Diary of a Student Development Professional

This time yesterday, I was welcoming an eager audience filled with excitement to hear Leonard Pitts. Pitts is a professional writer, Pulitzer Prize winner, and nationally renowned columnist. Twice a week his column is read by millions of newspaper readers around the country. He has a strong following here in San Luis Obispo County, and almost 500 people turned out for his talk titled “The Water in the Glass: The discord in the way white Americans and African Americans view racial progress.”

Pitts was the most recent speaker in the Provocative Perspectives series sponsored by the Vice-President of Student Affairs. One of my “special project” assignments has been coordinating this series for the past five years. There are many exciting aspects of this assignment, but the best part by far is meeting amazing, intelligent, inspirational and provocative speakers. Our featured speakers have included Leon Panetta, Arianna Huffington, Ron Takaki, and Bill Strickland. 

Pitts gave a wonderful talk on race relations, and I would not do it justice if I tried to summarize his entire message. However, here is a highlight I would like to share. While his focus was on the discord between certain groups’ views on our progress towards ending racism, I feel his approach can also be valuable in any disagreement. He examined our current climate using the glass half-full vs. half-empty metaphor.

A distilled version of Pitts’ message is that whether the glass is half empty or half full depends on how thirsty you are, and more importantly we should consider the possibility that it is indeed both. We have come a long way in the path towards ending racism, and we still have a long way to go. Pitts’ sentiment is that we should not disregard the water that is already in the glass and we should not stop pouring.

Why is it so difficult to accept that both could be right? Perhaps because holding a polarized view excuses oneself from having to take action. Why might a white person want to believe there is no more progress to be made? because then maybe that person can realive him/herself from the guilt and burden that he/she might feel about having to advocate, stand up, or act out against racism. Why might an African American want to believe that nothing has changed? because then maybe that person can use race as an explanation for any injustice, inequality, or negative outcome in his/her life.

In most disagreements, our own position allows us an escape, an excuse, a means to avoid taking action and making difficult choices. If we were to consider for a moment that perhaps our opposer is correct, that there is some truth in their statement, that perhaps they have a point…where then does that leave us? Well, hopefully it leaves us in a position where we could consider a third-option…that both are correct. This is not to say that both are always correct, but rather that considering this third-option is a step in the right direction.

As Pitts says, if both parties do not make the effort we will only hear the sound of one hand clapping.

Working in a large public institution has given me the opportunity to observe several leadership styles. Given the segregated nature of the functions of the institution, it is not surprising that many leaders have adapted their leadership style to ensure the survival of their department. At times, this can be frustrating because in my experience it creates seemingly unnecessary conflict.

I was recently reminded of the story of seven blind men and an elephant. In the story, each man is feeling a different part of the elephant. The one touching the tail thinks it is a rope. The one at the leg thinks it is a tree trunk. They start to fight about it. Whether or not the conflict between the men and their perspectives was resolved depends on which version of the story you believe. The lesson I take away is that we all think we know how it is but in reality we only see a piece of the whole.

I like this story because each of the men was right. In my own work life, I have recently started trying to identify the elephant. How can it be that we are viewing the same issue from opposing positions? What could the issue look like from your side of the elephant? And how can I best describe my side in a way that helps us both get a better idea of what the elephant really is?

In some cases, this has required assembling an elephant that doesn’t yet exist. In creating collaborative programs within the institution, different departments bring their components or values. Sometimes they are open to integrating these components and often they want their components to be the whole elephant.

I have recently encouraged the students I work with to see how they could combine their seemingly different perspectives to create a greater outcome. This is especially challenging because the temptation is to recreate our existing structures – silo-ed departments, specialized colleges, two-party systems. Everywhere we look we can find examples of people holding on to their piece of the elephant.

I picked up the book “A New Formula for Enrollment Management” by John Maguire and Lawrence Butler over the winter break. Maguire and Butler challenge educators in higher education to find new tools that lead to enrollment and retention by building and leveraging a “community of communities.” The book is full of many gems, including tips for all kinds of colleges from small private liberal arts schools to large universities.

Here are 5 resources that resonated with me:

1. Technology. I have been researching other institutions online, and I can attest that many universities are underutilizing their IT resources, including websites, virtual campus tours, blogs, and social media. According to Maguire and Butler, “New and expanding virtual communities allow us to use technology as a way to view the experience and the vehicle for understanding the experience.” In my opinion, universities should be using technology to send a universal message and instead these technologies often appear disjointed and lack cohesion.

2. Finding Meaningful Information. Universities need to track, mine, and interpret data in order to understand the needs, opinions, preferences and patterns within the institution. Extracting meaning and insight from the data is especially challenging because we have so much information available to us. There is definitely value in the data, but I believe the biggest challenge (for myself included) is finding the qualitative as well as quantitative insights in order to understand how the university is functioning.

3. Critics. Getting to know the critics is an underutilized practice in many professions. When critics wield disproportionate influence within a community, there is an opportunity to craft initiatives directed at them. A well-known lesson in customer relations is that the most satisfied customers are often those who have experienced a problem that has been positively resolved. After learning about this, I have started looking at “problem customers” as opportunities to demonstrate our amazing services.

4. Alumni. Maguire and Butler emphasize the value and importance of communities within communities and one of the greatest (and underutilized) strengths of communities within a campus are the alumni. Communities like fraternities, athletics, orientation programs, and some departments have great capacity to build in alumni support. Some possibilities are developing alumni to be mentors, allies, tutors, and donors.

5. Front Line Troops. As a student affairs professional (who is relatively removed from the recruitment and admissions process), my interest in enrollment management is primarily in retention and graduation. A 2005 survey of college presidents found that “student retention” was the second highest concern among 29 issues facing academic institutions. Retention is everyone’s responsibility on a college campus – from the custodian to the administrator. By encouraging all employees (rather than just administrators) at an institution to focus on student success our efforts are greatly strengthened.

What are your tips for enrollment management?

Goodbye Amelia Island! Goodbye Ritz Carlton! And, goodbye ladies of the Women’s Leadership Institute ’10! I will miss you all!

It has been a rejuvenating and inspirational conference! I am looking forward to returning home with new ideas and insights. Here are some of the highlights I’m taking away:

3 Mistakes Women Make

(from Lynne Gangone’s session on Reframing Power and Leadership)

1.       Minimizing your work or position

2.       Apologizing

3.       Taking up too little space

3 Resume Writing Tips

(from my conversation with Ellen Heffernan of SJG-The Spelman & Johnson Group)

1.       Include responsibilities and accomplishments under your position title

2.       Include a 2-sentence description of your institution to provide context

3.       Quantify any supervision, advising or collaboration with students or faculty

3 Examples of When Not to Have a Difficult Conversation

(from Melanie Hawks’ session on Difficult Conversations)

1.       It’s mostly about you

2.       There’s another, better way

3.       You just need to vent

There was a lot of great information presented over the past few days, and I hope I can continue to retain and revisit it.

(I ran into Mrs. Claus and one of her helpers on the last day.)

If you were at the conference, what was your greatest take away?

Photo by Live and Learn.

What is courage? This was a question I had to think hard about when asked to share my “personal story” of a courageous act during today’s plenary session. It was especially challenging because I don’t think that many of my actions have been especially “courageous.” I would describe myself as a hard-worker, dependable, loyal, respectful, and friendly, but courageous?

Compared to Frances Lucas, our keynote speaker (who was also the youngest vice-president for student affairs in the country at age 29), I was not feeling like much of a daredevil. But, as I listened to my fellow participants open up about their personal experiences I began to reframe my own. I’ve had difficult conversations, worked under the pressure of deadlines, asked for funding, and spoken publicly to large audiences.

And the strategy that has helped me get through all these tough situations is the same strategy that Frances Lucas unveiled as the secret to being courageous. I went in knowing what I wanted the outcome to be, whether it was getting two staff members to work together or making 500 people laugh at my jokes.

So, what is the secret to being courageous? Know what you want, and ask for it. It’s that simple.

Listening to Frances Lucas was definitely a highlight of today’s program. She is dynamic, funny, and entertaining, as well as extremely experienced and accomplished.

Another highlight of my day was speaking one-on-one with Ellen Heffernan of SJG-The Spelman & Johnson Group. Heffernan gave an excellent breakout session on Career Development, which covered everything from defining your ideal job to negotiating your salary. She gave practical and useful advice, and she is a wealth of information. I was so enamored with her presentation that I cornered her in between sessions and asked her to look over my resume! She was extremely gracious and generous, as I am sure my little “consultation” wasn’t exactly how she had planned to spend her downtime.

When have you had to be courageous in the workplace?