http://mmqb.si.com/2013/08/08/nfl-preseason-cuts/

Inspired by the article above:

 

It's a little amazing to me how similar the preseason weeks are to sorority recruitment. You train in camp, compete against others in scrimmages and are critiqued with penalties and broadcasters on what needs improvement and which players are the right fit and not the right fit. Weeks in preseason football equate to formal recruitment. You tinker and work to find all the right fits for the roster to be the best 53 it can possibly be. In sorority America we know our 53 is metaphorical and can change every year but the aim is identical - you work at building the best possible roster to get you through the next year and create a legacy. Everyone in the process has their role to play. We don't ask punters to specialize in the tackle yet they know how to do it when necessary. Drink duty does not eliminate our need to understand rotation or conversation, at any time we can be called upon to be the next woman up - especially if that PNM breaks out for a long run towards the endzone.

A coaching staff and front office never have an easy task in whittling down that roster. Some players are a sure bet, sometimes you take a risk because of grit and determination. The same can often be said with our teams and our final processes. Our teams carefully consider a variety of factors, instead of speed, agility or perseverance we gauge fit, contribution and values. Football teams know that they operate within a business and a system of numbers - so too, do our chapters.

While Sports Illustrated will cover the next 20 weeks with a magnifying glass for each team in the NFL our campus editions of SI take the form of PR and image. What will our next 53 say about us? Will we have put the work in to make sure they understand our philosophies? Will that 53 know who we are and what we value? And will we have put enough work in during training camp to know we are learning as much as we can about them? Are we doing all we can to put the best 53 out there for the season and for the press release? That next 53 will be the face of our franchise, on and off the field. While the process pulls at our heart-strings we know that at one time we, ourselves, were undergoing the process of becoming the next 53. We made the cut. Our responsibility to our organization calls for us to consider all the game tape, the intangibles and put forth the best possible version of our next 53.

Leadership as Leased Space

Last night as I was falling asleep it dawned on me that while I preach of leaving a legacy to the college student I works with I haven't quite framed that notion in to something digestible for them. So here it is: leadership positions are leased space. You sign up for whatever reason. Maybe this specific student-leader position was more appealing because it allowed you to focus on event planning or maybe you signed up because this other position focused on the fun things. You leased that space because it was great for entertaining or it allowed you to retreat on focus on details like studying. Whatever the reasons you were attracted to the position and that space.

Also, much like a lease on a space, you will not serve in your leadership position forever. You take on the responsibilities with an already defined end in sight. Sure we may re-sign a lease from one year to the next and you may stay in that leadership role for additional time past your original agreement. But the experiences you have from lease term to lease term are usually vastly different than anything else you've experienced. You'll have cycles in both your leadership role and also that lease. You know that every year you'll go through a Greek recruitment process or that you'll participate in a club fair. You know that every winter or summer (depending on which is more extreme) your electric bill will increase.

What if I told you though, that before you leased that space the person who held your leadership position (or the person you leased your apartment) could provide you with a list of helpful tips? They would tell you that you needed to jiggle the toilet handle to keep the water from running or that the back burner on the stove heats up more than the other. They would give you pointers for working with your next organization advisor or tip you off to the most cost-effective vendors for events. Would you be more likely to learn from the tenant or leader before you?

Wouldn't you want to pass the same information along to the next leader? To the next renter in that leased space?

Think about what you would say to the person next in line. Write it down. Discuss it with them when the time is right. Be intentional in that message and help your organization grow. Since we are only temporary placeholders in something bigger than ourselves it becomes our duty to, "leave it better than we found it."

Strengthsfinder Training

Today I participated in some professional development that centered around Strengths Quest- a type indicator that identifies behavioral strengths. This type indicator has moved past the point of supplying us with the latest business-fad to cementing itself a one of the most commonly used team builders in the country. With good reason. The test highlights major themes that serve as strengths for each of us. So naturally, being the self-concerned human beings that we have evolved in to, we respond to learning about what we do well and how we can maximize on those strengths to improve final results, enhance communication and ultimately find a lens to view one another with that accomplishes a greater and more worthwhile sense of teamwork.

I found this particular tool to be quite useful and more indicative of who I am and how I relate to people, versus say a career assessment or a personality type indicator. I think the SF hits at the root of something more practical in naming the behavioral themes that are most prevalent for you. Immediately during the session today I began to think about how I could use this particular tool with the students I advise, the advisory council I oversee and how I could adapt the lessons for college student-leaders specifically. The fact that I was trailing off ad already mentally connecting how I would apply this elsewhere is entirely rooted in my own personal top 5 themes: individualization, learner, relator, input and achiever.

Also during the session we were given four leadership competency groups that the themes fall in to. I began to draw parallels with these competences and main ideas that Malcom Gladwell writes about in his book 'The Tipping Point.' Gladwell highlights how social phenomenon takes flight through mavens, salesmen and connectors. The message getting to the right people at the time can create a type of wildfire. The message can spread rapidly. In the past year, I have tailored this idea to working with student groups. Using the law of mavens, connectors an salesmen, student-leaders can identify whom will carry the group's message of goals/intended outcomes at the on-set of the new term for those student-leaders.

In a way, this identification process is similar to the SF but instead of an introspective identification of one's strengths the process to name those strength themes has been undertaken by peers. The lens then cannot be a self-reporting one. So the question I am pondering is this.... How closely aligned do our peers' lenses exist with our own? Is it possible that what I perceive about myself is what my friends, teammates and co-workers also perceive? What instruments or literature exists to bring these two points of view to an intersection?

I am a Pusher

No, not the kind that Lindsey Lohan incriminates Tina Fey to be in "Mean Girls," but instead the kind of Student Affairs Professional who believes that education is happening outside of the classroom. I passionately believe it is my duty to push students to critically think, question a problem from multiple angles and weigh solutions and consequences, good or bad, to the point that they are able to make an informed decision or present themselves professionally and articulately.

The article posted below certainly puts the mirror in an uncomfortable place. If students fail, it is ultimately, our fault. "In loco parentis," is not something of bygone days in higher education. If we admit a student in to our community they become our responsibility, our pride, and sometimes our problem. It is our duty as educators to coach them, guide them, mentor them, teach them, nuture them, discipline them, at times love them... in short, we act in lieu of a parent. So if we realize that we have failed them on some level - whether it be they do not have the skillset to write on a collegiate level or that they lack the ability to operate within a set of rules - how do we rectify the failure? Is there any possibility that we can? Or is it simply easier to hope that putting in the extra work on the front end will translate in to the possibility that we have not failed them? Is it more important to stay the extra 15 minutes after work or read a cover letter on a Sunday morning?

My answer is yes, to all of the above.

The article referred to: http://chronicle.com/article/Exam-DooziesDoubts/132255/?cid=at&utm_source=at&utm_medium=en

Hiatus

It's been at least a year since I dusted this blog off and contributed to the written word. So here goes.

A little update:
No longer working at the community college - have been at Tulane University since January '12. Serving as an Academic Coordinator (Advisor) for undergraduate business students. The main difference between student populations is education. At the community college, students had a lack of education and thus, were forced to rely on you as a resource and to truly guide them. At the private university, students have the education but have no ability to think critically and thus, rely on you to think for them at times. It's very much the same and very much the opposite all in one breath. Interesting and challenging all at once.

Also, I am continuing to serve my Fraternity as a Chapter Adviser. What a tremendous blessing/opportunity this has been. I often reference that Phi Mu has been exactly where I needed them and exactly when I needed them, at various stages of my life. The death of my grandfather revealed a very generous sisterhood whom raised the cost of my plane ticket home within 30 minutes of discovering my loss. When I felt unsure of the professional decisions I had made for my career and life, when I felt that I was wandering through my existence without purpose, the opportunity to serve presented itself in the form of the Chapter Adviser role. For these reasons, and many others, I feel forever indebted to my Fraternity and her members. While I operate 9 to 5 doing something that I'm skilled at, it is after hours that I do something I love... work to develop young student leaders.

In the process of all the professional changes and also the volunteering with Phi Mu, I have begun to search for the PhD program/next step. A trip in February to California was not only a great trip and wonderful way to spend a week but also afforded me the opportunity to interact with faculty and at the University of San Diego and Stanford. Each program has it's benefits and unique attributes. The program that I feel fits me best is at USD. However, fate will make a lot of those decisions for me. Financing, job placement, acceptance, etc. For now though, the visits were enough to feed the hunger I have to return to the classroom.



Something that recently caught my eye was the video below. I was browsing TED talks while doing some research earlier this week and stumbled upon this gem. I am constantly looking for ways to boil down a message in to digestible chunks for college students. This was a perfect appetizer to begin a conversation/continue one.

The thought that it takes the first follower to truly create buy-in is not a new concept. But the notion that the followers ignite one another is something worthy of study- followership is catching hold as a source of research in the field but not enough is complete yet.

Fantasy Football and Organizational Dynamics

Two things:

1. I am finally taking the plunge to participate in a Fantasy Football league! Woot! Thank you to the NFL for actually having a season and thank you to the people at work for letting me participate and probably kick your behinds :)

I feel confident that I have decided on good draft picks, back-ups for those picks, and even more back-ups for those picks as well. 45 days until the season officially opens - Saints v. Packers.

2. Currently, I am working on reading "The Fifth Discipline" by Peter Senge. Today, I came across what I believe to be a powerful teaching tool. In Senge's book he mentions that during a presentation he attended he came upon the "left side of the list." Creating a conversation/script (as real as possible/possibly from a previous experience) to highlight a conflict and how you interacted in the conflict is step one. Then, for step two, you fill out the left side of the page with exactly what you were thinking/would be thinking. The purpose of the exercise is to highlight how quickly we jump from being a part of a conversation to having our own conversation that is not aligned with where our brain is supposed to be. We jump to conclusions. We make assumptions. We hide the truth of what we are assuming or thinking, often to the detriment of our relationship with whomever this conversation/conflict is taking place. How interesting of a concept.

I wonder how helpful this would be with student-groups. Taking the format of the exercise and applying it to how they are interacting with one another... and using the exercise to confront them about tone, perception and conflict resolution. Could it be a tool to help them learn to communicate with one another more effectively, more efficiently?

Tootin' my Own Horn

This was a response I posted on another blogger's site. He wrote an op-ed about how ESPN is a self-aggrandizing jam.

My response:
Let's be honest with ourselves for a moment.... shall we? ESPN is what the other half of the world follows, aside from day-time soaps. As I age, I hope that my viewership of ESPN will become "my stories." You know, "grandkid, hush your sweet little voice. Granny needs you to turn up those nice young guys on PTI." ESPN is absolutely, one hundred percent, self-indulgent. I have to bribe the other couch owner in my household to sit through it at times. Sure ESPN is flashy and cheeky (and as aforementioned, over-inflated) but WE LOVE IT, CAN'T GET ENOUGH and occasionally come out with real news.

Americans don't want to hear about cricket scores or Japanese soccer leagues - that's what strange concoctions of cable/satellite packages are for. Americans want to hear about American sports. So what do we fill the gaps with? What could we possibly do between closed out innings, championships to pre-seasons (nod to the Saints), slams and tourneys? Wish and pray and hope for overtimes (nod to the Syracuse squad 2009)?

We do all of the above yet we are not fulfilled. Scene 2, enter ESPN. Like the uncle totally full of himself between the turkey dinner and the left-over hoagie, relaying some bull-sh*t story of his latest escapades, we turn to ESPN. We turn to ESPN for the story-lines. We flip to ESPN for something to talk about at the water-cooler. Most importantly we turn to ESPN to satisfy our need in the downtime. So, thank you ESPN. Thank you for keeping my stories alive.