Suggestions and Reminders for Challenging Times

As someone who has Learner and Input as two of her top five Strengths, I’ve spent a lot of time online over the past few days and the one thing I know for sure is that my friends and colleagues on campuses across the country are doing amazing work. You’re thinking about students, and staff, and faculty, and your institution as a whole. You’re making the best decisions you can make in what can only be called a ‘turbulent environment.’ As always, I’m amazed at the way higher education, known for being slow to change, can when needed, make major changes quickly and thoughtfully. Here are a couple of suggestions for you that I’ve gleaned from my time watching from the outside.

• Town Halls – as an adjunct at UT Austin this semester, I attended a Zoom videoconference held by the Dean of the College of Education just as campus closed. It was a master class in how to share information in a time of uncertainty. He was calm, prepared, and thoughtful in the information he shared. For faculty who had questions about moving their courses online, he brought the College IT director to share information about resources. When participants asked questions and he didn’t have the answers or there was conflicting information floating around, he didn’t pretend to knowledge he didn’t have, instead, he promised to find out and share.
  • I know of at least one person, Adam Peck at Stephen F. Austin State University, who has held town halls for his students since they are no longer on campus.
    • Suggestion: I would encourage you to try this or something like it on a regular basis. People need information right now, more often than you might think, especially if they are working remotely. Since it’s no longer possible to step down the hall to check-in with colleagues, video town halls can help staff and students with information and feeling connected – and both are necessary now.
• In times of stress, we often default to what we know. I’ve seen a couple of questions about remote work with answers that were clearly appropriate policy in February, but probably are not now.
  • Suggestion: Help front line staff be prepared for the new reality. Push on your HR people to think about new realities and new student and staff needs. If policy ‘doesn’t allow’ something and you think it should, don’t be afraid to push the question up in the organization and make the case that we need to take care of each other in these unusual times.
• Remember we’re still educators. I’ve seen two conflicting values at work in some comments. ‘We should continue to pay part-time staff, take care of hourly workers and students.’ And ‘We should refund money for food, housing, fees, etc.’ The hard reality is we may not be able to do either. I certainly doubt most schools can do both. The current situation will create financial stress for individuals and institutions.
  • Suggestion: Help staff and students see the bigger picture while still trying to take care of individuals. It’s a difficult balancing act, but a familiar one. Challenge and support still applies.
• Reminder: Grace is an important leadership quality. Give each other and ourselves room to make mistakes since the answer that made sense yesterday no longer works today. All of us, whether we have little ones at home or not, are being pulled in multiple directions right now, with no clear answers in sight. Grace and forgiveness will help us all make it through the current situation.
• Last, but certainly not least – take care of yourself as you take care of everyone else. I often remind colleagues of this, but it’s particularly relevant now. If you can at all, this week, give yourself space to step away from work, family, whatever is pulling at you, and let yourself feel. It may be grief or anger or fear, or most probably, some individual combination of all three and more. Whatever it is, it pays to make space to acknowledge it. Deep breathing, fresh air, and movement are good for the body, the mind, and the spirit. Take care of you as you take care of others.

Elbow bumps instead of hugs and strength and good luck to us all.