Get Curious: The Power of Prompting as an Ally

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Hello all,

Recently, I got a promotion for an AI class promising to cover the following areas:

• Why Effective Prompting Matters
• Prompting Mistakes to Avoid
• Customizing research parameters - Control publication years, topics, and journal selection
• Response management strategies - Optimize length, citation styles, and output quality

And it made me think about these skills of planning ahead to create an effective opening, thinking about the context of a question and the form of the final product you are creating, and the audience intended to use it, and how to take a big idea and narrow it down through the use of limiting parameters, to refine the strategy in response to the answers you are getting,...yes, all the skills librarians have been teaching students to use for information literacy and library research. These skills are essential for research in many situations and with many technologies.

And also, these are great skills for equity work!

Let me explain my thinking here, (much of which I learned from Karen Catlin's Better Allies resources- it's just so good!).

When we engage in learning about the experiences of others in order to become better allies, or when we engage with members of a dominant group in order to advocate for ourselves and others, it's wise to plan ahead. To think about an effective prompt that will start conversations and to ask questions that express genuine curiosity. There are common mistakes we want to avoid- such as making assumptions, interjecting our own experiences, rejecting responses that make us uncomfortable or contradict our current mindsets, and taking over into "savior mode". It's important to customize our allyship and advocacy to specific situations, people, and solutions. Experts say there is no one size fits all remedy for fear, hate, ignorance- it takes individual connections to change hearts and minds. And finally, we need to be prepared to manage the responses we get. Perhaps our attempts to learn aren't well expressed or aren't well received or perhaps our requests for behavior change are not initially accepted. Just like in information searching (with or without AI assistance) we don't give up after one attempt. We refine and continue the search.

Like my counselor always says, "don't get mad, get more curious".

So, I encourage all of us to keep building our technology skills, knowing that we are also building our equity creating skills at the same time! Go us!

All the best,
Holly

Let's Be Honest, How to Rethink Your Disclaimers

Hello all,

This week I'm passing along a few communication tips straight from my regional library network (NNYLN) Tech-Talk Newsletter.

Of course, it's packed with specific tips for using technology (a few weeks ago I also learned how to customize my taskbar more easily), and usually includes some of the “power skills” that we all need to be more effective.

The section that caught my eye is copied below and gives tips for how to rephrase some fairly common disclaimers.

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Communications: Talking

Avoid saying, "I want to be honest ..."

We’ve all done it, right? Started a response with, “I want to be honest with you,” “To tell the truth,” or “Honestly…” This technique feels like a way to show sincerity, especially when the topic is sensitive or uncomfortable.

But here’s the problem: using those phrases can backfire. Instead of building trust, they can plant seeds of doubt.

Why? Because honesty is supposed to be the default in any conversation. When you announce it, it makes people wonder, Were you not being honest before? or Is this going to be difficult to hear?

Take this example: “Honestly, I didn’t like your idea.” This can sound abrupt and dismissive, right?

A better way to phrase it would be: “I see what you’re aiming for, but I have a few concerns about how it might work.” This version is more constructive and invites collaboration.

Here's another: “To tell the truth, your report was confusing." This implies you’ve been holding back or are about to criticize.

Instead try: “There were some parts of the report I found hard to follow—can we walk through them together?” This version shows you were attentive and are willing to be helpful.

Bottom line: Skip the disclaimers. Trust is built through tone, clarity, and consistency ... not through announcing your honesty. Speak with confidence and respect, and people will naturally believe you mean what you say.

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Wow!

I found these tips really helpful, and I was surprised when reflecting back on how often I use these disclaimers. I thought I was being gentle, when it seems I was possibly creating more confusion or doubt.

It would be interesting to figure out how I learned these phrases, whether they are a socially gendered set of phrases, and whether they impact people differently. That will be research for another time!

If you also use these disclaimers, I'd love to hear how you found these tips and whether you are also thinking about changing your patterns.

And finally, mark your calendars for Monday July 21st at 2pm for the EDUCAUSE WIT Community Group monthly meeting, which is focused on AI. We're calling it AI July!

Check the Educause WIT group for call details.

All the best,

Holly

Better Allies Snippet #5 - Meetings

This month we're summarizing Chapter 6, covering meetings in the workplace. Meetings are a constant and important part of our work in SUNY - so when biased behavior happens, it definitely happens there.

Catlin starts the chapter by listing some of the most common ways that women are marginalized in meetings. These include being asked to take notes or get coffee when they aren't part of the job, being talked over or ignored, and having someone else take credit for their ideas. These very common events are compounded for women of color and persist in many organizations despite the many policies and laws intended to prevent inequity. Catlin describes experiencing this herself while volunteering on a fundraising committee for her alma mater. One of her suggestions didn't get much traction, but then a few weeks later, she got a followup email from another committee member suggesting the very same idea! She quickly wrote back and said- “I think it’s a great idea. That’s why I suggested it at our last meeting.” Because not everyone is ready to call out such blatant disrespect - she marks this as a perfect opportunity for Allies to take action. Speaking up for others to make sure their ideas are credited to them is one way we can all be better Allies.

First, “Getting Interrupted”. Women are more often interrupted - even women with significant expertise and well-respected positions (like court justices, members of congress, political candidates, and organizational leaders). Interruptions and being talked over are everyday challenges for many women. Catlin suggests that men are simply more skilled and comfortable interrupting others, and also that women can be self limiting their speech in order to protect themselves against getting labeled “too aggressive” She also notes that using qualifiers when beginning a thought- like saying ‘Excuse me” or “May I ask” could be making women easier to interrupt. She cites researchers from Northwestern University and Georgetown University in this section (p. 96-97).

So what can we do about this? Because when not all voices are being heard in a meeting and not all ideas are properly considered or credited, our decisions are not as good as they could be, and some contributors are not appropriately appreciated or rewarded.

Here are “everyday actions to take in meetings to help ensure that all voices are heard:

1. When someone is interrupted interject and say you'd like to hear them finish,
2. If you see someone struggling to break into the conversation, say you'd like to hear other points of view,
3. If you see a “repeat offender” who interrupts frequently”, pull them aside and point it out,
4. Maintain eye contact and stay focused on the person who was interrupted! Not only does it demonstrate your support for that person, but your body language also helps direct the conversation back to them,
5. Nominate ”a gatekeeper” to keep the conversations on track.

If you say something insightful or even game-changing in a meeting only to have it dismissed or ignored, but then to have the same idea be well received when it’s said later by someone in the majority… that's “Idea Appropriation”. Catlin writes (p. 99) that Allies can borrow a page from a group of women who figured out how to stop this in its tracks in staff meetings during Barack Obama's first term as president. Women staffers adopted a strategy they called “amplification”. She writes, “When one of the women staffers made a key point, other women would repeat it and give credit to its author. This approach forced others in the room to recognize the contribution and denied them the ability to claim it as their own.” That’s a simple strategy that all allies can use to help prevent good ideas and solutions from being misappropriated. Anyone can do this for those who are less likely to be heard. You can even give credit as an idea is repeated by saying for example…” I like that idea a lot. In fact, when Anna brought that up last week in our one-on-one, I learned the following..” Amplification and giving credit are powerful ally actions!

Women and other marginalized folks also have to manage other attempts to undermine their credibility and authority - and there’s a role for Allies to help in all of them. On page 100, Catlin talks about how to handle “Off-topic Questions and Showboating.” Off-topic questions are used by people trying to test and distract to “undermine someone’s credibility and make themselves look smart in the process.” And you can tell when someone is showboating when they speak about the topic for 10 minutes before actually getting to their question- it’s clear that they simply want everyone to know that they are the real expert here. In higher education- wow, is this one common! Catlin says “it's a power play that's been used for years and can be incredibly distracting, forcing someone who was in a position of authority at the beginning of a meeting to suddenly have to defend their expertise. “This happens to women and minoritized group members all the time. It happens in tech, politics, casual conversations, and it certainly happens in meetings! And every time it happens, allies need to be ready to step in and redirect the conversations back to the expert!

There are a few other meeting problems that Catlin covers in chapter 6 that are really worth covering. First- “Meeting Housework.” Actually, I don't like that term office housework because - hello it’s not your house! But it’s tasks like taking minutes, scheduling follow-ups, cleaning up coffee cups or leftover papers, you know what all these tasks are. Don't expect women to handle all of this work! And if you identify as a woman, avoid the pattern of just accepting office tasks without rotating them so that everyone of all gender identities participating in the meetings takes their turn. If it’s not on your performance program, and it’s not going to lead to your next promotion- don't take it on!

Driving Change: The Role of a Committed Sponsor

Hello all,

This week we are circling back to Change Management, because WIT is about making changes.
How can we help create a better experience for all in SUNY?
Applying Change Management strategies can help with that, for us, for the colleagues we work with, and for the students who rely on a SUNY education to help them achieve their dreams.
WIT is all about that!

To be effective in creating the gender-inclusive working environment we need- we need to recognize that change can be hard, and there are tested and true strategies for making it easier.
One essential is that every change needs someone/some group committed to leading it. A committed change sponsor makes sure that a change isn't simply an idea that drifts around.

I'll highlight a section of the Proci blog 12 Change Management Principles and Best Practices that I am featuring today that speaks to the importance of a change sponsor.
I hope that each of you knows who that person or group is at your institution (and maybe it's you!).

"An active and visible sponsor is the top contributor to success. They enhance the change management process by:

• Giving consistent attention to the change to support it.
• Influencing other leaders and executives to form a coalition of sponsorship.
• Acting as a change champion that motivates others to embrace it.
• Making effective decisions about the change and aligning priorities of the other leaders in the organization.
• Directly communicating with the project management and change management teams throughout the transition.
• An effective leader drives momentum by visibly championing the change."

Finally, the CPD offers Change Management and Project Management through their programs for traditional technology folks and for librarians, and you can find more details here:
https://cpd.suny.edu/project-management/project-management-fundamentals/

All the best,
Holly

Manager to Exec = Player to Coach

Hello all,

This week I'm passing along a recent article with some tips on making the transition from small unit manager to a manager/leader role.

This information is helpful for newly promoted folks (and we usually have retirements at the end of a semester, so there will be some new internally promoted folks on this list), and also for folks even considering how a change like that would make their workdays different.

It's a short pithy read, so I hope you'll all take a few minutes to read Navigating the Jump from Manager to Executive by Melody Wilding, published by the Harvard Business Review.

From the article:

"Summary. Becoming a leader of leaders is a change of both scope and attitude. Your decisions may now affect dozens (or hundreds) of employees. Your results depend on how well other experienced professionals do their jobs, not on what you can personally make happen. Stepping into these shifts doesn’t happen overnight and it can feel nerve-wracking for a while. This article outlines three key shifts you need to make: 1) Going from expert to coach, 2) Moving from execution to driving impact through others, 3) Evolving from oversight to scalable systems. Leading leaders isn’t “more of the same” just with bigger teams and budgets. In reality, you have to fundamentally shift how you think about your role, how you spend your time, and how you measure success."

I hope you find these tips useful, and if you have other ideas to share- please email the list!

Happy 4th of July! I plan to celebrate our country's freedom with macaroni salad, veggie burgers, re-reading my mini version of the Constitution, and a strategic avoidance of all firecrackers! I hate those dang things!

All the best,
Holly