The First Meeting

Leading up to yesterday there were a few signature events for this new journey. The first was the orientation session. I was sold when I went out the door. The second was blood labs and EKG. Turns out I'm a really healthy hefty dude. I then had my meeting with the Dr. that I'll meet with every three weeks. She confirmed my healthy heft and we discussed why I was doing this program. She then shared a few things:

• I won't be able to eat the packaged soup right away - too much sodium for my high BP.
• The plan calls for six Meal Replacements (RMs) a day but given my larger size/BMI, I'll be starting on seven. That's right folks, get jealous, I'm getting one extra tiny nutrition bar (or 160 calories)!!!
• Time to load up on the Metamucil - apparently this program can back you up a bit.
• We'll have a general wellness check each week (weight and BP check) but every 3-4 weeks we'll have blood work done and do a full scale consult with the Program's assigned MD. 

Now for the meat of this post - The First Meeting
Yesterday was the start of the group sessions. MRs will not start until next week, but week one is group meeting number one. I will be on this journey with 23 others in a cohort format. Since this started over 10 years ago we are the 57th cohort. Would've been cool if we were the 59th cohort - that was my football number. I will be with this group at least for the first 30-ish weeks. While I have a lot of excitement for this process, i'll be honest, the first day didn't sit well with me. The meeting room is built for 12-15 comfortably, 16-18 if you are pushing it. Yo, this is a bunch of people trying to lose weight. We ain't small. Everyone is on their own journey, and not all are as big as I am, but come on. Also, folks need to stop buying chairs with arm rests for conference rooms (or any public place). The meetings was also very unorganized. There are two key figures for this program. The first is the Program Manager who manages the day to day. This person makes the copies, collects our payments, keeps track of our food orders, etc. They were there but were kind of all over the place and definitely were not "managing" the meeting or the space. The second person is the health educator. They shared they have been leading groups for this program for about a year, but they didn't seem comfortable with the information. They also lacked some connection with the group and spent most of the time reading from slides - like, directly reading slides. We also spent 15 minutes reading, verbatim, a two page program description and terms of condition. Keep in mind, this is a form most of us already signed and turned in when we first checked in.

Alright, enough ranting. On the whole, I'm excited. I do love the cohort/group model. Wish we would've spent more time getting to know folks instead of spending time reading from a PowerPoint slide but that may come in time. The little I did get to know about the group I see some folks that I know I will vibe with. The size of the group is great. If it is much smaller you risk the chance of not finding someone(s) to connect with. Much bigger and it becomes unwieldy to manage (plus we definitely would not fit in the room we have - sorry, I digress). I do like the accountability of weighing in and getting your BP once a week. Definitely something I can do at home, but having it done in the presence of a medical professional adds some extra ooommpppfff. I hope we get opportunities to share stories, but I do believe there is a solid curriculum that will guide us through the journey. For some, something like that will be a shock to the system as they might be looking for a counseling group (see: chitty-chat session). We also got some information on the products we will be ordering for MRs. The good thing is there are a lot of different flavor options and we can mix and match all we want. It does give an element of control which is important when making such a drastic lifestyle change.

Now the waiting game begins. Since we don't start MRs until next Wednesday I get to spend the next week working to track my current schedule and habits. I also can start visualizing and strategizing my success path. I feel like it will be fairly easy when I rip off the band-aid but I know it will have its challenges.

The New Journey

Yesterday was day one of my new journey. The picture you see in my blog profile...that is a lot more like me than I am right now. I've said from the start that this journey is not about creating a new Torry. I like who I am. It is about chiseling away at some of the stuff in my life that has not allowed ME to show through. I've coped, I've managed, I've faked it until I've made it (and boy, I am so blessed and have no problem saying "look ma, I made it."). I'm tired of that. It is tiring not being your true self. I know this will come with a lot of ripple effects and as I fix one thing other items will come up, but I'm ready. I've got an amazing partner to make this trek with. I've got a son who looks at me like I can do no wrong. I have a great job and live in an amazing city. I've got no more excuses.

If you are interested - please feel free to follow along. I am very open with my stories and if I can inspire just one other person then I'm having my cake and eating it too. Figuratively speaking of course because at 960 calories a day of meal replacements I'm pretty sure I'm a long way away from cake!

Do you have a CMO (Chief Morale Officer)?

I know it has been quite some time since I have put fingers to keyboard on this blog, so this might be a little rough – so bear with me.  We have been experiencing a lot of transition at my institution over the past few months and a flurry of thoughts and ideas have been filling my head.  Today is day one of the tenure of our new Vice President for Student Life.  All of this transition as the University is knee-deep in budget reallocation discussions.  To say the least, things have been less than stable as of late.  Being the eternal optimist I’m excited for what the future holds, but that is not to say it has not been a trying time, nor will it cease being taxing as we continue to move forward. 

All of this transition has led to discussions around the office and amongst colleagues as to how to manage morale.  These discussions have me thinking – who is the Chief Morale Officer (CMO) for the office, division, University?  Think about it, businesses, including universities, spend a lot of time and energy determining levels of executive leadership.  Here are a few common examples of executive leadership*:

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) is a top-ranking corporate position, responsible for overseeing operations. Often the company's president, the CEO reports to the chairman of the board and board members.

Chief Visionary Officer (CVO) is a new title being used in corporations to differentiate the holder from other corporate executives…the CVO is expected to have a broad and comprehensive knowledge of all matters related to the business of the organization, as well as the vision required to steer its course into the future.

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is a corporate title for the person responsible for managing the company's financial operations. In many companies, the CFO is also the treasurer.

Chief Information Officer (CIO) is a job title commonly given to the person in an enterprise responsible for the information technology and computer systems that support enterprise goals.

And that is just a sampling of the titles that exist.  Most titles describe an essential function within a business or the university.  So the question that is asked is; what level of investment are we putting into classifying morale as an essential function.  I have colleagues who would challenge this notion. They might argue that morale is someone’s personal feeling so therefore each person should be their own CMO.  I can’t argue with that, as I do believe there needs to be some self-ownership over how you feel.  However, it is important that someone within the executive structure focuses on creating an environment that supports high morale.  They can’t create high morale for staff, or complete a task that makes it happen, but a lot can be said for creating an environment and space that promotes it. 

Through all of this transition I know there is a lot of out of my control.  As the Executive Director I will called upon to help navigate and manage my area through this transition.  Expectations will be high and nerves will be a bit raw.   but I realize and validate that now, probably more than ever, I work to add the title of CMO to my resume. 

* all executive leadership definitions were pulled from http://searchcio.techtarget.com on 8/1/2013

Time to Connect

This past month has been a whirlwind, good thing we got an extra day.  We have been knee deep in RA and RD interviews as well as moving forward with heading to TPE and NASPA.  My mind is spinning, but somewhere in there somethings have become all to clear.  My job is to take care of #PacificHGL and give the students that call our facilities home the best damn experience possible.  However, my passion is to find ways to sustain our profession well beyond when I am gone.  There is no better way to do this than connecting people to each other, and highlight just how expansive our web of #awesomesauce actually is.  Earlier this week I was on a video chat with @carolyngolz @sjiwamiya and @craigbeebe when Carolyn melted my face off with this thought - (roughly paraphrased) "networking is not about finding the next job, it is about helping you do your current job".  I'm still in a bit of an awe state of how simplistic that is, yet how profound that is.  So, as I work to fulfill my professional passion, I must work to connect those I work with to others.  Help them spread their web so that ideas can flow.  Yes, this will set them up for future success, but in the short run it will set my department up for immediate returns. 

Last night a little exchange was happening on the tweets and I felt another one of those light bulb urges.  @tbump set out the challenge to get people connected.  I have some plans to do some very intentional connections - in the hopes that people can find others to help support, mentor and sponsor them.  But, within that is the challenge of getting all of my folks connected.  #PacificHGL will be rolling deep to #NASPA12 - and I'm very excited for that.  What I am more excited for is letting my current web get the chance to see my universal web - and when that combines I can just hear harmonious angels singing!!!  I intend on reaching out to my tweeps and friends in #sachat to see who is going to be at #NASPA12.  If you are going to be there and want to help me connect my Pacific family let me know.  I will put your name on random bingo boards.  From there I will give these boards to my staff to go forth and search.  If they find the people they can engage in a quick hello and conversation.  If they get their whole board filled up they will win a grand prize from me.  Yes, the will receive something tangible, but also their is an intangible prize in there; the fact that they are now connected to one more person in our profession - can't ask for much more than that!

If you want to help me with this exercise please feel free to hit me at @torrybruce or email me at torrybruce@gmail.com.  I'll put your name, twitter handle, etc.

Not to challenge you, but @kevincleary said if he is on the board and someone finds him that he will buy them coffee (I'll put that on the board as encouragement for my staff to seek him out...I think he will be more popular than normal!)

#WLSalt - why I support

As a new leader of a department I'm continually searching for ways to be the best leader I can be.  It's a daily challenge that I accept with open arms and if at the end of the day I can say that if I can go two steps forward and one step back I'm still moving forward.  One area that has become more and more salient in my time in my position is the man/woman dynamic of leadership.  Don't get me wrong, I didn't come into this area blind as I've always supervised women and feel very comfortable supervising and working with women.  What I am beginning to notice is that the higher I go up the proverbial career ladder, those that I supervise are climbing up that ladder as well.  My three direct reports are all women, and all damn good at what they do.  As I work to help them grow and evaluate what they want their next level to be their is one area that is becoming more and more clear - I will never understand what it is like to be a woman leader.  That is why I continue to support #WLSalt - not only is it important that we have a strong female presence in all areas of our profession, it is a mildly selfish way for me to supplement my leadership with any area I will never fully get.  Whenever I need advice I know I can reach out to the hundreds of strong women out there that I can bounce ideas off of or direct my staff  towards to get them engaged.  So to the #WLSalt sisters, thank you for your good work you have started and know that you will always have support from me while we continue to do the good work that still needs to be done!

Hello Pacific Tigers

Hello Pacific!

I'm excited to meet you all and I look forward to the chance to getting to work with each of you.  In the meantime, please allow this little video shout out to serve as my initial hello.  I apologize for the video/sound quality - apparently my Netbook didn't come with the decked out HD video set-up I thought it did (you get what you pay for I guess!)

If you have questions feel free to email me, or if you use Twitter send your ?s to #askthedirector

Good luck with opening!

Torry

Why I Give

In response to @annmarieklotz challenge I thought I'd put out there about why I give to the ACUHO-I Foundation.  I'll let the video do the talking!