Abuse of Power Comes As No Surprise

I have always explained to young professionals when they are beating themselves up over a mistake: Mistakes happen, but when mistakes become a pattern, that is when a supervisor should be addressing things.

A boss knows when patterns occur.  

Everyone stumbles.  There is a perfect quote from Theodore Roosevelt that states:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

It is when the stumbling becomes the norm that attention needs to be paid to the situation.  When the supervisor notes the issue and then has a reinforcing event, then possibly another, it is time for the supervisor to belly on up and address the situation no matter how uncomfortable and no matter how much the person is beloved.  

It is better to say how much you care but redirect than to do no one any favors and pass someone along who thinks they are doing just fine only for that individual to run into a devastating wall under his or her next supervisor.

This quote from artist, Jenny Holzer, struck me so strongly:  

“Abuse of power comes as no surprise.”

What a profound and moving statement. 

I believe we have all been witnesses to abuse of power through media, relationships, and personal experience.

What has happens is when the dots are connected there should be no surprise that 1 + 1+ 1 = 3! 

I have also come to realize that abuse is systemic and perhaps even supported, accepted or expected!

When abuse of power has occurred at various levels, individuals who are the target of the abuse often feel alone, like they are the only ones, like they deserve or are at fault in some way.

Others know but they keep quiet.  (Desmond Tutu stated that “If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor.  If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse, and you say that you are neutral, the mouse will not appreciate your neutrality.”  

Further, Dante Alghieri said “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”  Amen and Amen.)

Others know but do not know what to do.

Others may say they didn’t know, but we find what we are looking for don’t we!  (Adele- “Throw your soul through every open door-Count your blessings to find what you look for-Turn my sorrow into treasured gold-You’ll pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow.”) 

Ultimately if abuse of power comes as a surprise, the surprised is likely abusive as well! 

For additional reading, I found this:
http://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_find_your_power_avoid_abusing_it

A Culture of Curiosity

Having now worked for three different organizations (averaging almost ten years at each location), I believe I have gained a productive understanding of culture.

Culture is a product.

Wherever you put your questions, you put your priorities.  Regardless of the framed mission or values statements, how you respond to your personnel, the questions you ask, and how you spend your time make the culture.

The questions you ask, the little chunks of your time, that is what you are cultivating and that is your culture.

If the leader’s biggest priorities are academic mission and student development then she will ask questions from a place of inquiry regarding those things, then the culture is nurtured.  Example, asking “what will the student learn if I allow him or her out of the residential contract?”  Or asking “what will my staff learn about our values if I skip this organizational event?”

If the biggest priority is shallow or making sure the organization “looks good” at all costs, then the culture is deepened.  If the leader is more concerned with “how will the organization look if this state representative’s daughter gets mad because we will not let her out of her housing contract” sets the culture as surely as the questions above.

I’m not saying exceptions don’t happen because they do.  However it is the pattern of behavior, over time, which represents the culture.

What culture do you want in your organization?

Recently I read an article about a company (HopeLab) which cultivates and supports a “culture of curiosity.” 

I love that approach.  It neutralizes the “right and wrong” of things and allows for exploration (being curious) without a leaning, just learning.

The way HopeLab creates its culture is to:

1.  Encourage Inquiry

2.       Write agendas as questions
3.       Avoid blame
4.       Assume all learning is good

HopeLab believes that a “culture of curiosity is key to innovation.” 

Innovation does not have to be a product development in my opinion, it can be a new paradigm for a staff member, an “a-ha” moment, or even a gaining of respect for differing opinions.

Just like any change, changing the culture has to be intentional.  The first step is being aware of what the culture is and that requires great courage.

·         A leader has to keep her “ear to the ground” and make sure she is getting an unbiased view of the organizational culture.  She has to have courageous speakers of truth that will tell her when she has upset the organization, mis-stepped on a decision, or isn’t meeting expectations.

·         The messenger has to be a truth-teller who is going to speak the truth in love but ultimately speak the truth regardless of destiny.

·         The leader needs a system to inform her of how the culture is developing, maintaining, or crumbling.

·         The leader must intentionally take steps to shape the culture into the direction she wants.

·         A culture of curiosity will create free-thinkers so it is not suitable for a leader-centric environment.

I believe the benefits of a culture of curiosity will outweigh the costs of getting there.  Sure change is hard, but change can be healthy and help the organization survive.

On Becoming A Better Writer

Learning to construct letters and words together into an interesting and coherent structure has been a life-long journey for me.  I wish I had the ability to say “here are the three tips that made me a better writer.”

However, I am on this journey with everyone else and by no means have I arrived at “good writing.”

I love the cadence of the keystrokes as I construct my work.  But I’m fully cognizant that some of my friends are truly passionate about grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and the beauty of well-constructed sentences.

I wish that level of detail made my heart smile.

It does not.

What makes my heart smile is conveying ideas to others and often I get so excited that I leave words out of my sentences, I forget to punctuate properly, and I simply fail to utilize proper grammar.  It is simply not my giftedness.  My giftedness is the idea.  However I also know that being able to clearly communicate my idea is critical.

While I’m on the writing journey here are some things which are strengthening my writing:

1.       I am a reader.  I consume the work of others.  John Maxwell stated something akin to “leaders are reader” and I propose writers are readers! 

I believe to truly be well-written, one must be well-read.  Sure I believe the passion to tell one’s story through one’s art is given and must flow out of the artist.  However that artist learns, grows wiser, and refines.

2.       Allow others to critique your work.  I remember the first time my supervisor (who was a truly gifted writer) gave me feedback on my writing.  It looked like a murder had occurred on the page due to so much red ink!

That feedback helped me learn my patterns and where I tended to make my mistakes.  For example I am completely reluctant to use commas.  I had a Freshman English professor (Graduate Student) for two semesters who gave a 50% for the first comma splice then a zero on the paper if there were more than one comma splice.

So I learned quickly to simply avoid putting commas anywhere.  Instead of truly learning the rules, I just learned to complete a comma “fast” which earned me a passing grade.  As I have progressed through my education (and paying dearly for an editor on the dissertation) I have repeatedly regretted not getting more out of Freshman English classes!

While I highly encourage you to utilize someone who cares for you but will “speak the truth in love” there will be times your work is critiqued by those who care nothing about your feelings.  That is when you have to recognize that it is not personal and you can still garner wisdom from the feedback.

As an individual moves forward, I believe the abilities to convey ideas, thoughts, opinions, and to communicate effectively are essential.  You owe it to yourself to become the best writer you can be, to consume the work of others, and to allow others to guide you to new heights.

Finding Your Greatest Success

Did you know that things you have been criticized all your life for, are likely a strength for you?

It is true!

My entire life I’ve been told I’m impulsive and that I “jump before I look.”  Well guess what one of my top strengths is?  Activator! 

What is an Activator?

Turns out, I’m terrific at getting things started!  I make quick assessments of situations and have a leaning towards action versus sitting around pondering.

However, if my Activator strength is out of balance and, what I call in “overdrive,” I tend to be impulsive and I “jump before I look.”

Know Your Strengths

Knowing what your stregths are (whether through the use of instruments such as the Strengths Finder, Myers-Briggs Inventory, or simply by asking close relationships what your strengths are) is a key strategy to success.

While we, in the West, have been trained to pour into our weak points and allow the strong suits take care of themselves, the opposite, it turns out, is true.  In research done by Don Clifton at the Gallup corporation, it has been proven that if an individual will manage his or her weaker points but develop the strengths, greater growth will be experienced.

Use Your Strengths

I have experienced the greatest successes in my life when I have been using my strengths.  Never have I known as much success in focusing on a weaker area.  You and I are wired to use those strengths we were given in this life.  So, use your strengths!

Develop Your Strengths

But just having strengths alone does not mean you are finished.  You must pour into those strengths, develop them.  While we’ve been trained to let those strengths take care of themselves, again, the opposite is true.  Develop your strengths, spend time getting better and better.  Professional and Olympic athletes do not spend time trying to be “well-rounded” when they are at the peak of their career-no!  They spend hours every day repeating a move, running a sprint, or honing in on a muscle group to assure performance.

In the mean time, if I’m GREAT at writing but stink in math, the teachers pull me completely out of writing and put me in double math.  Guess what-I will never achieve my greatest success as a mathematician.  It’s the writing that is going to carry me further.

Sure, I need to understand basic math (yes, even Algebra) and get through to a high quality of life level, but my greatest gains will not be in math.  Rather, spending time working on my grammar, understanding sentence structure, plot, and other writing topics will carry me beyond my dreams in math.

Little Reminders, Big Accomplishments

In my heart, I bristle at routine.  Yet, I crave routine.  Thus, I’m always arguing with myself.  I have a pre-set event every Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.  I spend most of Wednesday afternoon trying to convince myself of reasons I can provide for missing the 7:00 p.m. event.

Every Wednesday I attend the 7:00 p.m. event.  After the event, I think of how fortunate I am for having attended that very day and had I missed it, I would be so very regretful.

I’ve also had, for a number of years, one of the pedometer, sleep monitor, heart rate monitor bands that are so popular.  When I first got the band, I walked around my neighborhood faithfully.  Then I fell out of that routine for quite some time. 

  I’m working to get back into the routine.  I’ve even found myself adding step to my day or looking absolutely silly while walking/dancing in place in my office in order to meet a goal set for the number of steps by a certain time of the day!

1.       Keeping up with my status has proven helpful to me in establishing (or re-establishing) a routine.  I’ve learned that when I lack a status knowledge, it is like nailing warm pudding to a tree.  I just ooze everywhere with no direction!  So, I am now glancing at my band more often, syncing it with my iPhone app more often, and keeping the steps at the front of my mind.

2.       Setting realistic goals/efforts has made me more motivated.  Everyone talks about a specific level of minimum steps to get in a day.  I was getting way, way fewer (then discovered my band was not functioning properly) and falling short day after day made me feel like a balloon spewing around the room until it is out of air.  I just lay around deflated!  

Then one day, the Under Armor app sent me a little note that said “women in your age category usually get XYZ number of steps per day on average.”  Because that number was lower than what everyone talks about, I realized I wasn’t the only person missing that magical level (silly, I know) and I felt I now had a more realistic goal to shoot towards.

3.       Do little things such as just trying to move more this hour or by the end of the morning, I will have stepped at least 1000 steps helps me have larger gains in achievement.  When I think of the huge number by day’s end, I get overwhelmed and shut down but when I think, I can get 300 steps by taking a quick walk around the outside of my building, then those little numbers add up more quickly than I realized.

I’m learning that these three little tricks also help me in other ways.  I was thinking about this blog and I told myself I needed to write something every day.  Silly me, I should have known that setting an unrealistic effort such as that would shut me down!  What did I do?  Nothing.  I shut down.  Duh!  So instead, I thought-what if I establish a “new post by every Tuesday” as an effort?  Could I do that?  And yes, yes I can!

I also have challenged myself to stop handwriting everything (and I do mean EVERYTHING-imagine dissertation) and begin composing more electronically.  

This will be a mental adjustment for me but you know what?  I’m going to:

1.       Keep my status visable

2.       Set a realistic effort/goal for myself

3.       Do something small each day

Then I believe I should be able to achieve my “post by Tuesday” each week.  Let’s see how I do!

Workout and the Struggle Bus

The struggle to exercise is real!  I often ride the Struggle Bus because in the morning it is too dark and the neighborhood probably isn’t ideal and in the evening I’m worn out and want to hang out with Ray and unwind.

If I could figure out what would move me from slug mode to walk mode, I would be a very wealthy woman because I’d market that magic and make millions!

So, until I arrive at the magic formula, here is what I’m going to do:

1.       Pray

a.       I’m actually going to pray for motivation and energy to move forward in my goal of thriving!

b.      I’m going to challenge myself to do prayer walks.  While I’m out and about, I’m going to go through a mental checklist, notice the cars, homes, and complexes on my route and say specific prayers for all those things so my walk becomes a glory to God and allows for best use of time.

2.       Record

a.       I’ve currently set a goal of moving myself in some way, shape, or form, eight times per month.  From now on, I think I’m going to up it to 16 times per month.  Each time I exercise, I will cross off a hashmark in my planner so I can see my status throughout the month as well as compares months from the past.

3.       Encourage Myself

a.       I’m going to encourage myself by purchasing a new pair of shoes in May if, and only if, I achieve my 16 efforts.  If I miss the mark for April (so no shoes in May) then I will move the goal to May and buy the shoes in June.

b.      If I achieve my April goal, I’ll subscribe to a magazine of choice which motivates me to move forward in my effort to thrive.

Higher Education Questions

Recently a graduate student in Higher Education asked me several questions and I thought I would share my answers:

1.       What should be the role of higher education in today’s society?

I believe there must be a synergy reached between knowledge creation and knowledge application/critique.  In our current political climate, there has been a strong emphasis placed on the knowledge application/critique and it is essential to the American model to find a balance for both knowledge creation/exploration and knowledge application/critique.  While finding a balance is admirable, I believe the American model of higher education calls for movement beyond simple balance to a level where knowledge creation and knowledge application/critique contribute to the greater good at a level outpacing the need for knowledge consumption.

2.       What primary actions are needed to fulfill the office of Institutional Effectiveness’s role in higher education?

The primary action needed is the saturation of intentionality, assessment, and progress into all sectors of the university.  Often the Office of Institutional Effectiveness is a reporting entity which chases information rather than partner hand-in-hand with the administration and faculty to intentionally shape knowledge creation and application/use. 

3.       What challenges does the world of accreditation face? What challenges have they faced in the past, and what are predicted challenges as the role of accreditation changes?

There is a great deal of criticism in public secondary education regarding “teaching to the test” modes of education.  Because of the intense spotlight that has been placed on higher education by entities such as the Academically Adrift work, colleges and universities have begun to worry, to fret almost over retention, persistence, and graduation rates.

(Arum, R., & Roksa, J. (2011). Academically adrift: Limited learning on college campuses. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.)

Will we, in the future, begin to realize that for the sake of a good numbers report we sacrificed the overall American model of education?  Will we point to the U. S. News and World Report rankings as students are technically skilled while transformation is unaltered?

How do noble values such as ethics get reported in a format that is easy to compare across a grid as expectant and wise parents seek the “best” option for their student?

I believe the challenge in the world of accreditation is to find the level of inquiry which is rigorous and rich but which does not simplify the notion of human transformation.  

While graduation rate is an easy marker to show movement, we must examine the content of the movement to assure we are not simply existing but rather creating a more noble individual who can speak to and contribute to his or her own greater good-whatever that marker may be.

4.    

   How does the accreditation process measure success with differing types of institutions?

In a couple of weeks, a large part of my office will attend the Texas Association of Institutional Researcher’s annual meeting.  In preparation for that meeting, our group reviewed the program offerings today.  In so doing, we noted a majority of the presentations being offered are presented by individuals working for community colleges.  In speculation, I wondered if, because of the intense scrutiny community colleges are under if they have had to advance in their documentation and examination processes while four-year institutions lag a bit?  Purely my anecdotal proposal, but I do wonder if four years, while still intensely examined, have gotten a bit of relief that community colleges have not been afforded.

5.       What would you change, if anything, in the accreditation process?

I would assure that intentionality saturates every aspect of the university as documentation of accreditation, assessment, and strategic planning are partners in the progression of the university.  I would demolish siloes as they are a constriction to every aspect of knowledge creation and application/critique.  I have witnessed strategic planning done in isolation, Institutional Effectiveness documented in isolation, and everyone, especially students, are on the losing end of such a formula.  I believe a university must ask itself “what is our purpose” often and administrators should question themselves with “how will this decision contribute to the purpose of this institution” with every choice they make. 

Is the purpose of higher education burning red hot in American right now or is higher education dodging the bullets from accreditors, the general public, parents, and other stakeholders?  I would challenge (and change) that instead of dodging, universities stand bold and hold firm to the purposes of knowledge creation and application/use.  I would allow for the worthy criticism (not always formulated in a positive or constructive way), dedicate the process and systems to continuous improvement, and weather the storm of current political panderings.  I think of Jim Collins’ worthy work in Good to Great and I note the remarkable thriving experienced by entities which know their purpose and hold firm to that purpose regardless of the “hits” they take.  More universities need to take this approach rather than watering down their purpose to accommodate everyone who wants to voice an opinion.