Are You Ready to Rumble?

?

Well, are you? No, I’m not talking about wrestling, except in the most metaphorical of senses. Rather, I am channeling my inner @Brené Brown: leadership coach, public speaker, and (as her LinkedIn profile asserts) courage-builder.

If, like me, you lead in a large and complex organization, you no doubt have certain challenges that just seem to rattle around without ever really getting resolved. Perhaps they have too many pieces, such that fixing them is just too much effort for any one person. Or those pieces are “owned” by people in different areas of the institution, and territoriality has set in at this point. Or the history behind the puzzle is simply layered in too much emotion, personality, and institutional culture, rendering it untouchable for practical purposes.

Over the course of my career, I have derived the most satisfaction from engaging in this space, because it allows me to flex my systems thinking, storytelling, and team building strengths. But it also provides gifts to my colleagues and clients, both in the form of a tricky challenge resolved at last, as well as by building relationships that bridge – and ultimately break down – those “cylinders of excellence” (AKA silos) that plague so many of our workplaces.

At the beginning of 2024, I decided to take up one such challenge: the student advisement experience. Student advisement at #QueensCollege, as with many institutions of higher education – particularly the large, under-resourced ones – can prove exasperating for the students. From the time they are admitted, students are required to engage with multiple software platforms, visit offices that are in different parts of the campus, and navigate a plethora of sometimes conflicting information. When a student gets incorrect advisement, or simply concludes they’re being sent from office to office on a wild goose chase, the repercussions can be costly, both financially and in time to degree. Frustrations can build to the point that a student simply decides it is not worth the effort, and they either choose another school or – tragically – step out altogether. And it’s not just the students who are negatively affected. Professional staff, as well as faculty, are also caught up in miscommunication, confusion, and frustration resulting from disconnection and poor communication across offices. Over time, we found ourselves as an institution facing the predictable outcome: finger-pointing, simmering resentment, and frayed tempers that sparked every time an issue arose … which was often.

Time to rumble.

This past January, I convened a Rumble Group consisting of key individuals across several divisions: Student Affairs, Enrollment Management, Academic Advising, the Provost’s Office, and advisors in academic departments. Aside from the initial meeting, the people involved are largely individuals with “boots on the ground” who are located two or three layers down in the org chart. The group was charged with tackling student advising as players on the same team, meeting regularly to identify pain points and resolve them together. Here’s an excerpt from the invitation I sent the Rumble Group members:

“As you have heard already from your area supervisor or directly from me, I am assembling the best possible?group?of subject matter experts, trouble-shooters par excellence, and general paradigm shifters - YOU - to join forces and take a deep dive into improving the student advisement experience. Student advisement is spread out across several different offices at Queens College, and we know from feedback we've received from students that they can find the disconnects inherent in this model to be frustrating. And this frustration, miscommunication, and perceived run-around can be a catalyst for student disengagement, delayed progress to degree, and negative reputational impact to the college. Good news is these things are eminently solvable through working together.??

Here are the ground rules for Rumbling:

·?????? Be vulnerable: set aside the armor

·?????? Be creative: nothing is too wacky

·?????? Be brave: take risks on behalf of our students?

·?????? Have fun!”

The Rumble Group has already moved the needle in appreciable ways. We are bravely charting and sorting out the lapses, leakages, and redundancies in our shared workflows. We are collectively creating resources in a challenging budget environment through tapping the talent around our table – witness, for instance, the Departmental Advisor Hub developed by my 2023-2024 Faculty Fellow, @Susan Davis (https://www.qc.cuny.edu/academics/faculty-advisor-hub/. And most importantly, we are keeping our students – their learning, their experience, and their outcomes – front and center, the proverbial North Star guiding us through sometimes choppy waters.

@Brené Brown identifies the heart of the rumble as vulnerability. This could not be more accurate. I truly believe that no-one had rumbled with the student advisement challenge at #QueensCollege until now precisely because it required grappling with vulnerability that comes from not knowing the answers, from learning and working with unfamiliar people and processes. Brown makes the vital connection between vulnerability and courage. It really does take courage as a leader to tackle big, longstanding, complex problems – and it builds confidence for everyone involved once you have.

Communication, problem-solving, and working across silos doesn’t just happen. It must be scaffolded through regular and structured engagement. It is imperative that leadership present an aligned front around improvement and raise this goal above all – but especially above blame, guilt, and shame. Equally imperative is that leadership stay out of the way of the problem-solving that is best undertaken by those with the working knowledge on the ground.

With the new academic year underway, we’re diving back into our advising Rumble; and we’ve started a new Rumble Group focused on transfer.

Over to you. Are you ready to rumble? Let me know in the comments how you’ve led or participated in rumble-like groups and what you’ve learned from that experience.