Kindness through Clarity

Original Post: January 31, 2024

This week's wisdom is about clarity.

Clear instructions make a difference, as I'm sure we've all experienced when working to put together toy, a piece of furniture, or install the software.

lear directions help us get where we are going faster.

Clear feedback helps us redirect our efforts and achieve our goals more easily.

But what is clear to me isn't always clear to you. 

This point was driven home to me recently, as a student asked for help with an assignment, characterizing the instructions as "vague".  My initial thought was...how can step by step instructions be considered vague? Then I caught myself and leaned into what the student was saying...that they just weren't sure what to do and they wanted to do it the right way. Which is the absolutely best thing for any student to want! Of course, I might want my student to try to do it before asking for help...but that can come later after they trust that not getting it right the first time isn't a bad outcome, and they can redo it after my feedback.

As women in technology, as allies, as colleagues, let's be as clear as possible in our communications, AND...let's be ready to provide more clarity when folks don't seem to understand. Here are some examples: 

"Please don't dismiss my ideas during a meeting without asking how I reached that conclusion. It undermines my credibility. Thanks"  

"Yes, I know you don't mean to, but I've noticed that Joe has now started doing the same thing in meetings with Tonya." 

"Let's think through this list of job requirements, maybe we could move some of these into the preferred category, so that a more diverse set of applicants would apply?" 

Do we actually need to say digital scholarship experience is required when we are only hoping a new hire will do that work? " 

"Did you know that women are more likely not to even apply if they don't meet every single requirement?" 

As Brene Brown says...Clear is Kind. 

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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Scheduling Life

Publish Date: January 25, 2024

This week's wisdom is about scheduling.

Want to advance in your career, complete your work obligations, and have time for your family and friends? 

Want to be known for your accomplishments, organization, and dependability? 

Then, you want to get even better at managing your schedule! I know I do!

Since we are still in January (often a reset time in US culture), think about how you can achieve your goals more easily by taking some time to think about how you schedule your life. I'm not talking about time management writ large, or how to focus more intensively once you start a task...just the basic skills of creating an effective schedule. 

Why?  Because: 

1. "Effective scheduling is very important because it helps to maximize the most crucial unrenewable resource we are given – time. Some days we want to go home already, some days we wish for extra hours. But we are all given the same 24 hours – whether we like it or not. Our time each day is limited, but we cannot let it limit us." https://scaletime.co/blog/scheduling-tips"How you make your own schedule depends on your specific organizational needs. 
2. "Some people are the most productive when they plan their entire day, others thrive by only scheduling larger or complicated tasks. As you create a daily schedule, try to allow yourself to remain flexible. Pay attention to what method allows you to be the most productive. " https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-make-a-schedule

For yourself:
https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-make-a-schedule
https://www.cio.com/article/286701/careers-staffing-10-time-management-tips-for-it-professionals.html
https://onlinegrad.syracuse.edu/blog/productivity/
https://libparlor.com/2020/01/28/your-tenure-track-toolbox-tips-tricks-tech-for-success/

For managers and leaders:

https://www.zoomshift.com/blog/staff-scheduling-best-practices/
https://scaletime.co/blog/scheduling-tips
https://hbr.org/2024/01/want-to-be-a-better-leader-stop-thinking-about-work-after-hours?
https://www.springshare.com/libstaffer/

Trust yourself to know what will best work for you...and then do it!

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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The Legacy of MLK

Original Date: January 17, 2024

It's a cold and snowy January...hope you are all managing well in these last few weeks of winter break.

This week's wisdom celebrates Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his legacy. I hope that all of us have had some time this week to be part of some activity commemorating this wonderful American hero. 

His efforts and the Civil Rights movement (where he was both participant and leader) focused attention on racial, gender, economic, and social inequalities in America.

His legacy calls us to keep working for equity through non-violent actions. His emphasis on working in a "beloved community" resonates with me and for me, SUNY is one of the communities I belong to and support.

Our WIT is one way that we can join together to work towards diversity, equity, and inclusion.

I also want to highlight an interesting effort to increase representation for women in the science/tech fields through boosting their online profiles and biographical information. Creating visibility for the achievements of women is an action that can lead to more equity. Did you know that women are still underrepresented in biographical research sources? I recently came across this statistic from a 2022 Washington Post article:  

"Just 19 percent of English Wikipedia biographies are of women, according to WikiProject Women in Red, a group dedicated to addressing Wikipedia’s gender gap." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Women_in_Red

The article highlights Dr. Jess Wade who has dedicated time to changing that! And she is not alone according to the article,   "Emily Temple-Wood, 28, has also become known for writing Wikipedia pages about female scientists." And then they sparked even more action..."Farah Qaiser is a member of 500 Women Scientists and a participant in what the organization calls the “Wiki Wolfpack.” She got involved after reading an op-ed by Wade and fellow scientist Maryam Zaringhalam."

Read more online at https://wapo.st/3O2YrAa

Perhaps joining this effort, and focusing on SUNY Women biographies could be a future WIT activity? The idea had been suggested a while ago by Plattsburgh Biology Faculty member Dr. Nancy Elwess in a local Plattsburgh conversation...maybe it's time has come? 

Meanwhile, stay cozy!

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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The Ecosystem of Networking

Original Post: January 10, 2024 

Hello all,

This week's wisdom is about the power of networking. 

Specifically about the importance of intentionally growing your networks along different paths, making sure your networks are diverse, and making sure they flow across and through your organizational and professional hierarchies.

Why? ...it's an ecosystem thing! 

Species diversity creates ecosystem resilience, and your professional network diversity creates professional resilience! And not just for you...but for everyone in the network.  It does take effort, and here are a few tips to get you started. https://www.linkedin.com/advice/1/how-do-you-make-your-professional-network

Think of it this way, we already know that our resources need diversity, backups, and alternatives to the everyday paths and tools. In libraries, we have multiple copies of critically needed resources, robust borrowing and loaning networks, backup copies of rare archives (if at all possible), more than one copier or scanner (whenever possible) and multiple access points to the same content. IT teams try to avoid single points of failure, plan for data recovery, maintain equipment spares and programming documentation, and invest a great deal of effort into planning and scoping projects with rollback plans to keep critical operations functioning. Well, our thinking, collaborating, and problemsolving networks need to be as carefully constructed with resilience in mind. 

None of us in SUNY have all the resources we would like to have in order to carry out our mission..but we can achieve more when we are tightly networked together. And our professional organizations do a great job of helping us connect across SUNY.

So...if you are not yet connected to one or more of these great groups...get connected!

SUNY Groups:

TOA

COA

SUNYLA

EDTOA

NYS Groups:

https://www.senylrc.org/community/ny_organizations/

https://www.nyscate.org/

National Groups:

https://www.educause.edu/

https://www.ala.org/acrl/

I'd love to hear from all of you about any groups you'd recommend!

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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