Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Blogspot. Hmm.

I officially dislike Blogspot. It's infinitely frustrating and will not cooperate with any cut and paste options from Microsoft Word. Sorry for the ugly posts below - there appears to be nothing I can do to make things look pretty. Oh well.


Leading Through Change



Taking on a leadership role in higher education takes courage. An unstable market, rising costs and changing vision of pedagogical practices puts the future of brick and mortar institutions on shaky ground. Think higher ed is too big to fail? You're probably right, but I'm not so sure all aspects of the current landscape are safe. Student affairs and student services in particular need innovation and creative thinking in order to survive budget reductions and meet the changing needs of our students. 

I am surrounded often (both at work and in my coursework) by leaders in higher education who consider themselves change agents. They strive for adaptability and improving services and methods of delivery. But change is difficult, change takes time (particularly in higher education!) and it's often hard to see through the challenges of change to get a glimpse of the benefits.  In a recent class session, we read "Leading Change" by John Kotter (1996). Chapter 2 of the book discussed some key steps required in creating change - Kotter's aim was the business world, but much of the theory and action behind it translates well to higher education.

Kotter provided eight steps to follow in the change process. Admittedly, Kotter noted that these steps can appear over-simplified and generalized, but I still think they are worthy of discussion and application.

Establishing a sense of urgency - The requires an analysis of the situation. What's going on in your office or department that needs addressing? What is on the horizon that you know needs to be addressed? Urgency doesn't mean crisis or even that something is completely broken, though. What needs changing or adapting due to staffing changes? Or due to budget challenges? Or maybe due to shifts in philosophy?

Creating the guiding coalition - Who are your key players? Who has a vested interest and also has enough influence (both in scope of perceived and actual power as well as those with abilities to relate, connect and network). Calling together the super squad to align behind the issue and develop as a team is vital. Who is your super squad? Have your short-list of colleagues prepared - people you can depend on to think clearly through problems and who are motivated by change and hard work.

Developing a vision and strategy - You've assessed the landscape and established a sense of urgency around the issue, so what are you going to do about it? Leverage your group's connections and strengths to create a guiding focus and from that develop strategies to create change.

Communicating the change vision - Kotter said it's important to "[use] every vehicle possible to constantly communicate the new vision and strategies." Kotter included having the guiding coalition model the behavior expected via the change, but this also involves using communication methods at your dispoal - staff meetings, divisional meetings, social media/networking, publicity, etc. Communicating the vision for change can be difficult - it's the method by which we share the valuable information but it also opens us to criticism or doubt. Demonstrating a "united front" and a common message is vital.

Empowering broad-based action - Did you get negative/critical feedback while communicating the vision? Now is the time to change the structures that undermine the change vision, according to Kotter. Move beyond obstacles and empower others to embrace your vision.

Generating short-term wins - Make tweaks to the plan to promote positive aspects of the change. Acknowledge (publicly!) and reward those who assisted in the process of change. Small victories add up...

Consolidating gains and producing more change - Use the positive gains from the change process to inspire more change, including modification of structures or processes that aren't aligned with the larger change you helped make. Hire, promote, reward and develop individuals who can continue to implement the vision and affect change.

Anchoring new changes in the culture - Infuse change into systemic/institutional practices to insure that the change is carried forward and multiplies. Producing successful change gives permission to others to facilitate change. Make the positive gains part of the organizational culture to demonstrate that change can be good and that clear guidance and support through change feeds a culture of strong leadership. A clear connection between positive change and organizational success encourages continued growth and inspires others to take the risks needed to create change. Anchor change into the culture and let it influence the other decisions you make. The place I see this come to life more than any other is through hiring practices. I was once told to hire to vision, not just fit. If you only look for immediate personality fit or a concrete list of specific experiences, you may not get someone who is ready to adapt, change and thrive. Maintaining past hiring practices may limit your potential - seek those who match your vision and the change you see coming - not just for an immediate fix. 

Kotter's first four steps set the stage for change. Steps five through seven introduce the change and the eighth step ingrains the change into the culture and sets the groundwork for future success through change.

So why does change make us uncomfortable? If change is inspired by a departmental or institutional mission and a well-intended, passionate group of change agents can be assembled to create the strategies for change, the positive power of adapting and evolving can create new energy and sense of purpose for your organization. After all, if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. A pretty cliche maxim that I've heard throughout my life but one that seems fitting in facilitating change in higher education. 

Embrace change. Those of us in student affairs certainly should be!

To Tweet or Not to Tweet: Developing Authentic Identity on Twitter

Student affairs professionals strive to provide the space and support for students to create authentic identities. But are we being true to our own identities with how we use social media? Do you have a Twitter account but keep it locked so Tweets can't be viewed publicly? Do you not accept any Facebook friend requests until students graduate? I encourage you to explore the importance of developing an authentic social media identity and the significance that has on developing trusting, meaningful relationships with our students in a rapidly changing digital environment.

Student affairs professionals of a certain age are able to tell stories about the mistakes they made as students - years of life experience coupled with years of watching students navigate life experience allow for some clarity and also some carefully-crafted conversations about decision-making. I made plenty of mistakes as a college student and most memories of those mistakes just live happily tucked somewhere deep in my brain. I talk about these experiences with students from time to time, offering up information that can leave me vulnerable but that also lets students know that I did not have an entirely different experience than they are having. Regardless of my level of detail in sharing stories, what I have are mostly memories - I didn't attend college in the age of Facebook or smartphones - it was only 10 years ago, but not even everyone had cell phones and almost nobody had digital cameras yet (can you believe such a time existed!) Students now may have their transgressions catalouged in cyberspace for all to see. This forces us to have a different type of conversation with students, one that we maybe don't know how to have. 

Sir Ken Robinson delivered a talk that has become an interesting live animation video (http://edudemic.com/2011/10/students-of-the-future/) that discusses the shifting ideas of education and the different world in which our students will ultimately live. One of the interesting ideas in this is the question of how do we prepare students to work with technologies that have yet to be invented? How do we prepare them for jobs that don't yet exist? I think this is a vital part of our ability to have conversations with students - we need to understand that what we don't know is more valuable than what we do know right now. It's easy to say "Don't post those pictures on Facebook!" but we are now telling this to students who have been on Facebook for a DECADE already. This is the only way of sharing and knowing that they have experienced - so it's not as easy as saying STOP! It requires some leading by example - an idea we push on our students on a daily basis.

We as student affairs professionals are past that stage in our life of posting inappropriate pictures or terrible comments (well, we SHOULD be…) so what’s the risk? Are we afraid we’ll say something offensive? If so, perhaps our problem is that we are not being genuine in the workplace - a far bigger problem. Are we afraid we are boring? Maybe it’s okay to show students that their perception of “boring” is actually a healthy balanced lifestyle. And share your small victories! Students ALWAYS hear about the negatives of posting information online - reinforce that posting the positives can be a great outlet, particularly when it's positive aspects of your job or your institution.

Eric Stoller (@EricStoller) has done some great work promoting social media/social networking and technology in student affairs and higher education. Stoller wrote a blog entry for Inside Higher Education last fall about Digital Identity Development (Stoller   http://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/student-affairs-and-technology/digital-identity-development ). This is an important piece in a pretty limited area of literature around college student development intersecting with digital identity formation.

Stoller says  "Institutions should be teaching students about the importance of context in online communications, the fluidity of privacy, awareness of nuance, and the power of community-building through social media." Just as we take ownership of educating students on life outside the classroom in the physical world on campus, we need to take ownership of promoting and developing skills in the digital world. Students who have been using Facebook since they were in middle school are prime for the next step in developing - shifting the cognitive understanding of how to use these online tools to understand or re-think the power of social media and social networking. 

Stoller also says that "Social media sites promote sharing. Good, bad, or ugly, we share a lot of our lives online these days. However, it’s important to note that social media are not the cause of our behavior, they are merely the public conduit. Acknowledging mistakes and dissonance is an important aspect of digital identity. Individual development, after all, takes time."  Just as student conduct systems have moved from punitive models to restorative justice models, we need to move our conversations about appropriate or accepted sharing via social networking in the same direction. This is how development happens.

In order to shape those conversations with students, however, we need to be aware of our own identities and the balance involved in sharing information publicly. We must be genuine with what we share and how we share online so that students see us as role models for healthy online presence.

Authenticity is the projecting of one’s identity/indentities – and we live in a society where things are continuously accessible and our students expect us to conform to their ways of being, so it’s a matter not just of projection but of amplification. The way we have interacted and shared is projection. Adapting to new technologies to share who we are is the amplification. If we don’t adapt we run the risk of being viewed as inaccessible and unapproachable. Be authentic with your digital identity - it is a part of who you are and it needs care and development just like all other aspects of your self.

A few suggestions: 
1. Be yourself. Tweet about the things that matter to YOU. Edit appropriately, but be real.
2. Don't just retweet stuff. Say original things. People notice.
3. Mention people (especially students). They love it. I found a great way to pick up steam and followers was to thank each individual person who followed with a shout-out. Oldest trick in the (digital) book, but it works every time. 
4. Talk about your work. Mention your institution in positive ways, brag about people and programs, let the world know you are invested in what you are doing. 
5. Be mindful of who you represent. If you are using an office/department account (i.e. @Gustie_ResLife), keep it to updates and items relevant to the purpose of the office/department or what is happening on campus. You should still be engaging and interesting, but understand the audience. If you are using your personal account, keep in mind you still represent your office/department.
6. Frequency does not equal quality - on either end of the spectrum. Tweeting every five minutes can be overkill, even if it seems worthwhile. And only tweeting once a month is okay to do if you have great things to say once a month, but it might keep you off the radar too long. Find your sweet spot of balancing "productive and helpful" with "fun." Most importantly - keep your presence felt.

Give it a shot and jump into being your authentic self in the digital world. And you can not fake authenticity. Be you. The world – and your students – will appreciate it.

Thoughts? Comments? Find me on Twitter @pottscharlie

Thursday, April 18, 2013

Advances & Retreats

I recently started using my Netflix streaming account to watch The Wonder Years again. The Wonder Years, for those who didn't watch or who are (gulp) too young to really remember it, was an ABC television show that ran from 1988-1993. It was a show about life of a typical suburban family in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The central figure was Kevin Arnold, a 12-year old at the start of the show who grew up in front of our eyes. We watched Kevin deal with family dynamics, first love, understanding war, building friendships and managing the politics of middle & high school.

The show was narrated by the "future Kevin Arnold," a mature, well-spoken adult man who reflected on the actions and choices of his younger self. In one of the first episodes, Kevin was learning an important lesson about maturing and the future Kevin said he realized that "growing up is not linear, but rather a series of advances and retreats..." So is college student development. Arthur Chickering, one of the first guys we all learn about in graduate school when looking at student development theory, talks about this with his vectors. A student often progresses along a relatively linear path, but from time to time will face issues associated with an aspect of development that had already been experienced. For instance when a student has a seemingly firm grasp on developing mature interpersonal relationships and appears to move fully into establishing personal identity, but the development of that personal identity or the way the student chooses to project that identity might affect relationships and result in some regression. But regression doesn't mean a lost cause, it simply means a re-evaluation of self and examining choices and attitudes in order to learn and grow and move forward again.  


Students stumble, and though we invest our lives in making sure that the stumble doesn't hurt too much, sometimes the stumble results in some serious bumps and bruises.  I think the message The Wonder Years was trying to convey was that learning is a process and even when life sets itself up to work in your favor, there are ample opportunities for failure. But for every retreat - every step back - there will be an opportunity to learn from it and turn it into an opportunity to advance.  Our role in student affairs is to make sure we support the steps back and nudge students to take the step forward.

The narrator (the future Kevin) had an opportunity to view his decisions with a critical eye. Wouldn't it be incredible to have that opportunity? To look back with clarity on the advances and retreats that shaped our development as college students and young adults? We have the ability in student affairs to be the "future Kevin Arnold" and encourage decisions and ways of thinking in students that will allow them to have a few more advances than retreats. Think about your advances and retreats - most of us are pretty fortunate in that for every set-back we have had a success. Learn from the set-backs and be grateful for the advances...

Thoughts? Comments? Find me on Twitter @pottscharlie

Wednesday, April 10, 2013

"The List"

During the last week of March, my staff sat down to have a conversation about the next steps in our revamping of our Residential Learning Plan. The RLP is our version of a residential curriculum. The curricular approach to residential education is a pretty popular thing to do in res life circles these days. It's an approach that focuses on assisting students in achieving specific learning outcomes that speak to the mission and purpose of the department while creating a seamless connection between academic learning and outside-the-classroom experience. The current version of the RLP provides a measurable path of development through four years on campus for Gustavus students - and the learning outcomes build off of each other (from recognizing roles within in the community as first-years to actively engaged citizenship by the senior year).  The current RLP was developed by the previous staff and I inherited it - and with almost complete turnover in our department staff since that time, the RLP was in need of recalibration.

So that's what we are doing now - adjusting the RLP to language this current group feels is more suited to what we do and who we are now while evaluating the learning outcomes and adjusting to reflect the truly powerful pedagogical potential of our residence halls. One of the first activities we have done during the evaluation and revamping process was to create a list of all the activities our office does. This wasn't quite a mapping activity yet - we aren't ready for that. This was just a brainstorming session to get things out there and really look at what we do on a day-to-day basis.

"The List" will grow and change and ultimately feed into our need to map strategies with outcomes, but for now it was just a list. A big old Google doc spreadsheet. We listed each component of our office - student receptionists, student staff, Area Coordinators, Director, etc. - and then started listing all the things we do. It was fun and challenging and we had an enjoyable conversation. But there was a powerful element to this exercise - each of us deeply examined how we spend our time. It was eye-opening, revealing and a little overwhelming. We do a lot in residential life... A LOT. We pride ourselves on being student-centered in our approach and we have worked very hard in the last 18 months to be a well-respected, well-liked and effective department.

This activity demonstrated our staff's amazing ability to multi-task and to work well with others, but it also gave insight into the complex nature of life at small college and in a small division. I think we might do this again someday - not as a planning activity for the RLP, but as an exercise in affirmation - to remind us about the incredible variation in our daily work and the great things we do to serve our students. I recommend you do this - get out some big blocks of paper or fire up a Google document and just start listing every little thing you do in your daily work - you just might surprise yourself and create a renewed sense of energy. 

Some suggestions, particularly if you are doing this as a group.... 
  • Be aware. Be conscious of others and how they perceive the work you do. We all get trapped in the mindset that we work harder than everyone else. And the tasks that we do that others may perceive as terribly hard work might not be that tough for us (and vice versa), so be aware of how the work you do is perceived and how you talk about it.
  • Be honest. I have to admit, it was a little scary for me (and probably a few others) to list out EVERYTHING we think we do. What if I do less than I think I do or less than others expect from me? What if my list is much shorter than my colleague's list? In an honest, respectful work environment, it shouldn't matter. Be honest - be truthful about the things you do on a daily basis. Have you ever done one of those "time audits"? I am always nervous to let people know how much I focus on email or how much time I spend going to the gym at lunch - but all of it is part of who you are as a professional and how you function in your office and on your team. It's important to be honest.
  • Be realistic. This goes hand in hand with being honest. Keep the scope of what you do in perspective. Yes, you might sit on a committee that meets twice a semester, but is it really in the thick of the "things I do" list? Probably not. And the things you spend time THINKING about aren't often part of your job description, so be conscious of that and keep it real.
  • Be positive! The work we do in student affairs is vitally important to the life of the college. It's what often keeps students enrolled... which is pretty important at a tuition-driven institution. So be proud and be positive about the things you do. Yes, part of your job might be filling out Room Change Forms - but keep in mind the significance of detailed tasks like that and remember that every task you have is valuable to someone on some level. No, really. I promise. And this exercise provided moments of appreciation in the room - both an appreciation for SELF and for OTHERS. 
  • Think about ACTION. This conversation our staff had will feed a larger conversation about HOW we do each of the things we listed in hopes of adding intentionality and purpose to as many of the tasks as possible. But even during our two-hour list-making session, we were discussing how one task led to action of another kind, which fed more action and engagement with students and colleagues. 

I'm excited for the next step in our development of our Residential Learning Plan and more importantly our next step in development as a team. I know the next conversation couldn't happen without taking the time to have an honest, supportive conversation about how we spend our time.


Hit me with some feedback @pottscharlie or on Facebook! I'd love to hear your thoughts or suggestions.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

The first post...

My name is Charlie and I'm the Director of Residential Life at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. I've been in this position since July of 2011.

I have been investing time and energy into Web 2.0 and social media over the last six months and continue to stumble upon blogs by student life and residential life professionals. I often find information on these blogs that motivates and inspires me. I also often find things that don't interest me. But that's the internet, right? 

I thought about whether or not I should create a blog. What do I have to say? Who would care enough to read it? Do I have time and energy to focus on writing a blog? One great hesitation I have is that I'm not an expert... on anything. But the longer I am working in this field, the more I realize I don't NEED to be an expert. And perhaps I should realize that even if only a couple of people read or care about this blog, that it has tremendous value for ME - to get my thoughts out there and share. My thoughts are inspired by the work I do every day in residential life and by my coursework in the higher ed doctoral program at the University of Minnesota.

So welcome to the blog. I hope I can keep up a reasonable posting pace and I hope that at least once or twice I write about something you care to read.