Dr. Kim Burns

Celebrating International Coaching Week with Coaching Tools: Goals Tool

goals in higher ed administration

Spring is a great time to reflect on your goals and plan for the second half of the calendar year. If you work in education, it’s a great time to reflect on the past academic year, sets goals for next year, and plan for rest and renewal over the summer. The Goals Tool can get […]

It’s chill week

consultant for higher ed caring for herself

Do you know what day it is? Are you wearing pjs past noon? Are you still working through all the sweets that you accumulated during the holidays? Author Helena Fitzgerald wrote an article in The Atlantic describing the week between Christmas and New Year’s as a dead week. She writes, Christmas is over and we […]

Are you working towards the right goals?

goals on sticky notes for higher ed admin

Raise your hand if you have ever advised a student who was in a major because their parents told them it would lead to a good living, but their heart was somewhere else. Or, have you stayed in a job that you were miserable in because the salary and benefits were good? Sometimes our ambitions […]

Do you have an Honor Roll Hangover?

ballet posing higher ed coach

I was once told by a respected colleague that I was responsive and accountable to a fault. The comment made me chuckle. I take pride in dotting all of my i’s and crossing all the t’s (and just to prove this point, I will admit that I just consulted an online dictionary to confirm there […]

Summer is over: An update on my summer goals

summer vacation for higher ed admin

Summer is my favorite season. The warm weather, the time spent outdoors, the change of pace, time at the beach. What isn’t to love about summer? In a blog post from late June, I shared my summer goals. As I say goodbye to my favorite season, I thought I would provide an update on my […]

Plan tight & hang loose

higher ed adminstrators planning

My colleague and thought partner Kelly Josephson uses this phrase to describe her approach to planning. When we co-facilitate meetings and planning sessions, it’s how we operate because we plan the event in excruciating detail, which then allows us to pivot if needed. It’s not intuitive that planning tightly provides us with freedom and flexibility, […]

What are your MITs?

higher ed administrator with many tasks

In Josh Kaufman’s The Personal MBA (I read multiple books at once; a topic for another post), he talks about your MITs. I’m not quite sure if the idea of Most Important Tasks (MITs) originated with him or not, but he has a succinct description of it in his book and on his website. He […]

What if we summered like Europeans?

vacationing for higher ed admin

I saw this meme recently and it got me thinking about how relentless we are when it comes to work. I just returned from a week of local travel. I know I will be a more creative and productive employee when I return to work because I took time off. My brain and my body […]

Changing Summer Traditions

summer field in higher education

I’m back. The spring semester kicked my ass. I’m finally feeling human again. I love the summer. It is my favorite season. The pace is slower. We spend more time outside and more time with friends and family. Now that I’m fully vaccinated, I am eager to return to our favorite summer activities and be […]