Imagine: It is December 31st and the countdown to midnight rolls down. The ball drops at Times Square, or my personal favorite, multiple firework shows explode over the Las Vegas Strip — all to welcome in the new year. Ringing in the new year has many different traditions. “Out with the old and in with the new”, people use the new year to create new goals for themselves. Many choose to lose weight or get in better shape; this leads to crowded gyms in the month of January. Others plan to visit far off and exotic places; this leads to more credit card debt for some. However, many folks choose to make new year’s resolutions. These resolutions are various aspects of their lives they would like to nurture and improve throughout the year.
Imagine: It is the end of August and the countdown to the first day of school rolls down. The door decorations are carefully crafted, or my personal favorite, the budget gets refreshed for the new fiscal year. Working in higher education, I like to make new SCHOOL YEAR resolutions. Schools on semester systems typically start in August. Schools on quarter systems typically start at the end of September near the autumnal equinox. After we’ve been enculturated to only make new year’s resolutions in January at the turn of the calendar year, alternatively making resolutions in August and September can feel strange for some. (Of course many different religions and cultures commemorate and welcome a new year outside of the month of January.)
Plan Early
Working specifically in Residential Education, we are the first to welcome students back. Not that it’s a competition, but our staff work to welcome students returning to campus while many of our colleagues are busy preparing for new student welcomes and the start of classes. To use an old computer science term, Residential Education is FILO — or First In and Last Out. It takes a lot of time and energy to prepare our students for success in August and September, keep up with their needs throughout the entire year, and then close residences down at the end of the academic year in May or June. Do you have something say about RA Training? You better reach-out to your friends in Residential Education before Memorial Day. During the summer we are either spending time with loved ones on vacation or actively working on training and opening for the new school year. Everything for these processes must be manually triggered. As in, someone has to sit-down and do it. Otherwise, processes do not go as planned. August and September, the new school year, are the busiest months of year for those of us working in Residential Education.
When the new school year begins, having attainable goals help us measure progress and stay motivated. Years ago, I learned that your life is either better or worse than one year ago — no “in-between.” Many people like more of a gray area than this, but over time I have found such a snapshot is true. As an administrator, I like reflecting and using this concept to help reconcile my own feelings. Stress and problems never truly going away. I like to ask myself, “are the stress and problems I am dealing with now taking up the same amount of time, energy, and mental fitness as what I was grappling with at this time last year?” If the answer is “No”, then I like to reassure myself of my progress. If the answer to that question is “Yes” then I know I need to reach-out and ask for more support of my colleagues and team. This can include everything from explicitly asking for help or re-evaluating how I can better delegate tasks to my team.
Work SMARTer not Harder
In 1981, George Doran, Arthur Miller, and James Cunningham first published the concept of S.M.A.R.T goals. These are goals that fit the following criteria:
· Specific
· Measurable
· Attainable
· Realistic
· Timely
This approach truly breaks-down goals and makes them more palatable. I coach my students and professional staff all the time to focus their goals within existing frameworks. This, because we often focus on what resources we do not have. However, much of what we do no have is not in our direct control. Therefore, I focus on what is in my control. What can I make better? How can achieving this benefit the greatest number of people in my organization?
One of my SMART (or at least “SMART”-ish) goals from this past year was to develop and administer a survey instrument for out student leader training for Resident Assistants. In 2021, amongst a re-organization of staff and being short employees on top of that, a comprehensive survey instrument was just not as high of a priority as working with the more immediate challenges myself and our team were facing at the time. One year later in 2022, I was able to work with my staff to create and administer a survey instrument to measure the effectiveness of our required training sessions for our student leaders.
Here is how this goal fits into the SMART model:
· Specific: Survey Instrument for student staff training
· Measurable: As a baseline, did we do this or not?
· Attainable: Do I have the time and bandwidth to make this happen?
· Realistic: Is this something Orlando and/or his team can complete with available resources
· Timely: By the end of training in September — which happens every year
We plan to use this data so we know what aspects of training we should preserve and elevate and what aspects of training we need to improve. Knowing what to improve is critical because that is often where time and resources are dedicated in the development of training.
Now the design of the instruments and the validity of the methodology of the assessment itself are also critical components of this goal. However, the snapshot looks like this: 2021=no data on staff training versus 2022=Survey distributed to 500 participants at the conclusion of staff training. The fact that my team got a survey ready and distributed as compared to no survey last year IS progress. The next goal regarding the survey can now be more specific and crystalized now that a foundation has been created.
A new school year brings new goals. Along with these goals comes a healthy optimism to have a great year as we progress students and professionals helping them achieve their goals. HAPPY NEW SCHOOL YEAR!
P.S. The weight room is STILL very crowded at the start of the new school year too.
