- Author: Wendy Powers
- Author: Wendy Powers
Are jurors allowed to yell out ‘Objection'? I've wanted to say that so many times over the last couple of days. I'd like this whole process to move along at a faster pace. A few years ago I went through a training that built on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator by answering a series of questions, pre-training, that provided insight into how participants process information. During the training, we simulated a 1-hr meeting during a 1-min exercise. The first group spent less than 15 seconds (or less than 15 min of the 1-hr meeting) gathering data, proposing solutions, and preparing an action plan. The fourth group spent the entire meeting wanting to gather and discuss data, thus not getting to the point of discussing solutions or developing an action plan. I was in the third group, spending half the meeting gathering and interpreting data, a quarter of the meeting proposing solutions, and the final quarter of the meeting developing an action plan around the preferred solution. So I can only imagine how frustrated/bored those jurors that exhibit behaviors like those in the first two groups of the simulation are with this process.
I've heard great things about the personality type training that was conducted at the statewide conference. Perhaps this is one that we could offer again as a webinar. I'm hoping we are able to do that with the training that was provided on the topic of managing change. If you attended a training that you thought was exceptional and appropriate to be offered to all of ANR via a Zoom webinar, please let me know and we can see what we can accommodate. It's important to continue the conversations that were started at the conference. Webinar-based trainings and discussions throughout the year are one way to do that. Given the response to our keynote speaker that's another topic that might be worthy of further discussion. Remember, Dr. Antwi Akom has a TED talk that you might be interested in taking a look at.
Don't forget about the Third Thursday WebANR Cafes that start in May! It couldn't be any easier to remember – the same Zoom room each month and always the third Thursday of the month. I've marked my calendar without even knowing the topics. At only 30 to 35 minutes each, and over the noon hour, it's an easy investment of time to make, regardless of the topic. And for those months that are already booked on my calendar, I love the fact that I can go to the recording and get caught up on the conversation after the fact.
Looking forward to hearing your ideas. Time for me to go back to the juror box. At least I get Monday 'off' and can be back in the office for the day.
- Author: Wendy Powers
The new Public Value Statements (PVS) have been posted. While I certainly wouldn't state that these are ‘forever final' they are what we are going to work with for the foreseeable future. This version is markedly improved over the first draft, which were an impressive product given the timeframe provided to develop (a single 2-day meeting with no follow-up editing) and the fact that this was the first time leaders across the division were asked to come together and craft a set of PVS that reflected the breadth of ANR. If you think about it, that first draft was really a remarkable accomplishment! The most recent version of statements are a reflection of considerably more time to contemplate the draft statements, followed by several rounds of editing. The process as a whole resembles an ‘ideation' activity whereby the original brainstorms are improved upon in an iterative process. Had we been committed to the original draft statements, and unwilling to change, we would have missed the opportunity to use these improved upon statements.
When I think about change I am often drawn back to a conversation with a sibling and Bank of America's business model that embraces change. But it's not just Bank of America that seeks change as a key element of continuous improvement. Should you happen to be on a Southwest flight over the next week, take a look at the current issue of the magazine and see how the concept is embodied in the philosophy of Google as well. Heidi Zak's husband, a former Google employee, reflects that "this is how Google works. It's all about change; they're constantly changing the way they work because it creates room to innovate". A colleague sent this to me yesterday. As difficult as change can be, it's heartening to see that it can be effective (as well as a bit scary!).
The value of the PVS extend beyond the intended goal of helping us see how we can focus our efforts by spending time where we can derive the greatest impact. When Nancy Franz joins us in June for the WebANR, she plans to share with us success stories of how PVS have been used in Extension, to help us all better understand the opportunities before us now that we have 7 remarkable ‘elevator pitches' to share with those who don't really know the work and impacts of ANR. Our listeners might include ourselves (those of us who haven't had the chance to really get to know all of the work of ANR because we are so busy with our own work), prospective ANR colleagues, potential partners and allies in our efforts, and supporters who share our values and goals.
I think we are on the edge of something that is more powerful than any one of us could have imagined. So take a look at the PVS and find your own story in them. In the near term, we'll be sharing how the PVS connect to the 24 condition changes. Academics have provided feedback how their work connects to the condition changes and we know that programmatic staff connect to them as well. We're working to close the loop and determine how best to capture staff and academic impacts that move the needle on the condition changes.
Thanks to all for the contributions and feedback!
- Author: Wendy Powers
I'm not a reader. But recently I read an article by Morten Hansen, a faculty member at UCB. Hansen's work suggests that people who find purpose in their work perform better and bring passion to their work. Now I don't know if Hansen is familiar with Cooperative Extension or the Agriculture Experiment Station, but there's no doubt in my mind that if he were to study the work of UC ANR he would find volumes of examples to support his hypothesis. In every county of California and every department where a CE Specialist or AES faculty member resides there are examples that depict the effects of combining passion and purpose to result in extraordinary effort to transform lives.
Because I'm still spending my days as juror #7, I missed the chance to meet with those passionate and purposeful members of the Stanislaus County team on Tuesday. For whatever reason, scheduling and fulfilling that visit has posed particular challenges. Fortunately, Mark Bell made the visit. Hopefully I will get there soon. I'm also unable to participate in a trip with some of the REC directors and REC superintendents to see a couple of ‘RECs' in 2 different states and talk with the leadership of those sites. It would have been a very quick trip but hopefully one that stimulates some ideas not only for the group traveling but also those of us who were unable to travel. I'm looking forward to hearing the reports from those who traveled when we all meet in May 11.
Instead of moping about my situation, I've decided to find the positives:
- I am practicing patience as we sit through the presentation of evidence
- I've had an opportunity to put my calculus skills to use rather than just trust the witness' numbers (part of how I'm dealing with boredom)
- The time period on this jury represents what might be the longest consecutive number of nights spent at home in quite some time
- My daily commute is less than half my normal commute, even on my Davis days
- I'm reminded how fortunate I am to have never needed to be part of a jury trial as anything other than a juror
The list, though perhaps interesting, remains fairly short. But perhaps I will be able to work on my negotiation, facilitation, or conflict resolution skills when we deliberate and can add to the list a bit.
This experience doesn't exactly call for me to bring my creative self to work. I wonder if the court attendant and the court reporter are able to bring both passion and purpose to their positions. In addition, I'm trying hard to find something that I can bring back to UC ANR – a prospective partnership, a programming gap, something….
- Author: Wendy Powers
My civic duty is over. Now it's time to really focus on reviewing merit and promotion documents. With less than 50 days left between now and when I need to have them completed, I have 92 left to review. The math is simple enough so it is just a matter of actually reading 1 to 2 per night followed by reviewing all of the other feedback provided from supervisors, peers/colleagues, and the peer review committee, then writing up my own evaluation document. So far I have 0 complete. On the upside, only 92 more to go.
I have no idea where time is going. I actually started to write this blog on Monday and now it's Thursday. I still have 92 dossiers to review. But in between we've had:
- Program Council which was just a quick call on Tuesday afternoon to more or less check in with few meaty agenda items,
- A really productive meeting with the SI Leaders that covered topics ranging from strategies to increase the number of UC Delivers submissions,
- A call on Monday afternoon with the Task Force on Agriculture and Natural Resources ( a committee of the Academic Senate) where the focus of the conversation was the committee's interest in ANR making itself better known and accessible to all 10 campuses,
- Some administrative things, including the staff evaluation process in both Davis and Oakland (2 different systems so that makes it interesting and a bit of a challenge to keep straight),
- Personnel-related topics that could be any number of things,
- A continuing discussion with CDFA about a potential partnering opportunity that is making headway,
- A couple of meetings and work related to quantifying and conveying progress in our strategic plan, which is relevant to our upcoming annual review meeting with President Napolitano,
- A meeting to talk about the Public Value Statements and next steps,
- And an extended meeting of the executive leadership group to think strategically, which ended up being as much about fires as it did long-term positioning (a reflection of everyone having piles of work in front of us, making it hard to see over the pile)
And now it's Thursday with a whole day of opportunity ahead of me. Mark B., Mark L. and I have a call scheduled mid-morning to talk about the Vice Provost – Academic Personnel and Development position. While I don't have the committee report yet, I want to get their thoughts about the candidate, the position and how it fits into other internal and external factors, including budget and the President's pending decisions about reorganizing UCOP. Regardless of the outcome, the commitment to outstanding personnel development and service remains. Similarly, regardless of the reorganization outcome, the commitment to the mission and the amazing work of ANR remains. There is great comfort in knowing that we will continue to improve the lives of Californians and challenge ourselves to achieve stronger outcomes with greater impact.
Mark L. is packing up in Nebraska today and heading west on Monday. He doesn't start until June 1 but he's already got a number of things on his calendar (meetings, field days) for May. I don't envy him these next couple of weeks. The movers were in Michigan late May 2017 but it seems like that was forever ago and I'm glad to have only a distant memory of the hassle. So glad to be ‘settled' and a part of ANR. Soon, even jury duty will be a distant memory.