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!

March Madness: Looking for a job edition

Sometimes thoughts for blog posts hit me at the most random times.  The inspiration for this post hit me at about 4:30am when I woke up from a dream revolving around the overarching concept of interviewing.  In my mid-sleep stupor it donned on me that the overall process of apply and interviewing for jobs is a lot like NCAA basketball tournament - March Madness.

If you look at each step of the process as a game within the tournament you can begin to see how this bracket might line up.

The Field of 64ish (thank you play-in games)
Much like a teams regular season resume, your resume - and meeting minimum qualifications for the position - get you into "The Big Dance."

The Second Round (32 and counting)
So you made the cut.  Your "resume" got you a high enough seed that you were able to make it through the first round.  Now you are onto the phone interview for the round of 32.

Sweet 16
The folks in the selection committee thought your resume was good, and your phone interview impressed enough that you made it along to a 2nd round interview.  The candidate pool is about a 1/4 of what it started with and your hard work is starting to pay off.

Elite 8
This is where the tournament hits the grind.  It's been a long process thus far and now you must clear your reference checks.  Make sure you have the right strategy for this game to ensure a spot in the Final 4.

Final 4
Taking the tournament game-by-game you made it through to the on-campus interview.  This portion of tournament is important, but it's not the end all be all.  You made it this far because you were able to win each of the previous rounds.  Much like the real Final 4 you are going to have to win a couple of games to come out on top.  Treat each part of this process (meals, meetings with different stakeholders, contact with your campus host, etc.) like they are their own separate games. 

NATIONAL CHAMP
You did it - you've managed to navigate each round of the tournament and were hired for the position, you are the National Champ.  You were literally able to survive and advance, just like our outstanding female and male student-athletes have been doing for the past month. 

If you want proof that the process is all about winning each game and moving on to the next, I'll use the University of Arizona men's team as the example.  The UA was able to scrape through their first two round games to make it to the Sweet 16.  In that game versus Duke they put everything on the floor, winning by 16 points.  The next foe they faced, UConn, came out on top in their Elite 8 match-up by one point.  The UA wasn't able to carry over two points from their Sweet 16 matchup to cover the distance against UConn.

So what are you doing to survive and advance in your search process?  The best candidates are the ones who know how to look at each game within the tournament and do the things they need to do to focus on that game, and that game only.