Many people incorrectly believe that because a new semester has started, my work slows down a bit. Actually, the reverse is true. Because the enrollment numbers are now final, there is a slew of reports to complete, analysis to be done and attempts made at understanding enrollment patterns. This month is actually one of the busiest of the year.
None of the numbers mean anything unless they are put into context by contrasting them with something else. Knowing that headcount is X means little unless you understand how that compares to budget projections and how that number contrasts with last year. Having the enrollment-by-major is just data; it doesn’t become information until there is something to put it into context with another comparable statistic. Too many times reports are presented that only have one number without a reference point, and it does little to advance understanding.
The same concept is true with qualitative concepts. One of the most profound questions I was ever asked was “How do you do your job differently than others with your job?” This led to a robust discussion about how my student life background influenced my enrollment work, which led to a reorganization on campus and infusion of new objectives. Travel also serves as a contrasting data point of how life is “different” in Place X vs. the things we take for granted in our hometown. People record steps toward goal achievement for the same reason: Did I gain or lose since last time I stepped on the scale? Did I run more or less (or faster or slower) than in the last outing?
Try to cultivate the habit of asking questions or presenting information in a context vs. in isolation. I’ll bet that your understanding will be much more robust.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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Month: September 2012
#110 service
One more thought about Carnegie and libraries. The Carnegie libraries were the first to have open stacks — previously books were kept behind counters and patrons had to ask for the books without first browsing them. The design of the Carnegie facilities made books and interactions with them much more accessible.
Many services have evolved from a closed model to an open one. Early stores kept products behind counters, away from the customers. Printed photos were often sequestered in files and not retrievable directly. Textbooks in college stores were in the back room or basement; now they are out on open shelves. In a previous era, gasoline was pumped for you; today there is no more telling the attendant to “fill ‘er up”. Formerly food was only served to you in restaurants; now there are even self-serve yogurt bars in addition to soft drink stations, smorgasbords and Mongolian grills where people mix their own dishes. Shoes were hidden in the back room to be brought out only one or two pair at a time; now big box warehouse stores have thousands of pair out on display. The tellers were the only ones to dispense cash; now it is rare for people to enter a bank instead of the ATM drive-through lane. And, of course, all the information that is instantly available on the web used to be removed from us and stored in books, libraries or reference materials. There was effort in access and retrieval, whereas now there is virtually none.
I think about how we have evolved from service to self-service in so many contexts. Is there really no value added by the assistance someone provided in the retrieval? I don’t think so. Schwans gourmet food wouldn’t be the same delivered in a box by UPS instead of your friendly salesman in the yellow truck. 1-800 Flowers is great for the sender, but not as much fun for the recipient as the florist truck pulling up. I like having an academic advisor for my freshmen instead of on-line registration. The sommelier can choose the wine for dinner anytime.
Think about the mix of service and self-service in your organization. If the person or system providing the information isn’t adding something to the process, your clients would probably appreciate automation or direct access instead. But if you can distinguish yourself by truly enhancing the delivery of the item or information (perhaps by making an experience out of it or going beyond what automation could do), then I suggest you capitalize on that. If you can add meaningful value, you should add it.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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#109 treasures
Yesterday, I wrote about utilizing nuggets to start a staff meeting. At our gathering last week, the nugget was about the history of libraries and the influence of Andrew Carnegie on building them across America. Mr. Carnegie donated money to establish 2,509 libraries across the world, including nearly half of the total libraries in the United States. He believed in helping those who were willing to help themselves, so only gave to communities that demonstrated on-going financial and human support for the facilities.
I love the concept of rewarding personal responsibility, and if I were in the position of having billions to give away I undoubtedly would apply similar conditions to the funding as the Carnegie Foundation did. But it got me dreaming about what cause I would champion. Carnegie had libraries, the Gates’ have taken on malaria and education, Oprah is helping young girls in South Africa, Jerry Louis aligned with muscular dystrophy and Danny & Marlo Thomas support St. Jude. Where would your foundation focus?
It is staggering to think of the difference that these philanthropists have made in our world. I recently received a solicitation from St. Jude with a very compelling chart of 5-year cancer survivor rates since 1962 when the research center was founded. Overall survival rates for childhood cancers have gone from less than 20% to 80% today. For leukemia, it has gone from 4% to 94%! Such possibilities and hope they have provided to families.
We may never have the funding of Carnegie or Oprah, but it does not mean that we don’t have time, talent or treasure to offer to causes that matter to us. Think of what your foundation would fund and take some steps to benefit that organization today.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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#108 mix it up
Each of my senior staff meetings start off with a “nugget” — a brief lesson or moment of inspiration about something to think about. Think of it as an oral leadership dot! We rotate responsibility for these each week, which provides us great variety in topics. We have had nuggets about Tom’s Shoes, financial planning, lessons from Starbucks, color wheels, Jewish holidays, prayers from AA, traditions, and, my favorite, about how parents make better managers (which was presented in front of our childless president and me — the giver still hasn’t lived that one down!).
Nuggets are a great way to share responsibility for each meeting and to spend those first few moments getting the cobwebs out of everyone’s brain. It allows us to start slowly and get into the groove before we dive right into the discussion topic. And, just as it occurs with me writing leadership dots, it makes the giver a bit more conscious of what is happening around him/her in preparation for giving one.
In other settings, I start the meeting with a numbers analysis, and we rotate responsibility for that too. When you teach, you learn, and really crunching the numbers helps people become more familiar with the nuances of them. The shared ownership of conducting the meeting also helps with personal development as the number-sharer also has to communicate tactics for the week in response to the status of the numbers. It creates understanding, urgency and commitment.
I delegate many parts of meetings to others in the group. Senior staff rotates locations to a different part of campus each meeting. The person who does the nugget also has to choose the location. This wayfaring has allowed us to see different offices and parts of campus that we would never have seen otherwise (departmental conference rooms, the planetarium, residence hall lounges, ceramics studio, theatre green rooms, the costume shop, etc.) Even if you are not on a campus with such a plethora of meeting location options, mixing it up in any way it helps to stimulate new thinking.
My Friday afternoon meeting members share responsibility for a “glucose assignment” (aka treats), so named because of a scientific journal article that someone routed which illustrated that glucose levels drop in late afternoons and suggested that I bring cookies to prevent such a crisis! We have taken care to avoid glucose level decreases ever since.
Meetings often get a bad reputation because they are the same old, same old — without variation of content, location, presenters or agenda items. Get others involved in making the meeting productive and it will set a whole new tone for the rest of the agenda.
–— beth triplett
#107 comfortable
Three food scenarios:
>> The raspberry lemonade pie I brought to the staff picnic was one of dozens of desserts there. No one ate it. They ate cookies, cupcakes, Rice Krispie bars and food that was familiar to them. No one was there telling them about this fabulous pie (as happened in the bakery when I bought it).
>>Our new chef experimented with food on the cafeteria line such as spinach & artichoke chicken, gnocchi with pesto cream, sauteed tilapia with cucumber relish, eggplant curry and jasmine rice. He selected these items for our visit programs, and I already heard that students wanted more hamburgers and pizza.
>>Our president has all the new students to her house for dinner. When she asked several students what they wanted her to serve, the answer was tacos. Everyone is happy except the president, who has tacos nine nights during September.
My pie, as well as the upscale menu items, surely are delicious, but people want things that they know. Comfortable is really comfort + able. With food, as with most other situations, we need to acknowledge the comfort part before we can hope for people to be able to get comfort-able with change.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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#106 speak the truth
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, Dive Lunches are about more than the food. For years, I have been using non-traditional methods of meeting with staff as a way of building relationships and trust. The aim of these conversations is to create candor, not best friends.
In their book Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done, Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan are big advocates for promoting informality as a vehicle to achieve candor. As they present it, informality encourages questioning, allows for more direct conversations, supports risk taking and “gets the truth out.”
Think about ways that you currently meet with your employees or teams and see if there aren’t other vehicles or venues for doing so. Some examples include:
> Walking (even directly after work hours) with one employee. Trust me, many robust conversations ensue and coaching is easier on a trail than across from a desk.
> Several offices in the division each fielded a bowling team and competed against each other in just-for-fun leagues.
> Eating in the cafeteria provides exposure to many who may just serendipitously join you for a meal and conversation.
> A large table in the cafeteria can establish a routine where colleagues know to gather for lunch as they are able. We had many “Seinfeld-type” discussions about “nothing” at those tables that led to many laughs and on-going jokes. This included such outcomes as a taste test of red licorice vs. cherry vines vs. twizzlers, and other such frivolity.
> Off-site lunches with just one other person are a great listening tool. Take a staff member to lunch and learn more than you ever would inside the confines of the office.
> I know of offices that are participating in a weight-loss competition as teams — including the requisite “trash talking” and providing temptations to the opposing squads. In addition to the slimming down, it is providing great bonding for the employees.
> Include a “VIP Food Pass” as part of a holiday raffle, where the winner is invited to all the food events (birthdays and other celebrations) in another office.
> Participate in community service and do a project as a mixed team.
Whatever your strategy, try to create an environment where informality is encouraged, then listen to what it has to say.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
leadershipdots@gmail.com
#105 dive lunches
Once each month, several of us from work eat lunch at a local establishment that is off the beaten path. We call these “dives” but others may call them Ma and Pa diners, greasy spoons, bars or other similar terms of endearment. It started as a way for me to keep in touch with a colleague that transferred to another division at work, but it has since grown into a rotating group of a dozen or more people who have participated in one of our field trips.
What makes our “Dive Lunch” crew special is the mix of participants. Our regulars include the president, president emeritus, a retired faculty member, a couple of the vice presidents, directors, assistant directors, faculty and people from four of our five divisions. We have even been joined by the chair of the board of trustees when we went to a dive she recommended! It is our own mini-version of a cash mob (as most of these places literally only take cash).
The wonder of Dive Lunches goes well beyond the food — even though we have found that to be surprisingly good. These meals instill a camaraderie and build relationships that would never be fused inside a meeting room or office. There is a sense of experimentation, creativity and risk taking as we try places none of us have ever visited before. There is a bonding and shared experience that carries over into working partnerships.
The next time you’re ready to head to the same old place with the same people, think about inviting someone new to go on an adventure with you. We’ve found that those who break onion rings together do projects well together!
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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#104 #traditions
Yesterday was our university’s convocation — the ceremonial start of an academic year. The faculty wear regalia and walk in procession; the new students are awarded a symbolic tassel to remind them of their goals, and last year’s professor of the year gives an inspiring address.
Many schools do a similar event, but what sets ours apart is the tree planting ceremony that follows. For 106 years, each incoming class has planted a tree and each senior class has named their tree. The trees are christened with names that reflect their times; last year was “Whomping Willow” in reference to Harry Potter; in 2010 it was the UniversiTREE to commemorate our transition from college to university.
Today, the oak was named “Hash Tag Tree” by the class of 2013. Another sign that the times they are a ‘changin. I have never once in my life called the # symbol a hash tag. It is the pound sign (as per instructions of what to press on all the phone surveys) or a number sign (as in this is blog #104). What the heck does hash tag mean?
I immediately left the ceremony and got a crash course in Twitter from one of my many staff members who is young enough to be my child. He was patient and helpful, and when I left his dual-screen computer that allowed us to post and view his Twitter feeds, I felt like I “got it”. Right after that I was at a senior leadership meeting where the same topic came up, and ironically I became the one explaining what a hash tag was. (Don’t tell them I am a fraud!)
I was struck by the ironic twist that a 106-year old tradition was infused with a piece of modern culture that was so new (to me) that it needed an explanation. I thought it was a great model of how to do what Jim Collins and Jerry Porras advocated in Built to Last: preserve the core (tree planting) and stimulate progress (#Tree). We need to create more environments where we can honor the past and still allow for enhancements to occur. Think about that intersection in your organization — how can you celebrate a tradition in a way that speaks to today?
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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#103 in reverse
I have dedicated my career to education and believe wholeheartedly in its worth. I know that education provides many valuable lessons and transforms student lives in ways that few other experiences can.
Much of education is measured by the compilation of credits. Students take classes, earn credits and move forward to the next grade. Obtain 128 of the right credits in college and you graduate. Mission accomplished — yeah! If you never pick up a book again, you still have achieved your goal.
What education doesn’t do well is teach students the concept of negative progress. Most things in life are not like credit accumulation, where once goals are earned they remain yours. Instead, life is more like weight loss or savings — you can continue on a steady path and achieve your goal, but if you don’t continue the behavior that got you there, you will lose all results that you have obtained. You can’t methodically exercise and eat right; achieve a weight loss goal and then celebrate being “done” and expect the results to stay with you as a diploma does.
It is a valuable life lesson to learn that reverse can happen, and understand how to prepare for it; to know that success is tenuous and that behavior needs to be sustained to preserve it. Education would do well to celebrate the journey more than the destination and to help its students master the lesson of persistent, lifelong effort rather than focus on the episodic endings.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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#102 remember
A friend of mine was recently talking to a history major (from the “purple school”, I need to add!) who did not know what started America’s involvement in World War II. I wonder if someday the tragic events of September 11 will be forgotten as easily as this man forgot Pearl Harbor. Let us hope not.
It is hard for me to believe that 9/11 was 11 years ago; I remember many of the events like it was just last year. My boss at the time was out of reach on a remote fly fishing trip, and he commented later that he missed the raw emotion of the event. He was not with other sobbing people at make-shift vigils; he didn’t spend the good part of the week glued to television sets watching the evil deeds over and over and over; he didn’t know the eerie silence of no planes overhead. I am glad that I was not immune to experiencing this important part of our nation’s history.
I put a flag in my living room window right after the tragedy, and that declaration of pride remained there until I moved seven years later. I remember the first time I tore myself away from the television to venture into the commercial world; the craft store was handing out free red/white/blue ribbons that I wore for months. My radio station still plays the Star Spangled Banner every morning at 5:30am, 11 years after it started the tradition on that fateful day.
The positive side of 9/11 was the incredible surge of patriotism that it inspired in many Americans. I hope that you use today to remind yourself of that spirit, and to stop the partisanship that has embattled our country almost ever since. Take a moment to reflect today and pledge to become a patriot again.
— beth triplett
leadershipdots.blogspot.com
@leadershipdots
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