Wednesday, December 20, 2023

NYSERNet launches Women in IT CoP

Original Post: December 20, 2023 

I'm thrilled to announce a new development in the growing movement to support inclusivity in technology.  

Our partners at NYSERNet have been gathering information and assessing their role in the NY technology landscape and have decided to launch a new community focused on women. And we are all invited to participate!

Jennifer Oxenford, Chief membership Officer/Director, NYC Dark Fiber Program at  NYSERNet, attended the SUNY WIT session (offered by Maria Garrity, Lucy Walker and me) at the SUNY Technology Conference last year and connected with a few SUNY folks (Krista Lynch, Lisa Stephens, several folks at SUNY Suffolk, and me) after that session. NYSERNet then organized 2 followup events, a session at their October TNCon23 conference "Advancing the Diverse Workforce: Supporting Women in IT, and a November web meeting of a NYSERNet Women in IT Working Group. Jennifer has been leading this effort along with the very supportive leadership team (specifically Jeanne Casares, Christy Rohmer, and Larry Gallery) at NYSERNET. She recently sent this announcement to the NYSERNet community and approved my sharing to this list: 

"Based on feedback we heard during the meeting, NYSERNet will be launching a new Women in IT community of practice which will meet monthly but will rotate through formats from open discussions to more focused Learn@Lunches and featured guest speakers/topics. The first meeting of the new year will be a Learn@Lunch format to be held on Wed. Jan. 31st at 12pm ET (topic TBA, zoom link included below).

 

We’d like to solicit your input on potential topics and speakers for the year so have created a form which we would appreciate you sharing any suggestions with us if you have a few minutes to complete. 

NYSERNet Women in IT Mtg.
Wed. Jan. 31, 2024 12pm ET

Finally, please note some rapidly approaching deadlines of potential interest, including:

 

This is great news for all of us. It broadens our network considerably, as the NYSERNet membership includes multiple sectors in the education space (P-12, public higher ed, and private higher ed), and it brings fresh expertise and resources to the effort. So mark your calendars now!

Wishing you all a restorative college winter break, a wonderful holiday season, and peace on earth.
All the best,
Holly



WIT Weekly Wisdom: A  message for SUNY WIT list subscribers on the topics of Connecting, Learning, Stretching, Teaching, Reaching, and Balancing. 
Have a suggestion for a WIT Weekly Wisdom message? Contact Holly Heller-Ross @ hellerhb@plattsburgh.edu

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Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Psychological Safety

Original Post Date: December 13, 2023 


Hello all,

This week's wisdom is about psychological safety and how to build that into our organizations. 

There will always be challenging moments for us in the workplace. Those moments can be much easier when you can expect that concerns will be received with an open mind, that your supervisors will listen and help when you need it, that mistakes will be seen more as learning opportunities and less as blaming opportunities. I had exactly that experience last week, when explaining to my supervisor that I'd made a mistake that required them to help by transferring funds quickly into a temp student payroll account! None of us were happy about that, but I wasn't blamed or shamed. And I wasn't expecting to be...although before SUNY Plattsburgh I worked in organizations where that would have happened. 

So...how do we create that sense of safety and build that trust? 

I think it will be specific to each organization and each team. So much depends on what has already happened in your workplace and what specific challenges you are now facing. Nonetheless, there are experts out there ready to help. I've collected a few resources that might help you plan that work. 

From Michelle McQuade's free newsletter, which I highly recommend: (she holds a Masters in Applied Positive Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania with Professor Martin Seligman and a Ph.D. in creating positive change under the supervision of Professor David Cooperrider). 
"Every job involves some psychosocial (emotional and social) hazards that can increase the risk of work-related stress, harm our mental and physical health, and if prolonged, lead to burnout. So, how can we practically minimize this risk for ourselves and others as we work together? " 
https://www.michellemcquaid.com/three-ways-to-improve-psychological-safety/

From the Harvard Business Review:
"Summary. What exactly is psychological safety? It’s a term that’s used a lot but is often misunderstood. In this piece, the author answers the following questions with input from Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, who coined the phrase “team psychological safety”: 1) What is psychological safety? 2) Why is psychological safety important? 3) How has the idea evolved? 4) How do you know if your team has it? 5) How do you create psychological safety? 6) What are common misconceptions?"

In the Hybrid Workplace:
"The problem is, as the boundary between work and life becomes increasingly blurry, managers must make staffing, scheduling, and coordination decisions that take into account employees’ personal circumstances — a categorically different domain. Obviously, simply saying “just trust me” won’t work. Instead, the authors suggest a series of five steps to create a culture of psychological safety that extends beyond the work content to include broader aspects of employees’ experiences."

With Inclusion in Mind:
"Uncovering culture: A call to action for leaders. Uncovering culture explores the ways and extent to which US workers “cover”—that is, downplay known disfavored identities to fit into mainstream corporate cultures. This research questions orthodoxies of authenticity and power, including perceptions of psychological safety, to meaningfully move towards equity and belonging in the workforce."


I hope these might get you started, and I'd love to hear from folks on the list if you have other resources to share.
All the best,
Holly

WIT Weekly Wisdom: A  message for SUNY WIT list subscribers on the topics of Connecting, Learning, Stretching, Teaching, Reaching, and Balancing. 
Have a suggestion for a WIT Weekly Wisdom message? Contact Holly Heller-Ross @ hellerhb@plattsburgh.edu

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