From Pretty Notebook Dreams to Actionable Plans: How I Created My 2025 Goals
The Magic of Actionable Plans and Tools for Higher Ed Success Around New Year’s, I found myself laughing at several memes about it being the season for fancy new notebooks destined to change our lives. I’ll admit it: I’m one of those people who gets swept up in the magic of new stationery—the kind who […]
How a Ta-da List Can Boost Your Confidence
Ta-da List: Tracking Small Achievements In a podcast conversation with Kate Bowler, educator of educators, Parker Palmer shared that during a debilitating bout of depression, a therapist encouraged him to keep a list of the tiniest achievements. The therapist told him that documenting these micro wins each day would be evidence of his progress, even […]
Why You Should Be Using LinkedIn (Even If You’re Not Looking for a Job)
LinkedIn Benefits Yoy Are you on LinkedIn? Let me get more specific about what I mean, because “on LinkedIn” could mean anything from posting every day to having a profile that’s been collecting virtual dust since your last job search. What I mean by “on LinkedIn” is, do you use LinkedIn regularly in your professional […]
My Path to Coaching Badass Women in Higher Ed
Childhood Dreams to Coaching in Higher Ed When I was a little girl, I would line up my stuffed animals classroom-style and pretend I was their teacher. I idolized my third-grade teacher, Mrs. Brophy, who wore loud clogs, taught us American Sign Language, and let us do impromptu dance performances at the front of the […]
Your department is not a family. Stop calling it that.
Employee Family Boundary Have you read The Book of Boundaries by Melissa Urban? If you haven’t, order it from your favorite independent bookstore right now. It’s an amazing guide and could change parts of your life (it has scripts!). Urban is the co-founder of Whole30 and an expert at helping people set boundaries, particularly around […]
Thoughts on Strategic Plan Implementation
Strategic planning engages our creativity This allows us to articulate our hopes for the future. Academics are GREAT at ideation. I’m sure you have found yourself at meetings where more ideas are generated than could ever possibly be implemented. We often have more ideas than the resources to carry them out. I have actually felt […]
The 4Ds of Task Management
The Overwhelm of the Academic Year There are times in the academic year that we all know are just a murky soup of overwhelm. The time of year probably correlates to your position on campus and the workflow of your department. September is usually a blur for everyone. So is May. Despite these predictable rhythms, […]
The Iterative Process of Creating Your Strategic Plan
Why Higher Ed Strategic Planning Matters In previous posts, I have written about the conditions leading to a successful strategic planning process, how appreciative inquiry can be used to facilitate an inclusive strategic planning process, how SOAR can be an effective analysis tool and, finally, how to involve multiple stakeholders. In this post, I offer […]
How to involve multiple stakeholders in an inclusive strategic planning process
The Power of Inclusive Strategic Planning When community college leaders envision future priorities, I can guarantee they are not only considering stakeholders within the metaphorical walls of the institution. Community colleges play a vital role in local and regional economic, community, and workforce development. They enjoy symbiotic relationships with many partners whose voices and perspectives […]
Are you ready to SOAR?
SOAR Analysis for Higher Education Leadership Many of us are familiar with the SWOT analysis, which examines an organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. SWOT is a common strategic planning tool, especially in corporate settings. The organization’s strengths and weaknesses are discussed, and the opportunities and threats in the external environment are explored. From there, […]