Tag Archives: Reflection

Words as Themes: Where do I go from here?

02 Thursday Aug 2018

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My Word

For the past two years our office has engaged in an activity in which we establish a “word” whose definition outlines a theme that we want for our professional and, in some cases, our personal lives. This activity is one of my favorites because it does not involve other persons. It is a thought exercise that forces me to look within myself and reflect not only on who I am, but who I want to be. These types of exercises are my favorite. Personally, I think these activities can build a stronger team than any human knot, hula hoop, or rope team building activity. This year, I want to showcase some of the thoughts that I have had over the past several weeks as I attempt to determine what my Word will be for this year. The future is meaningless without the past so how about a review?

2016-2017

Word: Heuristic

I chose this particular word because at the time it was representative of my supervision style. Also, it was a word I have had never encountered until I looked for it and looked cool. Throughout my liberal arts education I was taught too never accept the answer or solution given to me at face value. I was to analyze it and consider the meaning behind it and the consequences of accepting the action. In many cases I was presented with complex problems with no clear solution and forced to defend and critically analyze the solution I came to. This rigorous education created a supervisory style that asks for others to give me their answer.

Heuristic

Image that reads: Heuristic to me means that I am not always capable,and in some cases, am unwilling to give you the answers you seek. Why? Sometimes you need to find the answers on your own. Plan, try, fail, try again. Twitter symbol @ShaneYoung15 

 

2017-2018

Word: Logos

I chose this word in response to what I perceived to be an influx in emotion based decision-making in my professional life. It was not something that made sense to me and still confuses me to this day. This word was chosen to further define who I am as a professional. I am logical. I focus on facts and reason in my decision-making and make the decision that makes the most sense.

Logos

Cartoon image of the author with a half full progress bar titled “Thinking” and a thought bubble reading: Logos: Convince b use of logic or reason’ use of critical thinking to reach a conclusion or solution

2018-2019

Word: ???

I do not have a word yet. I am still trying to figure it out, but here are some thoughts.

Exodus: My current position considers itself a “three and up” curriculum where at the end of my time here I ought to have enough experience to move up the food chain (most assistant director positions are now requiring 4-5 years of experience, but that’s a whole different story). My time is ending and I must make my exit. My life is a series of exits, but how does one leave a place? Because my watch is ending do I have more hills to die on? How does one set up a supervisory area for the unknown next person? Should the theme of my final year be the fact that it is my final year? Perhaps even my final year in student affairs?

Reality: One of my major struggles with other persons within my own work is that we often have very different experiences and expectations of the same scenario. In many respects I think that leaders often have idealistic notions of reality that they espouse without the consideration of the actual state of things. I see the world through mild pessimism and severe realism. I think and speak with candor in order to make my bleak reality make a little more sense.

Conflict: Internal reflection brings a lot of conflict to the surface. As someone who is often lost in their own thoughts I am often internally conflicted about my place in the world and struggling to acknowledge and accept the changes that are occurring within my life. In addition, and you may have caught this impression from my last post, I believe that conflict is a part of life both professionally and personally. As I exit my time in my current role and react to a harsh reality there is bound to be conflict. I want to be prepared and I want to prepare others for this eventuality.

These are just a couple of possibilities. What are your thoughts? Do these fit? What other theme might represent me?

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A Year in Brief Review

13 Sunday May 2018

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Wins and Losses of 2017-2018

Wins

  • I met and worked with some phenomenal graduate assistants whom, although had no idea what they were getting themselves into, have given me one of the best years of supervision I have ever had.
  • I was chosen to lead the student staff recruitment and selection committee. At the beginning I was given a lot of freedom to build a process that resembled what I might have wanted as an applicant.
  • At the end of the year during an abruptly planned appreciation event the week before finals I was forced to realize that members of my staff actually liked me. Throughout the year I had deluded myself that my staff either hated me or had no thoughts about me, but the kind things they said and wrote to me as well as the conversations during final one on ones helped me see I did something. I had an impact. Still unclear if it is a good one.
  • I have managed to add Desire 2 Learn and Jotform to my repertoire of technology that I know how to use based off integrating them into my job’s processes. It was one victory this year in my endeavor to make things simple and efficient.
  • I am able to write this post, meaning I may have more time to blog in the future! Or not. We will see.

Losses

  • Volunteered (under duress, I assure you) to move from a supervision area where I was happy, had the small campus feel, and was going to be filled with staff members I had selected to another side of campus with none of those factors (well, the happiness came later re: see wins).
  • Once the process I built became internal and there were no more candidates to interview it became riddled with political battlefields.
  • I still refuse to come to terms with one of my greatest weaknesses and continue to fight it without assistance.
  • Holistically, I have been unable to steer as much positive change as I would have liked. There is still so much that can be better but for each one there is three barriers, whether a person or a mindset.

 

This is just a snippet of the year. Not everything has made it and there may be major things that I have overlooked or forgotten. This is just what is running through my mind recently as well as the desire to post on this website I bought. After all, letting my money go to waste is not Sensibly Shane.

Reflecting on Reflection

06 Monday Feb 2017

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I work with someone named Shane. This “Other Shane,” if you will, led an activity on Thursday based on the book Soul Pancake: Chew on Life’s Big Questions by Rainn Wilson. This book is filled with prompts such as “What is the biggest lie you are glad you ever told?” For most prompts, there is a “dig deeper” question that asks open-ended questions that stop you in your tracks to ponder the implications of your gut response.

Other Shane’s activity began with each participant drawing a question. Afterwards, we were to switch partners and answer each other’s questions in addition to our own if we wanted. This activity was filled with ponderous pauses because none of the participants ever knew what to expect from the other. I was asked a great many questions, some easy such as “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?”

Answer: World domination… Backup answer: Become the world’s first quadrillionaire.

The impact of hearing so many people’s stories was not lost on me. There were persons who bonded over the answers given, whether through similarity or difference. We finally obtained a clearer picture of one another. There were people who made visible efforts to speak to certain persons (I saw you!) and then there were persons who refused to move too far from their headquarters (’twas me). There were so many different persons with different narratives in the room, but we were bound with one common mission: to learn about one another. Each individual was responsible for their own narrative. Participants were able to be as vulnerable, authentic, guarded, evasive as they deemed necessary.

In an effort to be more reflective in my general life and also to provide insight to my audience as to who I am instead of “here are all the things that I learned about” here are some questions and my answers from the activity!

Question: How has your view of right and wrong evolved over time?

Very much related to student development theory, I think I began with a very direct sense of right and wrong, probably created from the rules set forth by authority figures in my life. I adhered to the rules with less willingness to bend them than some of my peers. However, as I grew older, the world and the things I desired became more complex. After nearly two decades of education, I find it difficult to believe that there is an objective right and wrong since there seem to be so many exceptions. Or perhaps there is an objective right and the exceptions I am cultured to believe are permissible seek to unseat my “goodness?” Right and wrong has grown into a not so simple answer that I seek to obtain as much information as possible before making a decision.

Question: What’s one time you wish you had trusted your gut? Why didn’t you?

I was in an executive meeting during the afternoon of my undergraduate years and one of the seats was vacant during that time. I found it extremely puzzling that the person was not at the meeting, but did not have any logical reason to look at this absence critically. I had no reason believe that the absence for any reason other than the person was busy because they were a senior level administrator. I was surprised that evening by an announcement that affected a large portion of my job. I was angry, not only at the information presented, but at myself for not trusting my gut and following up with them.

I don’t often trust my instincts because I prefer to follow an objective perception of things. My gut has been totally off base before. However, we all know that hindsight is 20/20 as the phrase goes. It’s easier to see all the signs when you’re looking backwards.

Conference Contemplations [TPE & NASPA 2016]

31 Thursday Mar 2016

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Conference

Over the past month I had my own version of March Madness; instead of basketball mine was filled with professional development and job searching. From Wednesday the 9th to Wednesday the 16th I lived in a hotel room in Indianapolis as I participated in The Placement Exchange and then attended the 2016 NASPA Annual Conference. This was my first time going out of state for professional development and attending a national conference. But, as an emerging student affairs professional I have learned that no experience is complete until one has had the time for . . .  REFLECTION!

placeexchange_logo__largeThe Placement Exchange

TPE is much more terrifying in name and reputation than in person. Before on site candidate orientation I felt overwhelmed. But after I arrived and especially after my first two interviews I fell into a routine. Some other bloggers are writing longer posts including perspectives from a variety of other TPE attendees. Check @hannahetorrance  post here and @RockyTM7 post here  (and follow them on Twitter!)

What made you decide to go to TPE?

I am searching nationally and what better time was there to search nationally than right before a national conference?

Do you feel like TPE is worth it? Why/why not?

If measured only by my placement in a job then “worth it” would be pretty simple to measure, but it is never that simple. I may or may not obtain a job from the conversations I had, but I certainly met many student affairs professionals from around the country (hooray networking). I progressively got better at interviewing throughout the process. In one of my last interviews I utilized scholarly research two or three times. Fit is really important in student affairs and I most certainly had a red flag or two during my interviews. By interviewing with so many different types of institutions, I believe I am better able to identify what fits me.

NASPA2016NASPA

I was superbly impressed with the NASPA conference. My registration was seamless and the registration area looked superbly official. Every facet of the convention center had the theme and logo (except the part where there was a cheerleading competition happening on the other side of the center).  At no time would I have not known that it was a NASPA conference. My first national conference really put it into perspective for me that it was at a completely different level than anything I had ever attended before.

There were easily fifteen or more choices for each session, making it difficult for me to choose. I had two or three sessions chosen and waited until the last moment to decide. I felt there was a pretty wide variety: I attended sessions focusing on diversity, residence life, and student activities. There was a lot that I returned and shared with my colleagues at Notre Dame College. I learned about fundraising for my department’s events, a think-tank’s thoughts on learning communities, how to discuss privilege with privileged groups, and about a resilience development program for first year students amongst many other topics.

One thing that stood out to me, more than anything else, was the camaraderie of the persons at the conference. I attended the Region IV East general meeting and I felt that it was more of a family. Everyone may not have known one another, but they were willing to introduce themselves and talk to me about the beginning of my student affairs journey. I met with my first time attendee mentor and had a really good chat about my journey as well as their journey too. Writing this post reminds me that I need to reach out to them to set up some time to chat outside of the NASPA conference too! At a later social, I met with and spoke with senior student affairs officers, including NASPA board member about their journeys. It was a wonderful experience and I learned so much from a wide variety of different persons. In the midst of all these awesome happenings, I knew that I wanted to become more involved. After a successful #sasearch I want to become more involved with NASPA. I joined several knowledge communities already and hope to be more engaged with them after graduation. I am excited for this next stage of my life.

A friend and colleague of mine made a very good point in the midst of the conference. She felt refreshed and reaffirmed that her choice to go into student affairs was the correct one. Attending NASPA and meeting with dozens of student affairs professionals, seeing colleagues excitedly discussing their own contexts; it was a motivational experience itself. Despite having undergone TPE and barely slept, I too felt refreshed and reaffirmed. No matter all the discouragement from struggling to balance coursework, commuting, and assistantship I knew that I was talking the right path. I may not know what direction I am going nor my destination but it just feels right.