have seriously deleterious effects on our ways of thinking and living. But, really, the more we learn about the varied connections throughout our bodies, the more we understand how everything up and down is interrelated as believed by Eastern cultures. The activities of every cell in our bodies affects how we perceive ourselves and the world around us. Likewise, how we think about ourselves and the world around us affects our bodies. Deepak Chopra  wrote, “Every significant vital sign- body temperature, heart rate, oxygen consumption, hormone level, brain activity, and so on- alters the moment you decide to do anything… decisions are signals telling your body, mind, and environment to move in a certain direction.”

I value you and the contribution you make to our students, and- with no irony or over exaggeration intended- the very world. I appreciate you and the unique value you bring to this environment every single day. I would hope that you remember to appreciate yourself for this reason and so many more. You are a child of the universe. Even among the unfathomable vastness of it, you hold a unique place in it. You will be most effective- and most physically healthy- when you see that you are valuable. You are worth the O2 you take in. You make a difference. You are a part of my world and I am a part of yours. We usually define successfulness as the state of being that happens after the confluence of a series of events. Your mind is simply a culmination of everything taking place in your body, but one in which you also have some control. Thus your mind is as equally connected to your body as can control it. Think on that connection and be successful!

Office Professionals Appreciation

4/21/14 Office Professionals Appreciation

A lesson I learned early on is that NOT EVEN ONE manager or administrator was EVER successful without the support of his or her office professional staff. The excellent skills that these dedicated professionals bring to their jobs is invaluable. Often they are the first line of customer service. They tend to have a specific knack for managing the minutia of events and processes. So, that leaves me feeling that I owe them appreciation and thanks at every opportunity possible. I hope you will, too, take a minute to recognize the influence these staff members have on our success individually and as a team. Giving thanks to someone is free. The only cost is a bit of humility. 

Appreciation of Your Strengths

4/7/14 Appreciation of Your Strengths

The institution sets aside a time and a process to recognize the accomplishments of faculty and staff members. Much of the recognition is for specific professional accomplishments, but many are longevity related. I applaud this effort to intentionally call out the dedication and expertise of our colleagues. But, each of us needs to see every day that the strengths that we bring to our positions are being utilized and appreciated. Really, my goal as a manager of people is to maximize the utilization of your strengths within the scope of your position. 

You bring so much to this position and I’d like to see you challenged to grow and to bring even more to it.  Veronica Roth, author of Divergent, wrote “A brave man acknowledges the strength of others.” I don’t know that bravery is my imperative here, but trust is. Am I willing to be trusting enough to take the risk that you can apply your strengths in new and different ways to help us meet the needs of our customers? Here’s the challenge for both of us… Yes, let’s discover and apply your strengths. Then, we’ll see what we can do!

Customer Service In Good Faith- Bona Fides

3/24/14 Customer Service In Good Faith- Bona Fides

According to Wikipedia, in the field of law, it is always assumed that each party in a contract will act under a “covenant of good faith and fair dealing” and that each party “will deal with each other honestly and fairly.” It seems that in our customer service interactions we must always assume this. With the exception of a few bad apples out of many thousands and thousands, virtually all of our customers have a legitimate need that we can fill with our most honest and fair intentions. 

Even if we work in an environment where we must scrutinize someone’s credentials or responses, we are still called upon to assume that any discrepancies are simple errors and not an attempt at fraud of any kind. We hope that our customers assume the same of us. Having this attitude in our dealings with our customers will make for the most positive environment. Our customers will feel more appreciated if we use tones and demonstrate perspectives that are affirmative and non-prejudicial. 

One of the main goals of customer service is to create an environment that customers desire to return to. As has been stated by Jerry Fritz, “You’ll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can’t be copied.” And, showing a strong appreciation and having a “benefit of the doubt” of our customers’ intentions will go along way in cultivating that culture to nurture that environment. Do our customers believe we are glad they are here?

Hurdles? Scraped Knees AND Finishing

3/10/14 Hurdles? Scraped Knees AND Finishing

 

The best hurdlers in the world still have permanently scraped and scarred knees. The winner of a particular race may have still knocked over some of the hurdles. We will all always have barriers to our success. As educators, we must also encourage our students and give them tools; to be able to glide over, run around and even bust through the hurdles while also picking themselves back up after falling. We are coaches and emergency responders. We must draw on a stocked well of ideas for new methods to perceive the hurdles our students face. We must hope for the best and plan for the worst far ahead of time, so we can be prepared for any eventuality. We run parallel with our students. We will fall, too. We must dust ourselves off and deal with our own scraped knees while simultaneously lending a hand. We will all bear these scars and grow stronger for having persevered, yet we only win when EVERYONE finishes. Then we all win.

BYO Spring

I fear Mother Nature is not going to get it done; that she’s forgotten how to bring Spring. In my life, I can’t remember another Winter in which I genuinely forgot the feeling of outdoor heat. Sure, we catch little morsels of warmth like a street urchin finding a crust of bread in some post-apocalyptic film noir. But, I fear I have lost the muscle memory of frolicking in a meadow buoyed by a beam of sunshine and warm breeze on my face. To say it has been a tough season would be the understatement of … well… the season. As Mark Helprin wrote in “Winter’s Tale,” “It was a mad and beautiful thing that scoured raw the souls… of man.” If purification is what we needed this Winter, we each are clothed in purest white yet also bear a raw nerve dreading even one more cold blast. We yen for the warmth of Summer because we have become so enveloped with, in Steinbeck’s words, the “cold of winter to give it sweetness.” So, we need to help her along. We must bring Spring ourselves. We must choose to awaken our Spring spirit. We must buoy our own attitudes. We must breathe new life and inject sweetness into our doldrums because I fear we won’t know the good Mother’s warm breath for some time now. Bring your own Spring!

The Olympic Spirit

2/10/14 The Olympic Spirit

You deserve a gold medal. If we had a podium, you would be standing on the top. But, you wouldn't be standing next to physical competitors, you’d be standing next to psychological, health, budgetary, staffing, educational, socioeconomic and demographic foes. You are making a difference for our students because you know that they have so much to overcome. You are winning because you know why you are fighting every day. You don’t dwell on students’ foes, but you give them tools to overcome them. You don’t just recommend a career or advise on a program, you help them finish the race. A sprinter could compete barefoot, but is more likely to win if she has the shoes best suited for the conditions of the race. You are outfitting our runners with the right gear. The Olympic Creed says: “The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part, just as the most important thing in life is not the triumph but the struggle. The essential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well.” You are fighting well. You are winning- for yourself, for your family, for the institution, for our students. You are on top. We are standing with you.