Think Time Thursday: Finding Group Flow

I have been trying to think creatively lately. We are well into the routine of a new school year now; back into the routine of meetings, roommate mediation conversations, meetings, training sessions, meetings, conduct meetings, more meetings and then a couple more meetings. While routine provides stability and anchors us in many ways, it can also detract from the freedom some of us feel we need in order to think creatively.

I wrote about creativity in Student Affairs back in July and have tried to incorporate ways that we can think about things differently in our department. One of our attempts is "Think Time Thursday." I scheduled an hour at 3pm on every other Thursday throughout the semester that is set aside as purely "thinking time" - time for my staff to put our brains together to think about a problem in a new way, to generate ideas and to then turn those ideas into actionable items. Free of agendas, free of demands, free of phone calls and text messages - this is time for our brains to kick into high gear TOGETHER.

We've had one "Think Time Thursday" already and it was a success despite some early hesitation from my staff. I purposely didn't tell them too much about the plan. We showed up at the meeting space and moved tables away from the whiteboard so that it was a stand up meeting. Stand up meetings are a part of many corporate cultures and I think they have tremendous value. I like this blog post by Martin Fowler about stand up meetings. Fowler outlines a few essentials to the stand up meeting.

1. To help start the day well. (We did this in the afternoon.. but oh well)
2. To support improvement. (We chose a topic from a brainstorm and the only rule was to come up with things that we wanted to be better at doing).
3. To reinforce focus on the right things. (We narrowed our focus to the things that were most important at this moment for the team and the department).
4. To reinforce a sense of team. (These are solution-oriented group conversations. Teamwork!)
5. To communicate what is going on. (Again, focusing on the most pressing needs of the department at the moment and hear everyone's ideas).

We started with a silent brainstorm to come up with ideas for things we wanted to improve in terms of a service or function in our department. We then sorted those post-it note ideas into "short term" and "long term." We latched onto a couple short-term ideas and put the long-term ideas in the parking lot until later. Our energy increased as we jumped into making an action plan for the three items we chose - our decision process was focused, our intent was positive and our willingness to self-select tasks was high.

Our Think Time whiteboard full of ideas:

Our hesitations and barriers to starting were rooted in the fact that the staff wasn't really sure what was about to happen. That was intentional, but caused some hesitancy for the first 5 minutes. Another roadblock? We didn't want to stand. It was unnatural and felt like extra work (and some group members chose to take a seat after the first 15 minutes and I think it slowed our conversation), but for the most part it kept us moving and on task.

We have chosen a couple potential topics for future Think Time Thursday sessions and I am now anticipating these meetings more than any other meeting I have/get to attend. Creativity in a team setting - finding "group flow"- is a powerful thing.

So how are you building time into your routine to be creative? This question may feel counter-intuitive. For lots of us, creativity isn't something we can build into a calendar. It's a whim, a muse, an inspirational moment that allows us to put pen to paper (or click away at a keyboard) or draw on a whiteboard and think about things differently. And you know what? Sometimes we do our best work when we're tired, so building time into an already taxing routine can actually be a good thing.

How are you getting your colleagues involved in the creative process? Your team has great ideas - utilize them!

The Trouble with Being Anonymous

Are you familiar with Yik Yak? It's gained popularity since it's release in 2013 and is now on lots of college campuses. It's a social media app that allows you to post thoughts with absolute anonymity. It pulls all "Yaks" from within up to a 10-mile radius of your location. It's based on proximity to others using it, so on a college campus there's a steady flow of "Yaks." You can vote a post up or down and the more popular posts get attention.

It's been catching on all around the country. Perhaps it's been around at your campus for awhile, but it only took off in the last couple weeks or so on my campus (the start of the new year).

This isn't social networking. There's no meaningful engagement.

There's nothing I read in my campus's Yaks related to the power of positive connections. As I read through the "yaks" here, there's only hatred, mockery and biased language. People are saying negative things about the institution and each other.

As a concerned student affairs professional, I fear for what this type of app means for the safety of our students. What do we do when someone posts about suicidal thoughts? What if someone posts about a crime? An assault? We are forced to be idle bystanders and it's uncomfortable.

This is destructive. I know many who study social media advocate for the ability to have anonymous forums. There is evidence to show that those who are not in privileged positions find power in being anonymous. But I think even those advocates would feel this is something different. Yik Yak appears only to be intended for destructive, hateful posts.

One of my colleagues decided to post on Yik Yak tonight. She posted a positive message with a positive quote. It was voted down so much and so quickly within five minutes that the post was removed and her account was suspended for 24 hours.

Oliver Burkeman wrote an interesting piece in The Guardian in June about the nature of anonymous social media. In it, he asks "By inviting us to communicate anonymously... the new generation of apps has launched a real-world test of a puzzle that goes back to Plato. When our identities are concealed, do we automatically degenerate into amoral, foul-mouthed bullies? Or, freed from the pressure of maintaining a flawless public facade, might we discover new ways to relate to one another with compassion and honesty?"

Burkeman is onto something there, but he might be a few years too early (which in this day and age is a couple of digital generations worth of growth). Maybe the hateful and often disgusting posts are part of a new freedom and students will grow out of it and the app will evolve. I've only seen destructive behavior with Yik Yak. I hope it changes.

We can do better than this.

Have you had discussions about Yik Yak with students? What's helpful?

How have you helped students negotiate the messages we send about not being a bystander with the helplessness that comes from watching anonymous posts pile up?

Thriving in August

It's August. I heard someone say that August is like the Sunday night of summer. You know the relaxing part is over and the sun is setting on some freedoms, but the excitement of a fresh new start awaits. For many of you a new academic year is likely more enticing than a Monday morning, so the analogy may be faulty but you get the point.

UMR-ACUHO sponsored a free webinar in August 4 (conveniently our first day of professional staff training) about "Working Smarter, Not Harder." The presentation was by Grant Anderson (@GrantThink) from the University of Minnesota. Grant is well-versed in positive psychology and the use of strengths in res life, student development and professional development.

Grant talked a lot about re-framing the hectic time before the school year starts so that you are THRIVING during August, not just surviving.

That's important to me and to my staff this year. We have two new staff members and are replacing our Assistant Director as we head into the busiest time of the year. It's hard not to think about just pushing through to the end of the day (which often actually ends as the clock swings itself into the next day) and surviving. Grant's session gave us a mantra to use to remind ourselves to celebrate what we can and when we can so that we feel like we are thriving.

The first six weeks are vital, but we often start that clock when school begins. Our first six weeks in residential life includes August - it includes the lead-up to training, the long days of planning and organizing and preparing. It includes professional staff training. It includes student staff training. And it includes the excitement and rush of move-in and the first days of school.

I'm reframing and refocusing this August. If you have struggled with August or are just at a point where the freshness of this time of year is fading a bit, I encourage you to do the same.

Find a way to document some stuff - journal, blog, Tweet, post, scribble on a notecard, tell a friend... whatever it takes to think about how you will proactively approach your work this month to insure that your students get the best YOU in the next few weeks.

• What are your reasons to be excited?
• What new ideas you are you bringing to the table?
• In what ways are you connecting with colleagues and students at this time of year to set up a successful start to the year?
• What are the things you can celebrate with your staff to insure that you are feeling good about the busy times ahead?

Good luck with training, move-in and the start of the year! Remember: don't just survive... THRIVE.

The One Hour Rule

The relatively sudden shift in how we communicate makes life difficult sometimes.

I call it "The One Hour Rule" at my institution. No matter what decision is made or who is told what in regard to housing at Gustavus, within an hour I will have anywhere from two to a dozen emails or calls from students asking me for details. "I heard you let another group of students off-campus," or "I heard some people got moved out of ____ Hall and into ____ Hall... what does that mean for me?" It might be a tiny detail affecting just one or two people, but dozens hear about it and either want justification or want to know how it benefits them. I don't know if this is because I work on a small campus - I am sure that contributes to it - but more than anything, I think it's the rapidness of communication - the ability to text it, Tweet it, post it or call about it instantaneously that creates this intricate web of communication.

I heard a great summary of this idea and I wish I remembered where, but it essentially was that the promise of technology gave us the idea that we'd have amazing freedoms in the future - hands-free! communication anytime and anywhere! - but now that the future is here, we are tied down more than ever by the thing that was supposed to be so freeing. Robots were supposed to be doing our jobs and we were supposed to have automatic cars and hover-boards. Not only is that not completely true, a little rectangle the size of a deck of playing cards determines my every move.

I'm a horrible offender when it comes to tying myself down to technology, but I'm working on it this summer.. I continuously check email, but I recently turned off the blue notification light on my phone that used to tell me when I had new emails. The incessant light was distracting and inevitably lured me into looking at the message (and 9 out of 10 times, the message was something that bothered me, upset me or immediately caused more work - and it ruined more than a few evenings or events with my wife and children. Sorry, honey). And now I wait until I've accomplished one or two core tasks at work before checking Twitter or Facebook in the morning. It's a slow walk uphill, but I'm working on it.

So how do we control the flow of information and communication at work and somehow feel okay about it? There is no "winning," right? We can't just disconnect when others are demanding our time, as much as we all say that we should be able to do that.

How do you answer that 100th email with the same exact question (and nevermind that the answer to that question was in an email sent to the student body, is on a poster in every residence hall and is in six places on the website) and be as friendly and cordial in the 100th email as you (hopefully) were in the first AND know that the message was conveyed effectively?

How does communication work for YOUR students? I think we make assumptions about what works best for our students. Studies show us how students likely communicate, but variables specific to your institution might pose different challenges or unique opportunities.

I challenge you to find the data. And don't just ask your student leaders or those who respond to surveys - ask people in the halls or in your student union. Create a 3-4 question survey for every visitor in your office and have them fill it out while they wait for their appointment. Ask how they prefer to receive information, where they heard about a specific aspect of your department, etc.

Understand your version of "The One Hour Rule" and discuss how that affects your department and your communication strategy. Don't tie yourself down with what you assume is the best way to communicate - it can lead to frustration, inefficiency and (most importantly) can lead to less-than-ideal interactions with the students you serve.

On Creativity in Student Affairs

I've been thinking a lot about creativity this summer. Summer is usually the time for strategic thinking or viewing my work from different angles and with different ways of allocating time. But what does creativity in Student Affairs look like?

There is quite a bit of noise around innovation in Student Affairs recently (just search #SAinnovate on Twitter. In fact, search #SA____ for anything and you're bound to find it. Good segue back to "creativity"...)

Creativity and innovation are often used interchangeably in the everyday Student Affairs vernacular, but they are very different concepts. The definition I appreciate is from Business Insider and it outlines innovation as the introduction of change into a relatively stable environment while creativity is "unleashing the potential of the mind to conceive new ideas." These are very different concepts and worth analyzing in our work in Student Affairs.

There is an incredible article a recent edition of The Atlantic that talks about the power of two, how the innate creative tension that comes from working together can lead to tremendous results. Perhaps unfairly, the article uses John Lennon and Paul McCartney as the prime example. The Beatles we are not, but the idea of leveraging the creativity of others to enhance your own creativity is an intriguing idea.

So with whom do you do your best creative work? It has always been primarily a solo venture for me, but the culture of Student Affairs is that we collaborate and do things together and think about things together and hang out together and be social together and let ideas happen together. But what if that doesn't work for you? The introvert in me (so pretty much all of me) finds solo contemplative time to be the most inspiring for thinking creatively. And this doesn't happen at work - work is spent in the weeds working on details and swimming through the minutiae, so creative time happens when it happens. Just as I can't sit down and write at an assigned time, I can't sit down and create at an assigned time, though there is value in incorporating creativity into discussions and planning. And perhaps summer is the time and place that creativity can happen!

Stefanie Lucas-Waverly wrote a nice piece for the Student Affairs Feature a year ago about turning creativity into transformative moments by removing boundaries and restrictions while thinking about her work. In particular, she mentions active listening as a key to creativity. This requires others (unless you are actively listening to yourself, which I argue I could do more of to be healthy), so how do you take down restrictions to thinking - remove the quick "no," remove barriers and roadblocks, etc - in your work in order to let creativity happen?

How do YOU encourage creativity in the workplace? Think about ways you can create space and time to be creative. I have a few ideas for my staff this fall and I'm excited to try them out. I'll report back here with details (even if it goes poorly!)

Creativity means taking chances. Where do you allow others to take chances? "Failing forward" is also now a thing. Failing forward is about turning mistakes into learning moments and if you are tuned into your ability to be creative, you should be failing forward constantly.

What if you don't feel like you are creative or you don't feel like you have creative colleagues? This article tells us that creativity can be taught and gives some great step-by-step methodology to help you encourage creativity.

Innovation is about rocking the boat for the better. Creativity is about more than just change - it's about doing something that feels like it's never been done before. No matter your position in an organization, you can promote creativity and use it in your work.

Here's a great video of a talk on creativity given by actor/comedian John Cleese, And just because it's awesome and because he's funny. Worth the watch. And remember: "Creativity is a not a talent. It's a way of operating."

I would enjoy your thoughts on this topic. Find me on Twitter @pottscharlie or please comment below about how you view creativity in Student Affairs work.

Thinking about Professional Development

I had the great privilege of serving on the faculty at the Regional Entry Level Institute through UMR-ACUHO in June. It was an incredibly valuable development opportunity for me and a great way to connect with new housing professionals in the region.

My topic was "Professional Development," and the topic seemed so vast and limitless that I was worried about shaping a session within the 90-minute time-frame. And if that wasn't enough, I presented in the final slot of the week, so I enjoyed hearing throughout the week "Charlie, maybe you'll touch on this during your session" and seeing my list of topics and ideas grow by the hour!

This gave me a chance to reflect on my own professional development. Within 7 years of finishing my master's degree program, I was starting my fourth job (Area Coordinator, Associate Director in activities, Associate Director in residence life and now my current job) and I had been so caught up in doing the things I thought I needed to do to get the next job that I hadn't take time to really think about how I'd grown professionally. Seems like incongruous thinking, but it's true.

So my session allowed me to talk about the things I had thought about over the last 10 years but never really said.

We defined professional development in our own lives by doing some mind-mapping. We talked about professional development being about finding where "personal interest" meets "institutional need." We talked about the high level of personal accountability required to develop as a professional - your supervisor and institution will hopefully support and provide resources, but YOU are responsible for taking advantage of opportunities.

Some things I want to share about the presentation:

-The best professional development is doing your job damn well.
-Use the competencies (CAS, ACPA/NASPA, ACUHO-I) as a guide.
-Conferences are only worth it if you bring ideas back and put them into action!
-Social Media is vital to your creating and cultivating a professional network. Be authentic!
-Write write write. Start a blog, share ideas, write about it and do it well.
-Mentors don't seek you out. You have to take initiative to find a mentor/coach.
-The "soft skills" (critical self-reflection, interpersonal communicaton, political savvy) get little attention but will make or break your career!

Here's a link to the actual presentation.

What would you tell a new professional about what "professional development" means to you? How often do you really reflect on your professional development experiences?

The RELI Experience

I recently wrapped up a fantastic professional development experience at the Regional Entry Level Institute through UMR-ACUHO.

I had the privilege of serving as a faculty member at the institute, which was a four-day gathering of new professionals (most with 1-3 years of professional experience) to connect, share and learn about housing and residence life. There were nine faculty and about 30 participants and it was an incredible experience.

 

There is such tremendous value in thinking locally and regionally about professional development and RELI was a prime example of the power of connecting in this way. I presented on professional development and will write a blog post soon about the ideas I have about development of new professionals.


The wonderful staff at the University of Northern Iowa put together this event and they covered every detail imaginable. Faculty presentations focused on assessment, supervision, legal issues, crisis management, facilities management, conference management, budgeting, occupancy management, navigating politics and professional development.

I certainly learned much more than I was able to share as a faculty member and I am deeply appreciative of this opportunity.

 

If you work in student affairs and are looking for professional development opportunities, think locally and regionally. Yes, it's usually cheaper to do so, but don't think locally or regionally just because budgets are tight for most of us right now... do it because there are incredibly talented people all around you in this field! You don't have to go far to learn a lot.

I'm excited to sit down and write about my session on professional development - stay tuned!

Photos by Sarah Holmes