Families Update

I just came from guest lecturing at the Design school in a facilitation class. We talked about the art and science of focus groups. We discussed how focus groups were originally created to determine what features customers wanted in a product. Now we use focus groups for everything from needs assessment to program evaluation. However, the theme behind most focus groups is the importance of listening to the customer or client to guide our work. I also had a great conversation with a state specialist recently about how important it is to remember that customers guide our work and we need to listen and respond accordingly (within the boundaries of our mission). It reminded both of us that we don’t thank our clients/customers often enough for the good advice they give us. It also helped me remember how important clients are to making sure our programs meet important needs, are designed and delivered in ways that meet people where they are (rather than where we are), and result in deep impact. This all came together for me when I spent time with regional and county staff and Extension Council members at a regional gathering this week. They were taking the time to eat, talk, listen, and enahnce Extension programming with each other. Here are some characteristics of people who feel served by clients 1) listen, 2) empathize, 3) help others heal, 4) be aware, 5) persuade, 6) conceptualize, 7) have foresight, 8) be a steward, and 9) commit to the growth of people.* What have you done recently to listen to clients and help them feel they are right about our work?

*The Spirit of the Servant Leader edited by Frech and Spears.

Professional Development, Recognition

I’ve been struck for awhile with the observation that people around me seem to shy away from thinking and instead opt to spend their time only taking action. This became a concern one day when I realzied that most of the people I was working on a project didn’t read or contemplate the documents they received for project meetings and discussions. They seem to think that reading about and reflecting on our work and our work assumptions isn’t as important as taking action. This worries me! What this says to me is that people don’t want to be intentional about their work and don’t really care about the context or impact of their work. They seem to be simply driven by “more is better” rather than the quality of the work. I try to save at least an hour each day for reflection on what is going on in my work. Often this takes place as I’m biking to or from campus, on my lunch walk, driving to events, or trying to fall asleep. I use several words to help me think critically about my work 1) assumptions, 2) scope, 3) depth, 4) innovation, 5) invisible/missing, 6) context, 7) intention, 8) intutition, 9) surprise, and 10) known/unknown. What do you do to be sure your action is intentional through reflection instead of random events filling your days?

Environmental Scanning, Professional Development, Programming

Many of my days include meetings by phone conference. How delightful to join a phone conference today and hear laughter from those already on the line. Do you remember the last time you had an enjoyable deep laugh to the point where you had tears in your eyes or you stomach muscles hurt or you were exhausted from all the energy released? Research shows that people who laugh are happier, healthier, and live longer. My observation is that we don’t laugh deeply or often enough in all we do. In fact, I’ve wondered how I can find ways to “figuartively tickle” the people I work with and play with so we laugh more often and more deeply. Here are some things I’ve discovered that seem to help build an environment for laughter: 1) make fun of the silly things I do, 2) use tasteful and down to earth humor frequently, 3) encourage others to make me laugh, 4) look for fun in everything, even the most mundane things in life, and 5) do my best to keep my attitude one that others want to be with instead of avoiding (I call this “the Eyore factor”).  What have you done to bring laughter to yourself and others? Feel free to tickle me to make our lives healthier and our work environment more productive!

General, Professional Development

Thank you to all of you who engaged in the rich discussions this week at our ISUEO to Families inservice. I’m especially excited about how all the presentations and conversations built on each other. An important theme throughout the two days was the use of technology to improve our program deliver and communication. The iPads sprinkled throughout the room, the sharing of educational apps, and the discussions on reaching young adults through social media all point to a heightened awareness of the need for each of us to learn about and try new technologies and new uses of old technologies. Were you “bit by a bright idea” during our time together? I sure was! I added new apps to my iPad and played with them. I went to the Family-Environment Connection website http://bit.ly/ISUEcoFamily to learn more about the online conference serires, blog, and twitter postings. I also smiled as I saw many of us get excited about bright ideas related to technology. I also encourage you to put into action Vice President Kress’s suggestion to us that we not be afraid to experiment and to not be afraid of failure. I believe there are many bright ideas we need to explore to better reach those who need our work and to improve our educational offerings. Be sure to save some time to try bright ideas!

Environmental Scanning, Professional Development, Programming

Several weeks ago I sent a message to all our Families staff that said, “75% of field specialists time should be spent on priority programs.” As you may have guessed, this has spurred some important conversations. Here are some of my thoughts about what I’ve been hearing are the issues:

1. Why do we need such a specific guideline? The last guideline for how Extension staff should spend their time was created in 2005 (see: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/forstaff/reporting/planning.htm). Our work has changed since that time so an update is needed. With changes in our staffing, we also need to be sure we have coverage for our most important programs, a strong focus on what we’re trying to accomplish, and the ability to collect a significant amount of data to show statewide impact.

2. What priority programs are part of the 75%? All Families priority programs are included in this guideline. For some faculty and staff, interdisciplinary priority programs may be included (i.e. urban, healthy living, food systems). 

3. Does the 75% include state supported programs? No, just priority programs. If a state supported program meets the criteria to be a priority program, then it should be moved into priority standing. Initiatives are also not priority programs at this time (i.e. Families for All, Family-Environment Connection, Midlife and Beyond).

4. How often is the Families priority program list reviewed? Each program team needs to review and update their list at least annually. Optimally, this is an ongoing process.

5. How do I know if the amount of time I’m spending on priority programs is appropriate? Each of us needs to continually work with our supervisors and work team partners to be sure the focus of our work is fitting our individual needs and the needs of the program area. Each of us has our own unique priority program portfolio. You may wish to track how you spend your time on a weekly basis and see if you are spending more or less time on a program than you should. I personally track that on a daily basis so I can try to keep my work in balance.

I hope this helps us all clarify a bit how we best spend our time to be an effective program area. I’d love to hear your thoughts on this or if you have additional questions.

Professional Development, Programming

I’m participating in an online course on performance consulting with some of our CIRAS coworkers. I’m finding some wonderful connections between the concepts of this work and my experience with transformative learning. One of the goals of performance consulting is to start with the end product in mind with the client and then develop the intervention based on that rather than a consultant telling the client what they need to do. Part of the process requires both parties to learn from each other to develop a strong and trusting partnership. I find this very consistent with the conditions for transformative learning that often require an “other” to be present to stretch and push us to better, more holistic thinking and action and to see ourselves as co-learners and co-teachers in the learning process rather than just content or process experts.

The text book for the performance consulting class is “Seeing sytesms: Unlocking the Mysteries of Organizational Life” by Oshry. A concept the stuck with me after reading this book was the idea of mutual coaching. For a healthy professional life, we all must take time and care enough about each other to provide mutual coaching. I’ve always found this to be how I learn the most important lessons in my life, when coworkers give me kind nudges to change the way I work or exist in the world or help me note the ways I’m succeeding. What a great gift we can give each other! I hope all of us each day take the time and go out of our way to coach others on ways to be better educators and better people in the world. I hope too, we can all be open to personal coaching from others.

Professional Development

Over the years I’ve found one of the most important parts of my work is being a connector. I tend to help people connect with each other or help them connect with resources. I consider this effort part of my “facilitator” approach to Extension work. Here are some ways I try to be a helpful connector:

- I try to figure out what each person is looking for. What are their goals both professionally and personally so I can find appropriate connections

- I invite people to activities, events, and gatherings to help them build their social capital

- I intentionally look for opportunities for connections to take place

- I try to provide safe places and spaces for people to have trusting conversations with me and others

- I share personal insights and experiences on how to navigate the connected pathways we are on

- I try to stay connected with overall communities instead of just subsets so I can continue to see many opportunities

- I find ways to engage with communities to keep my connections up to date

- I try to reduce barriers so connections can be made more easily

I believe one of the best gifts we can give to each other is to help make connections that improve our work.

General, Professional Development

Yesterday, I participated in an excellent webinar by the National 4-H Council on “Social Media – Choosing your channels”. Intended for basic users, the webinar gave a very nice overview of Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Specific samples of successful incorporation of social media in programming were shared as well as a list of online resources. I’d encourage you to devote 60 minutes of your time to professional development and check out the webinar recording, powerpoint slides, and Q&A overview.   -Kristin

Professional Development, Technology facebook, social media, twitter, YouTube

Margaret VanGinkel recently gave me a book by Dan Buettner from National Geographic on thriving and finding happiness. This is the first book I’ve seen my husband read from cover to cover in a long time and in record speed. I too enjoyed it and wanted to share some main points to help us all create and maintain happiness. Two forces tend to prevent happiness 1) our brains under remember everyday pleasures and 2) the distracting nature of contemporary life keeps us from interacting with friends, meaningful work, hobbies, and time with others. So we need to change our environment to enhance our happiness. We do this through being a part of a community that makes you feel good and matches your values, through the workplace by feeling engaged and using your skills, having a social life that is full of firends and others, eating right, being active and laughing, having a healthy financial life, creating a home that favors happiness, and investing in ourselves so we feel educated, full of purpose, healthy, and have capacity for gratitude, love, and the arts. So how do you do at shaping your life for happiness? I know my year with ISUE has been one of my happinest. You all take happiness very seriously. Thank you for sharing meaningful and valuable work with me.

General, Professional Development, Uncategorized happiness

This past week we had a great inservice with our 4-H colleagues exploring healthy living programming. On the last day of our inservice we met as separate groups. Some of you who weren’t able to attend the Families morning session asked me to give you an update on my comments. Here’s what I shared.

FIRST YEAR DISCOVERIES – in my first year with ISUE I’ve found we are doing a good job of addressing program niches, being great entrepreneurs, have a professional, intelligent and caring nature, and a culture that is fueled by democracy, decentralization, local needs, strong partnerships, and pride.

BUDGET- There are a number of dynamics impacting our budget. We don’t know anything for certain other than a 1% reduction for Smith Lever funds for the current federal fiscal year (we all cheered that it was only 1%). The governor has proposed a 6% cut to ISU, the legislature cuts are projected from 0-10%, and more federal cuts will be coming. ISUE also has to plan for retirement payments, increases in benefits, and pay raises. For the past year we have been preparing for these cuts by not filling open positions, being shy on spending, increasing our revenue generation, and preparing to use our savings. Employees who would like to discuss retirment or reduction in time should talk with Nancy or Jeanne. ISUE to Families currently raises 53% of our budget through grants, contracts, and fees. With the decline of public funding, we will need to increase that to 75% in five years. We should more fully explore giving as a revenue source. I reported on giving to date for Families programs.

REGIONAL ALIGNMENT – We’ve had many requests internally and externally to realign our regional specialists with the 20 Extension regions. We’ve started that discussion and are basing the realignment on matching the current 20 regions, matching with client preferred trade/service areas, matching all Families speacialists across teams in regions, and personal preferences. We are on hold with final decisions until the budget situation is clear. Thanks to everyone who has been helping with these conversations.

OUR FUTURE – In the next year I believe we need to choose to thrive and empbrace change, choose to care about each other, continue our enthusiasm and passion that inpsires people, move ahead without fear, meet people where they are at, pioneer new methods, fight invisibility with success stories, develop donors, shore up our relationships with Extension county staff and councils, enhance our revenue generation, enhance our program evaluation and impact writing, and more fully develop program chains for deeper experiences for our clients.

Administration, Budget/Fiscal, Professional Development, Programming