My windmill is spinning again…Finally!

Came across this article today, “Why I’m In The Heart To Heart Resuscitation Business.” Even though the author, Peter G. James Sinclair, writes in very “touchy-feeley” language that might put off other folks, I did like this part of his explanation of his descriptor:

Most people I meet have brilliance residing within, but they simply require a fresh wind to blow across their path so that the windmill of their purpose spins once again, thus bringing to the surface the life-giving flow that will sustain them all the way to their magnificent future.

I do believe that this idea can be the key to the motivation of others. I have first-hand experience with needing a “fresh wind” to blow across my path. That happened to me last week when the Vice President of Student Affairs came to a Dean of Students staff meeting. He talked about many things that were interesting, but when he spoke about where we should be headed as a DOS staff he said some key things that helped my “windmill of purpose” spin again. Four pages into a proposal for the campus activities area, I was still buzzing off the brain power sparked by only a few words/phrases: co-curricular, measured outcomes, transferable skills, “Our ‘thing’ is academic excellence”. Got it and got it. Not new vocabulary words to someone in student affairs, but hearing a clear message like that, a directive if you will – blew significant wind my direction.

So hopefully that “magnificent future” Mr. Sinclair is speaking of will follow shortly. Maybe I’ll win the lottery or something as exciting. Realistically? I’ll continue off the power of my windmill having found a flow that will sustain me.

What words or phrases would get your windmill going? Words of vision? Words of encouragement? Words of love?

In Pursuit of a Professional Soul Mate

Just read quick post on the Chronicle entitled, “In Pursuit of a Professional Soul Mate“. I can imagine in this season of job searching (we’re currently experiencing Wave #1 as I call it) many people are trying to decide what they are looking for in a position – even those of us who are not new to the profession. Every search is just that. A search…to perhaps find that ‘soul mate position’ that we can commit to. But what should we be looking for? Every stage of our lives we search for something different.

search
[surch]
–verb (used with object)
1.
to go or look through (a place, area, etc.) carefully in order to find something missing or lost. Hopefully that thing missing is you and your brilliancy right? But this also includes the campus, the city or town the institution is located. Looking carefully to find what may be missing from your “ideal” lifestyle. Looking to see what your contributions to this particular office would be. What do you bring to the table? What’s missing with the team? Do you think you’d be a fit?

2.
to look at or examine (a person, object, etc.) carefully in order to find something concealed. You know how this goes. Looking for the cracks. To try and sus out the office politics between the lines. Figuring out what people may “really” be saying when they explain the position and the qualifications of the “ideal candidate” they are looking for.

3.
to explore or examine in order to discover. Make sure to explore the institution and the area that you would possibly being living in. Is your favorite store nearby? Favorite types of food? With the institution – where’s your office? Are you in a collegial setting or stuck in a windowless hole away from other staff? Do you prefer one or the other and could you honestly see yourself coming to work everyday and working in that office or working with these people?

4.
to look at, read, or examine (a record, writing, collection, repository, etc.) for information. You must understand the vision, mission and goals of the institution and must be able to get behind them. You may come across an institution that’s big on getting students in, but cannot articulate the intended outcomes of their students when they graduate. Check out the marketing materials that the institution gives out. Do they match up with what you see actually happening? Does the staff of the office you hope to work in feel the “idea” of the university or the “descriptors” are accurate.

5.
to look at or beneath the superficial aspects of to discover a motive, reaction, feeling, basic truth, etc.

6.
to look into, question, or scrutinize: She searched her conscience. I think #5 and #6 are very similar in that once you start putting together all the information about a position that you’re interested in the last part of the search must come from within yourself. Any red flags? Are you SURE? Sometimes we ignore the red flags or things we know we shouldn’t settle for (just like in any relationship) because you want to make it work. When I was told I was being offered a job in New Orleans – my brain and my heart almost exploded. I was so completely excited and so happy and there have been only a few other times in my life when I had that much enthusisam. Looking back – it was a definitely a good indicator that I had found a professional soul mate. Just like when my husband and I bumped into each other during a Mardi Gras parade two years after our first meeting…I knew he was the one.

Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief


5525929563 2d5e7935aa Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

You can’t live a perfect day without doing something

for someone who will never be able to repay you.

-John Wooden

5521608349 d7e98b1401 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

5528078122 e2810fd4d3 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

5528090660 57b6c56133 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

5538945712 30e8e21504 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

An estimated 100,000 children have been affected by the disasters in Japan.

2500 evacuation shelters are currently in place. Many have no electricity or running water.

In the worst-hit areas, hundreds of families are also without electricity, heat or running water. Fuel is in short supply, and there are fears that basic items are not getting to some communities.

There are also shortages of food, water, cooking fuel and clothing.

The weather is unseasonably cold. Snow has fallen.

An estimated 4000 schools have been destroyed or have suffered significant damage.

5521666031 65688208c6 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

5538321432 119b97c239 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

5522196842 0f1f227a95 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

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5529008310 4eb5254223 Post with a Purpose. Save the Children Quake Relief

What this means for Japan’s children:

  • fear and a need for psychosocial support.
  • stress living in unfamiliar surroundings.
  • uncertainty due to the witnessed emotions of the adults around them.
  • illness due to exposure and compromised immune systems.

One day this winter our power went out for about 36 hours. No electricity, no running water, no means to cook anything. Trapped by icy roads, so no way to get to a warm place, eat a hot meal. I couldn’t stop watching the thermometer drop in our house. The kids were cold, bored, hungry. And I was afraid of how bad it would get overnight.

But I knew that it would be over very soon. That our lives would return to normal, with the flick of a switch.

Please.

If you are a mother who has ever sought to ease the pain or the fear of your child, donate.

If you are a human being who was ever once a child, and remember what it is like to be small, and helpless, and afraid, donate.

If you are an internet mom, please help us to spread the word today.

Save the Children’s initial program plans:

  • Expanding child protection activities that staff in the badly damaged city of Sendai have already initiated, with the disaster-tested Child-Friendly Spaces program as the key response
  • Providing non-food relief items to families
  • Supplying children with “back-to-school” kits of materials
  • Initiating a school-based psychosocial support program for children, their parents and other childcare providers to build resilience and coping
  • Supporting local and national groups working to help children and families recover over the longer term, with special emphasis on supporting groups addressing educational and child- care needs
  • Advocacy to help ensure that the needs of Japan’s children are included in emergency preparedness planning at the prefecture and national levels.

No act of kindness, however small, is ever wasted.
Aesop

*** Information regarding Save the Children’s projected program plans quoted directly from their website.

All images from Flickr. Click on any photo to be taken to its respective page.

New Site on my Radar.

Just came across The Anti-Social Media site run by Jay Dolan. Found this via The Huffington Post website. They said that it “takes target at the quirks that happen on, or as a result of social media websites with funny and honest results.”

Upon checking out the site, I already have a new Social Media dashboard Argyle that I want to try out. I have tried Tweet Deck and Hootsuite and like both in different ways. (I like Tweet Deck for the iPhone, Hootsuite to really manage my multiple Twitter accounts during regular office hours). Interesting. And come on, Argyle was the number one fashion trend at the #acui11 conference this year! Ha!

Great rants recently on how major corporations cover up after offending tweets and how the idea of Facebook selling/showing movies is a really bad idea.

Make sure to check this website out.

Using that other degree.

To the other Student Affairs folks out there in Social Media land – Do you ever find yourself leaning heavily on your Undergraduate degree/knowledge?

Since the restructuring of the Campus Life Office, I have found that my background in Mass Communication is called upon daily to help with all sorts of tasks, committees, and programs.

From a Dean of Students marketing committee, to helping revamp various websites, maintaining all social media outlets for my area, helping other professionals establish Facebook or Twitter sites, designing various flyers/posters and drafting press release newsletter type articles – this has all been crucial to my contributions to the greater good recently.

What about you? Do you find yourself falling back on your first degree sometimes? I’d love to hear about it.

Who knew a Twitter handle could spark such debate?

One of the most significant things to happen to me during the Association of College Unions International annual conference this past week in Chicago wasn’t the successful presentation of my two educational sessions (which I thought went pretty good) or that I finished my 3 yr. term on my volunteer position (check), but that someone suggested to me that I change my Twitter handle. ASAP.

At a tweet up it was presented to me that I should drop the “mrs” part of my handle and just go with my first name. Anything other than “mrskeegin”. It seemed logical. Job searching or networking – its better to have your first and last name out there. I had no idea that it would turn into a real soul searching discussion with myself for the rest of the conference.

I got married seven years ago, and when I did it was the happiest day of my life up to that point. Everyone in the office joked with me about my new name and they started calling me “Mrs. Keegin” as a joke, but they also did it to help themselves remember my new name. It became my nickname. After Hurricane Katrina and the slow break up of the Student Affairs division at Loyola U New Orleans, the ‘Mrs. Keegin’ nickname was even more special to me because it was like a name given to me by my family.

I never thought anything about keeping the nickname and making it my Twitter handle later after moving and starting over at a new institution. Again, that name holds personal memories and special thoughts with me.

To be told to lose it hurt. Not at first. But then it did. Especially since being a wife and mother is who I am. It’s most of who I am. After losing everything in a natural disaster like Katrina, you learn that most things in life aren’t important. Your family is. Your health is.

Without really discussing why I had mrskeegin as a handle, I casually asked others what they thought of me changing it.  Many told me that changing it was a great idea. Probably most were perplexed that I even went that direction (with the Mrs.) in the first place. Some said that they knew me as “mrskeegin”. It was my brand and they thought I should keep it.

I mulled over it for days.

I finally decided that if a simple thing like getting anxious over a Twitter name was creating this much of a challenge, then obviously it wasn’t worth it. Trying to discuss why the name meant something to me created too many feelings and emotions and that’s just ridiculous. I won’t have the chance to explain the name when meeting someone for the first time and who would really ask anyway? If my Twitter name is creating a barrier of any sort – arousing any thoughts other than “Hi. My name is Jennifer,” then its gone.

And now it is. @JenniferKeegin. Easy enough. Now let’s move on shall we?

Appreciation, Praise, and Recognition: Tech Style

Originally posted by me on the Student Affairs Women Talk Tech blog site.

Toy Story 3

“Now Woody, he’s been my pal for as long as I can remember. He’s brave, like a cowboy should be. And kind, and smart. But the thing that makes Woody special, is he’ll never give up on you… ever. He’ll be there for you, no matter what.”

This part of “Toy Story 3″ never ceases to to get me every time I watch this film. (I have to watch it a lot, my two year old daughter is addicted to it). You know how much Woody loves Andy. You’ve seen all that he’s done to be a leader for the other toys, how he’s been a role model with what it means to have an owner etc. Knowing all that, to have Andy who has ignore all the toys for so many years take the time to say something special about each one of them and say, “They mean a lot to me” and then to acknowledge that Woody would never give up on him – it pulls on your heart strings. You feel it because receiving praise or recognition from your boss, your students, or family members – those moments can be few and far between.  It happens. Students will on occasion let you know that something you’ve said or done has had an affect on them in some meaningful way. Those are the best days EVER.

A quick one I remember is that I spent some time in my Leadership Class talking about how to be an LGBTQ Ally. A student took the time to find my office later and tell me how much it meant to them. Yes! *High Five to myself*

But I also believe that we should all “Do unto others as you would have done unto you.” You can’t expect students to give you that kind of recognition if it’s not the culture of the organization. Praise and recognition go a long way and I think now in the beginning of this semester its time to start thinking about how you can implement a plan to show your students, co-workers, family members how much you appreciate them.

I have put together some resources on-line to be used for just that purpose. We are some tech-y folks obviously and it’s even easier to do when it’s instant, online and available on our smartphones.

Let’s start with ePraise. From Baudville.com:

ePraise ecards are an easy, fun way to incorporate daily recognition into your workplace. The ecards are available in many of our popular recognition themes so you can easily coordinate with other gifts. To top it off, ePraise ecards are always free, so send and enjoy!

Many different cards to choose from and they have Thank You type cards, but blank and Birthday cards too.

Next is the CARTOLINA iPHONE APP:

Our Original app allows you to send brief but beautiful messages to your friends!
Choose from a selection of gorgeous, everyday designs, customize your message and email or text to all your favourite people!

Now, browsing through other websites I have compiled a list of other ways in which to reward/recognize your employees specifically:

1. Offer to pay for them to attend a professional development webinar that maybe they would not have attended due to money constraints.

2. Nominate them for campus awards AND association awards.

3. I loved Cindy Kane’s (@cindykane) tweet:

My newer and more immediate way of showing thanks… writing LinkedIn recommendations. Don’t know why I haven’t thought of this before :)

4. Group Facebook messages. Praise sent out to the whole group praising one person or a team.

This is a list of ways (via tech) you can offer up some love to those that excel around you. Know of another resource that should be on this list? Tell us about it in the comments!

Good luck and I APPRECIATE you reading this post.

Fresh Style for a New Year of Organization.

It’s a New Year. It’s time for a refresher course in personal organization. I would like to do a series of posts based on different elements of organization.

I’d like to start with planners. Most of us in the Student Affairs world are probably using some form of Outlook, Google email/mail and even though paper seems to be on it’s way out – if you manage to find a planner that fits you – you’ll want to keep using it and won’t be wasting paper.

There’s a great article by Ariane Benefit about Choosing a Planner Calendar/Choosing the Right Planner for You that lists out several questions to help you assess your style and needs as well as help you set up a checklist of criteria the perfect planner would have.

Based on my extensive search for the perfect planner, I have had to go through many of these questions myself time and again. Some of my “Must Haves” – monthly calendar AND weekly layouts. Has to have both. Macro and Micro level planning. Sometimes I give up small and compact to make sure I have enough room to write everything down. Yes, it’s faster to whip out a little planner – but then I have to take the time to write tiny. I need room for lists, lists, and more lists.

If I’m at the doctor’s office and need to schedule an appointment – that’s when I pull out the smartphone and use my Outlook calendar synced with my Bmail (BU’s Gmail Account). When I’m in a committee meeting, I want to get the whole picture very quickly of my entire month/week just like I would be able to if I was sitting at my desk looking at my computer screen. Not scrolling through the days on a tiny screen.

OK, so let’s get to the fun part. The planners! The pictures! The links!

I tried to find some planners that I don’t think many folks have seen. If you’ve seen some of these and used them, you’ll have to post some reviews in the comments. I apologize now for my photos. I took them on my iPhone. Click the links to get see the better photos.

Let’s start with Little Otsu Publishing. I came across one of their planners while shopping in one of the coolest shops ever The Regional Assembly of Text in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

The Non-Planner Datebook is definitely more on the free form end of planners. It’s an “unstructured datebook meant to inspire creativity more than strictly plan your life”.

Little Otsu presents "The Non-Planner datebook"

They have other planners that you can check out at the link above. The thing to know about Little Otsu is that they are an independent publisher and online shop based in Portland, Oregon. They focus on publishing and selling illustrated books & paper goods. Their products are printed in the USA using soy-based inks & 100% post-consumer recycled papers.

This says, "If you are stuck for ideas, maybe it would help to write on an elephant."

Next, the Plan. Write. Remember. series of planners from At-a-Glance. I have the monthly planner. This planner comes with a grey jacket and inside you have a monthly calendar on one side and a notebook on the other. I added my own tabs and etc. to make it work for me. I can keep an eye on the calendar to know which weekend of events we are talking about (we have events EVERY weekend on Fridays and Saturdays), and then take notes about each weekend via the notebook. (I have the notebook sectioned off into the number of weekends in the semester). If we are brainstorming – great. I use a page for brainstorming in the section for that weekend. As the events start to take shape, I can use the next page in the notebook to make those changes. So it’s not just a tablet of paper in a portfolio.  I have had this notebook/calendar combo for the last two academic years.

Lastly, the organizer I’d like to highlight is my PLANNER PAD. I have been purchasing these planners for around 7 years now. They have everything I require. Yearly view, Monthly View, Weekly View. Room for notes, lists and appointments each day. I have tabs to find each monthly quickly. You can purchase pockets to go on the inside covers. You can purchase a cover for it which will hold a tablet of paper. They have smaller versions, larger versions…you name it. AND you can get your name inscribed on the front. This is my personal favorite and even though I have the Late Nite combo (shown above) that I use for Late Nite meetings – this is the calendar that I take everywhere else. For all major campus wide event meetings. For University committees and meetings with off campus vendors, agencies etc. Read about how the planner works here.

Year Outlook

Notes/Month

Notepad

I would love to hear about YOUR favorite planner. Link a picture too if you want! What are elements that you can’t live without?

Assessment – Setting us up for failure?

FROM ONE+

The Argument Against Accountability

by Douglas Rushkoff | December 08, 2010 |
Here’s a quote that I found interesting:
For you in the meeting business, it’s precisely the same. The number of people who show up at your conference may be entirely less important than who they are, what they do and how much they share about it later. The number of full-paying participants might matter less than the unmeasured and perhaps immeasurable impact that a conference has on the sponsor’s public image. The amount that participants actually learn at a conference may not even be captured on the best surveys, or realized by participants until weeks or months later. That’s when they sign up for next year’s event and begin to tell others.

I found this interesting because I am currently working on a mid-year evaluation of my office and I’m being asked to gather all my assessment data, the current budget numbers and my “vision” to tackle the future of my area.

We have been scanning all attendees of our Late Nite programs and after a year and a half, we know how many students are coming and who they are. Here’s what we don’t know. We don’t know about satisfaction, we don’t know if we are filling needs, we don’t know if the attendance we are getting is high or low in comparison with other institutions with similar programs. I would love to have all the time in the world to do focus groups and have conversations with students regarding their experiences…but I serve as the Late Nite Program Coordinator due to cuts in the division. I have to spend all my time in the trenches and it’s very hard to stick my head out to assess what’s out there – but I know this – taking attendance never tells you much. Even with full demographics on these students – it doesn’t tell me why they come to Late Nite programs, what would make them come back and what they think about the program overall. This type of assessment (attendance #’s) has been the bane of Student Activities existence since the beginning of the field. Numbers don’t always equal success or failure which makes it so much harder to assess.

I am all for transparency and accountability in business dealings. But when that honesty is limited by the language of metrics, we end up using our tools to kill our jobs, our industries and our abilities to fake it until the real results of our activities become apparent.

How about when the “real results” never become apparent to the people who make those financial decisions? How about when no one understands your program and trying to “Tell Our Story” doesn’t work?

If I show that our program went from 200 events in F2009  (smaller events) to 82 larger events in F2010, I have to also be able to justify the overall drop in attendance. (Attendance at several little events adds up). I was able to find a way to show how this looks like a drop, but in other ways can be seen as a positive if you look at it in another way. If you separated out our strongest area – our coffeehouse programs – you can see that attendance is consistently higher with fewer nights programmed. Thank Goodness.

What types of assessment issues are you having on your campus? Do you feel like your assessment could get you stuck in a place you don’t want to be? Where will you expand your assessment and how have you taken your numbers and twisted them to show what you truly want to say?