Coming to Back to Life

I put socks on twice this week … er, I mean I worked two days in my office this week. Monday, July 20, was our first day back as part of a three-phase return for the Fall semester. I have to say it felt good and was a refreshing change for me in contrast to my “Zoom cocoon” of the past four months.

The Utica Campus was spotless. Our Facilities crew has been working on campus all this time and we all should be grateful for their commitment and hard work — the place is beautiful. The buildings and grounds stood out more than usual because there were so few of us on campus. It was a different feeling for sure. However, this was the plan all along: to keep our population density low to minimize risk and begin testing our approach to safety while the numbers are small.

After arriving on campus, I went to the checkpoint at Payne Hall and got my bracelet for the day. My first day it took less than five minutes to check in with a few people in line, and three days later it took less than one minute. The people staffing the doors to check for bracelets as people entered the building provided me an extra level of assurance that the people on campus have minimal risk of COVID-19, having answered the mandatory questions and not having a high temperature.

We have a couple of police academies in operation, in addition to several classes in the Science and Technology Building finishing classes that were suspended in the Spring. Walking around campus with my mask on felt as normal as going to the grocery store and was a small change to reap the benefit of running into colleagues and having unscheduled, informal conversations.

Walking around campus gave me a chance to reflect on just what a massive disruption this pandemic has created. We can “get things done” and check off our daily task lists while working remotely. But as I’ve learned over the years, “how” we get things done is often just as important as “what” gets done. Zoom and email certainly provide the technological means for our work, but the human element — even when six feet apart with a mask — is a powerful thing, particularly when it comes to the student experience.

Our challenge is to hold on to enough of that human element and provide what we can to the extent possible with safety measures in place. I often say that change never happens at the right pace — it’s too fast for some and too slow for others; too much for some and too little for others. Our phased return is intended to provide a slow and measured change to allow the College to implement safety protocols in ways that allow for evaluation and adjustment and provide all of us with a steady and supportive experience in emerging — if only a little bit — from our Zoom cocoons…and revisiting parts of our closets we haven’t seen in months.

If you have any questions or comments, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.

Week 1 of COVID-19 Remoteness Down …

Humans are generally social creatures. Even many who consider themselves introverts are hard pressed to say the social-isolating parameters under which we’re all living are not a challenge. This historic reality is and shall continue to test each of us in ways we’re only just starting to understand.

I spent my first full week of working remotely straining for some kind of routine to touch a sense of normalcy in this remarkably abnormal environment. I meet with my office team every morning for a Zoom meeting just to stay connected and pretend that we’re still doing our morning catch-up in the office before phones start ringing and meetings commence. It’s certainly not the same, but I cherish these virtual check-ins since they are as close as we can make it for now.

Things are definitely different, but Zoom meetings with colleagues still getting work done in spite of the circumstances motivate me. I’m inspired by stories of faculty and staff reaching out to students to encourage and support them through this major disruption, which for many was just one more thing they didn’t need to contend with in their already complex lives. Also inspiring are the innovative actions departments like the Business Office, Information Technology, Residence Life, and others have taken to adapt and stretch themselves and their processes in this new environment. 

When I need a boost of positive energy, I visit our internal MVCC Workplace social platform to see the great pictures and posts from employees sharing their experiences and staying connected despite being apart. I’m not going to lie, the email volume is a bit intense and the unprecedented screen time can feel like a burden somedays. The workday isn’t as tight as it used to be, and when work and home are all happening in the same place, the time can just bleed and feel like you’re always on despite never feeling completely on — if that makes any sense.

One thing that I believe needs to be reinforced is what I’ve come to learn about change — it moves too fast for some, too slow for others, and rarely right for anyone. This change came much too fast for everyone — the transition to working remotely all happened in about a week. We’ve quickly gone from talking about work/life balance vs. work/life integration to everything completely converging on us. When speaking about change I always encourage people to be patient with themselves and also with others. Never has that notion been more important.

I join many of you in wrestling with the feeling of wondering if I’m being productive “enough” without really knowing if that can be defined in this environment. I can block out time for a Zoom meeting here and there, but then something pops on the family front, or a distraction (like the snack cupboard or refrigerator!) presents itself to pull me away from being as productive as I think I should be. I think of those parents with young children at home and I can barely imagine what that must be like. I’ve been watching Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show: At Home Edition, and he asked Lin-Manuel Miranda if he was writing any new Broadway musicals like Hamilton, and he replied, “Writing? Working? I’m learning how to teach my kid math!” So even the most successful professionals are dealing with prioritizing each day, which brings a special blend of unprecedented freedom and opportunity with brutal isolation and monotony.

Here at the start of week number two, I’m going to try and “model the way” myself and encourage everyone to let go of any guilt — whether subtle or prominent — for feeling less productive than we think we should be. By recognizing the magnitude of this time in history that we’re living through as our present, we should all embrace each other in knowing that everyone is doing their best under the circumstances. Some days are going to be busier than a good day on campus and others will feel like we’re adrift in an open sea.

Our individual and collective resilience for ourselves, our students, and our family and friends will be something that truly will make us stronger when we get on the other side of this. We’ll be able to look back on last week when everything felt so foreign and clunky and face future challenges with a newfound strength and confidence that we wouldn’t have had if we hadn’t gone through this crisis together.

If you have any questions, comments, or insights, please contact me directly at presblog@mvcc.edu.