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002 - Meaningful Moments in Campus Housing | Apefa Cooper and Maddie Reid [Book Club]
11 Plays4 years ago
We often talk about the experience students will have living in campus housing. When we look more closely, experiences are really just a series of moments, one after another after another. The book, The Power of Moments by Chip and Dan Heath, outlines four unique types of moments: (a) moments of elevation; (b) moments of insight; (c) moments of pride; and, (d) moments of connection.
Our guests today are Apefa Cooper and Maddie Reid who talk about The Power of Moments and demonstrate how they engineered specific types of moments to provide a stronger overall experience for their residents. The idea of focusing on moments as a customer service tool was originally presented by our guests at the 2020 SWACUHO Annual Conference, where it was recognized as a Top 5 program.
Apefa and Maddie close out the episode with some advice surrounding the act of presenting and working with others to facilitate impactful presentations.
Download the Reflection Guide, created by Carly Smith at Texas A&M University! If you put anything into action from the Podcast, please consider sharing it via swacuhopodcast@gmail.com and you may get featured on an upcoming episode.
Be Sure to Thank Our Guests!
Connect with Maddie on Instagram
Seeking professional advice? Fill out this anonymous form and a panel of housing staff will give you their take on your situation on an upcoming podcast.
Resources Mentioned in the Episode
The Power of Moments: Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact [Book]
Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi [University Website]
Texas Christian University [University Website]
University of Texas at Arlington [University Website]
Using Elevated Moments to Facilitate a Culture of Service and Care [SWACUHO Program, 2020]
Magic Castle Hotel [Trip Advisor]
Sarah Blakley [LinkedIn]
Watchmen [Graphic Novel]
Craig Seager [LinkedIn]
Hiring Decisions of Graduate Assistants and Full-Time Hall Directors on Resident Assistant Recruitment [Journal Article]
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Transcript
Introduction to Swakuho Podcast
00:00:01
Speaker
Welcome to the Swakuho podcast.
00:00:04
Speaker
As always, I'm your host, JC Stoner.
00:00:07
Speaker
Today is our first book club where I'm joined by Swakuho members who all read the same book, and we're going to work through some tangible takeaways on incorporating the book content into our jobs.
00:00:17
Speaker
The book we are discussing today is The Power of Moments, Why Certain Experiences Have Extraordinary Impact by Chip and Dan Heath, which focuses on individual moments instead of overall experiences.
00:00:29
Speaker
The book does an excellent job categorizing moments into four easily identifiable groups and then following up on how to construct each type of moment for different outcomes.
00:00:39
Speaker
Most importantly, the book features plenty of tangible examples from various contexts that can easily be actualized in the college housing experience for both staff and students, which our guests today will illustrate.
Meet the Guests: Apefa Cooper and Maddie Reed
00:00:50
Speaker
Our guests today happen to be two of my favorite people, Apefa Cooper and Maddie Reed, both of whom presented a program at Swakuho's 2020 annual conference based on the book we are discussing today.
00:01:02
Speaker
The title of their program was Using Elevated Moments to Facilitate a Culture of Care and Service.
00:01:08
Speaker
Their program was recognized as Top 5 Program that year.
00:01:11
Speaker
A link to their presentation will be in the show notes.
00:01:15
Speaker
Our first guest is Apefa Cooper, who recently began serving as an assistant general manager for American campus communities at Texas A&M University, Corpus Christi.
00:01:24
Speaker
She is originally from Ghana, West Africa, but currently calls Texas home.
00:01:29
Speaker
After living in Arlington, Texas, Apefa and her husband now live in Corpus Christi.
00:01:33
Speaker
Apefa enjoys DIY projects and hopes to renovate her future home soon.
00:01:38
Speaker
She has a huge heart for people and making them feel like they belong in the world.
00:01:42
Speaker
Apefa is learning to live loved and unapologetically through her faith and passion and is slowly figuring out life with her husband, Kyle, and her crazy dog, Leah.
00:01:52
Speaker
Apefa, welcome to the show.
00:01:54
Speaker
Thank you, JC, for having me.
00:01:56
Speaker
I'm super excited to be here.
00:01:59
Speaker
Our second guest is Maddie Reed.
00:02:01
Speaker
Maddie is a former hall director for Texas Christian University and now currently serves as executive assistant to the president at Pursuit Sales Solutions.
00:02:09
Speaker
Before working at TCU, she worked full time at the University of Texas at Arlington as a residence director while pursuing her master's degree in educational leadership and policy studies.
00:02:20
Speaker
She absolutely loves DFW and spending time with friends, family, and her fiance.
00:02:25
Speaker
Maddie, welcome to the show.
00:02:28
Speaker
Hi, thanks JC.
00:02:31
Speaker
So excited to be here.
00:02:32
Speaker
Thanks for having me.
00:02:34
Speaker
It's good to have you both on.
00:02:36
Speaker
So first things first, Maddie, I believe you are on call tonight.
00:02:39
Speaker
Is that correct?
00:02:40
Speaker
That is true.
00:02:41
Speaker
The life of a housing professional.
00:02:44
Speaker
So if we have any gaps or we hear a phone ring, we're just going to assume that you're taking care of business, right?
00:02:50
Speaker
Caring for our students, what we do best.
00:02:53
Speaker
Number one priority.
00:02:55
Speaker
And another fun fact is we used to all work together.
Impact of 'The Power of Moments' on Professionals
00:02:59
Speaker
Yes, the UTA days.
00:03:02
Speaker
All right.
00:03:02
Speaker
So let's start by telling our listeners, why did the power of moments initially pique your interest?
00:03:09
Speaker
Yeah, I can go first.
00:03:11
Speaker
I think for me, I and I was originally introduced to the book by UJC.
00:03:17
Speaker
Remember, you came and said, hey, this is book.
00:03:19
Speaker
And I think we can do a presentation on it.
00:03:22
Speaker
I think it was with our local UTA conference presentation.
00:03:28
Speaker
And so when I got the book and I was looking through it and then we talked about the presentation, I think that was really special for me.
00:03:38
Speaker
And it just reminded me of how I could make small moments and what I could do to really make small moments.
00:03:45
Speaker
So we'll talk a little bit more about it.
00:03:46
Speaker
But for me, as someone who dreams big, it was just a calm reminder for me that I didn't have to
00:03:53
Speaker
create build a castle i could just do small things to make meaningful moments and so um that's a really that's why i really like this book and went on to do another presentation with the with you both and yeah we're here doing this podcast so
00:04:10
Speaker
Yeah, I think for me, similar to a Puffa, I mean, JC recommended it to me.
00:04:16
Speaker
And when JC Stoner tells you to do something, you're going to do it.
00:04:20
Speaker
So that initially piqued my interest in the book.
00:04:24
Speaker
But then, you know, after reading the bio, learning more about what it covered, I just felt like
00:04:30
Speaker
you know, Pefa said, how do we make little things matter more in our everyday lives?
00:04:35
Speaker
We're in the business of caring for students and trying to make things more meaningful and be more intentional with the way that we support them.
00:04:43
Speaker
And I thought this seems like a great resource for me to use in my everyday life with people that I love, but also students that I love and care for, peers that I love and care for, and so on.
00:04:53
Speaker
Well, I'm just glad you both didn't say that I mandated you to read the book as some sort of authoritarian plug of professional development, which I'm sure it was.
00:05:03
Speaker
But the book I came across, it was just one of those things that really spoke to me also and probably one of the more impactful books that I'd read that –
00:05:14
Speaker
I was so apparently willing to share with lots of people.
00:05:17
Speaker
So I've shared with it with a number of people over the years.
00:05:20
Speaker
And I always it really speaks to me about the, you know, my current job at
00:05:27
Speaker
in housing operations about customer service.
00:05:29
Speaker
And I always talk about the customer service standpoint of like thinking about moments as investing goodwill into people.
00:05:37
Speaker
And yeah, things are going to go wrong and things happen and we'll get into some more of those.
00:05:41
Speaker
But if we invest enough goodwill and create enough meaningful moments that hopefully the, uh,
00:05:47
Speaker
The not so meaningful or the negative moments won't seem as dramatic as because they know there's a history of providing good moments.
Creating Positive Experiences vs Problem Solving
00:05:56
Speaker
So, Matty, why don't you start by telling us about like the analogy of potholes and how that relates?
00:06:02
Speaker
Yeah, so there's this idea of customer service.
00:06:05
Speaker
And oftentimes, there's a lot of research that has been done.
00:06:09
Speaker
But, you know, we kind of feel that oftentimes, companies or organizations or universities think of fixing problems, or customer service is just fixing a pothole.
00:06:20
Speaker
And what we mean by that is that
00:06:23
Speaker
People can fix a pothole all day long, but that's not really going to make a difference in everyday life.
00:06:28
Speaker
If you fix a pothole on the road, someone's not going to drive on it the next day and think, oh my gosh, this has made my day so much better.
00:06:36
Speaker
This pothole was fixed.
00:06:37
Speaker
They're probably not even going to remember they drove over it the day before.
00:06:41
Speaker
And so really, it's just the matter of customer service typically is
00:06:47
Speaker
It's just fixing the negative.
00:06:49
Speaker
But what we discuss with this, what this book discusses and what we can do to take it a step further is really this concept of eliminating that pothole or that negative experience.
00:07:00
Speaker
And how do we then turn those positive experiences and elevate them to make it more memorable, more meaningful, and really where it overwhelms people instead of just whelming people by fixing a pothole?
00:07:15
Speaker
Like you don't go into a grocery store and get all excited about the lights working and like the floors being cleaned.
00:07:21
Speaker
Like those are just kind of expected, you know?
00:07:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:24
Speaker
The bare minimum.
00:07:25
Speaker
Like if we didn't have those things, sure, it'd be a negative experience.
00:07:28
Speaker
But yeah, you're right.
00:07:29
Speaker
We don't walk in there and go, oh, my goodness, what a great day.
00:07:32
Speaker
There's food on the shelves.
00:07:35
Speaker
Maybe at the start of COVID we did, but nowadays.
00:07:40
Speaker
Especially that toilet paper.
00:07:44
Speaker
Yes.
00:07:47
Speaker
the research showed that while most businesses and companies spend, I think, 80% of their effort trying to fix potholes among large conglomerates, there's actually nine times more financial value into elevating the positive moments.
00:08:04
Speaker
And we've seen this with, I think the example they use in the book was like Southwest Airlines, where they found like,
00:08:10
Speaker
You know, the example of wrapping the boring old safety instructions, like people who experienced that moment purchased a half flight more the following year or one and a half flights more, which equated to like enough $150 million or something, enough to buy a couple more planes.
00:08:30
Speaker
And, you know, I think we see that all the time.
00:08:34
Speaker
Yeah, definitely.
00:08:35
Speaker
Yeah.
Peak-End Moments in Professional Experiences
00:08:37
Speaker
So then let's then move on to this peak in principle.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:08:41
Speaker
And so as we talked about, I think one of the things that we took away from this book is, yes, there are a series of moments.
00:08:49
Speaker
And we've already discussed there's so many things and so many experiences that we go through.
00:08:54
Speaker
But then there are just these particular moments that can
00:08:59
Speaker
really shape our experience and shape how we think about something.
00:09:03
Speaker
And the way I understood it was just the peaks and the peak end moments.
00:09:08
Speaker
And I think for me specifically, I don't remember all of my experiences, but I remember some certain moments.
00:09:16
Speaker
And from my introduction,
00:09:19
Speaker
I actually recently got this job with ACC at Texas A&M, and my last day at UTA was last week.
00:09:28
Speaker
And all throughout that week, I was just thinking a lot about the peak end moments and thinking through, okay, what were some things that really stood out to me?
00:09:38
Speaker
And then also for me, how can I leave my job as an RD at UTA?
00:09:44
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:46
Speaker
on a note where people are going to look back and say, okay, remember that last day or remember that last week of Apefa's week with us or remember how she did this.
00:09:55
Speaker
And so it really made me think a lot about just some of the things that have happened over the years, like three years at UTA.
00:10:03
Speaker
And what do I remember?
00:10:05
Speaker
I remember those peak end moments.
00:10:06
Speaker
I remember those moments.
00:10:07
Speaker
peaks and those positives.
00:10:10
Speaker
And then I also just remember, you know, the friends that I made and then the programs that I attended that really made that impact for me.
00:10:18
Speaker
And so, yeah, that's in general, that's really what the book was talking about when it talked about peak and principle and the peak and moments.
00:10:27
Speaker
I think about the peak end with residents who live with us and like, hey, we all provide these great experiences and think of like, ooh, these cool programs.
00:10:35
Speaker
I met all these great friends or those are the peaks.
00:10:38
Speaker
And then, oh, goodbye, bye-bye.
00:10:40
Speaker
Here's your bill for damages to your apartment.
00:10:43
Speaker
Like when you move out, it is just like, ooh, that doesn't feel so good if that's one of the things you're going to remember more than any of the other great things that happened along the way.
00:10:53
Speaker
Yes.
00:10:53
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:10:54
Speaker
And even one, I had one of my staff say this one time, and it didn't dawn on me at that time, but he was like, I actually have to pay for graduations.
00:11:03
Speaker
And, you know, of course, that's nothing because, you know, everyone doesn't really think about it.
00:11:07
Speaker
But he was like, why?
00:11:08
Speaker
I've worked.
00:11:10
Speaker
I've given them so much money all these four years and I have to pay for graduation.
00:11:15
Speaker
And it was the last thing that he had to do to, you know, wrap up his career.
00:11:19
Speaker
But it was it was just weird that, you know, that he said that.
00:11:22
Speaker
And I was like, actually, that that is a big big end moment and not so positive in that way, you know.
00:11:30
Speaker
Well, do you think about, I mean, we'll talk about commencement in a little bit, but you think about that.
00:11:34
Speaker
It's so crazy that...
00:11:37
Speaker
part of this is like, it's nobody's job to engineer moments, but let's like, if we just put our heads together, we could probably make graduation feel a little bit more like a memorable, like, oh, all the pomp and circumstance and like, oh, hey, now we're going to start asking you for graduation regalia, which is outrageous costs.
00:11:53
Speaker
And then, oh, by the way, the alumni associate is going to start calling you tomorrow begging for money.
00:11:58
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:58
Speaker
That like, could we just like give some sort of like reprieve to make sure this moment, like this four years of building to this peak moment
00:12:05
Speaker
At the end, it's just like something to remember.
00:12:08
Speaker
In a positive way, yeah.
00:12:10
Speaker
I remember I left a job once and I got a parking ticket on my last day because my parking path had already been shut off.
00:12:18
Speaker
And it's like, hmm.
00:12:21
Speaker
See you later.
00:12:24
Speaker
And I've talked to schools that don't do, that haven't done billing for like damages at the end of the semester as a way, like we don't want to like this negative experience and going back to Maddie, what you're talking about is like this kind of expected, like, you know, I almost just want to get a thank you card from every person who deserved to be billed for damages.
00:12:42
Speaker
And we didn't, but you don't, we don't ever get anything like that.
00:12:46
Speaker
It was just like, oh, they just kind of expected to get away without billing.
00:12:48
Speaker
And we did like, I don't know if they ever realized that that was a better moment because we engineered it.
00:12:55
Speaker
Yes, it's definitely generous.
00:12:57
Speaker
Okay, so let's talk about the types of moments.
00:13:01
Speaker
The book talked about four.
00:13:03
Speaker
And let's start with elevations.
00:13:05
Speaker
Okay, I can start.
00:13:06
Speaker
So we have some examples.
00:13:09
Speaker
Mainly there's some from the book, some that we can draw on from our personal experiences.
00:13:13
Speaker
But one that I think of when I think of moments of elevation is actually from when I worked at UTA and JC was my supervisor.
00:13:21
Speaker
And I was in a hall where...
00:13:25
Speaker
They had remodeled this community kitchen for residents to use.
00:13:28
Speaker
We had just started this graduate student housing program on the third floor, and they were going to get this really beautiful, all brand new appliances community kitchen that they could use.
00:13:38
Speaker
And so it took about three to four weeks, I want to say, for the kitchen to actually be finished or completed after the semester started.
00:13:46
Speaker
And JC and I were talking one day in our office and just...
00:13:50
Speaker
I don't even remember whose idea it was, but it was like, how can we make this more special for them instead of just like opening the doors to the kitchen?
00:13:58
Speaker
They no longer see this construction happening.
00:14:00
Speaker
And then they just come to the conclusion on their own.
00:14:03
Speaker
Okay,
Moments of Elevation and Insight
00:14:04
Speaker
can we use it now?
00:14:05
Speaker
Can we not use it now?
00:14:06
Speaker
Is it done?
00:14:06
Speaker
Is it not done?
00:14:08
Speaker
And so we thought, let's make this an elevated moment and really make it special.
00:14:12
Speaker
And so we had kind of a grand opening of the kitchen and simplest thing that we could have done, but...
00:14:19
Speaker
So awesome to see it play out.
00:14:21
Speaker
So I worked together with my hall council or hall crew at other schools and made it a program, a grand opening of the Trinity Hall kitchen on the third floor for grad students.
00:14:33
Speaker
And I was sitting in JC's office.
00:14:34
Speaker
He pulls out this like UTA special ribbon that he just had.
00:14:40
Speaker
For some reason, he just had it in his office desk, like on deck ready.
00:14:44
Speaker
And he goes, here, you can make it a ribbon cutting.
00:14:47
Speaker
Like, take this ribbon, take it back with you.
00:14:50
Speaker
And it's like official UTA embroidered ribbon.
00:14:53
Speaker
It's like fancy.
00:14:54
Speaker
And so I like invited all of our leadership team to come out, director of housing.
00:14:59
Speaker
It's like 9 p.m.
00:15:00
Speaker
on like a weeknight.
00:15:02
Speaker
And Hall Council hosts this program, has like all this food, all the residents come out on the third floor and just love this moment.
00:15:10
Speaker
And we do like a whole ribbon cutting.
00:15:14
Speaker
I let Hall Council cut it, the president of Hall Council.
00:15:17
Speaker
And it was just so much fun to see, okay, the whole month they couldn't use the kitchen.
00:15:23
Speaker
It was almost like irrelevant at that point because they were so excited about the fact that we were making it such a big deal for them.
00:15:30
Speaker
for it to finally be open.
00:15:32
Speaker
And so I just think of that as like a really cool moment of elevation that was so easy to engineer, but meant so much to the people involved.
00:15:43
Speaker
I don't remember having the ribbon in my desk, but I like the fact that maybe that was true.
00:15:48
Speaker
I feel like you did, JC.
00:15:50
Speaker
You just like pulled it out of nowhere.
00:15:52
Speaker
I'm looking around my drawers in the office right now to see if I've got some ribbon floating around.
00:15:56
Speaker
But the part I think that got missed, Maddie, was that I remember you reached out to – well, because I think this was the year they opened a new building.
00:16:05
Speaker
And there's always that conversation between like –
00:16:08
Speaker
vintage buildings and new buildings, new buildings to get all the attention.
00:16:12
Speaker
It was like, there was just this, I think it was that same year.
00:16:14
Speaker
There's huge ribbon cutting with all the VIPs and all this pomp and circumstance.
00:16:19
Speaker
And you reached out to, it wasn't alumni, it was like development and got the gold scissors that they had used at there.
00:16:28
Speaker
And that was like, oh, this is the real deal.
00:16:31
Speaker
Cause we've got gold scissors to cut this ribbon.
00:16:34
Speaker
How could I forget?
00:16:35
Speaker
Oh my goodness.
00:16:36
Speaker
Yes.
00:16:37
Speaker
And that I think was like really the elevated piece for me was like it felt a little more special than just like the scissors I pulled out of my desk.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah, clearly the ribbon was special to me.
00:16:49
Speaker
But you're so right.
00:16:50
Speaker
How could I forget about the gold scissors?
00:16:52
Speaker
And to see other people be the ones to get to use it, you know, like students.
00:16:58
Speaker
It wasn't the president of the university or like the new VP of student affairs doing it like they were on the new building.
00:17:03
Speaker
The mayor.
00:17:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:07
Speaker
Yeah, it was our students.
00:17:10
Speaker
I think one of the things I really like about this elevated moment or moments of elevation is the idea that it's unexpected.
00:17:18
Speaker
I think all of them are too, but it's unexpected.
00:17:21
Speaker
And I think we talked about this, about breaking the script.
00:17:24
Speaker
I think all of them break some sort of script that, oh, well, it's supposed to be the president that cuts the ribbon or it's supposed to be this.
00:17:34
Speaker
And then you made that moment for them, for the students to be able to do that.
00:17:37
Speaker
And I think for me, one of the examples that I had, and I think it was even after we did this presentation, was having popsicles at Move-In.
00:17:48
Speaker
There's an example in the book, it may not have been a book, maybe it would have been something that you'd shared with all your examples that you have.
00:17:55
Speaker
But there was one about the popsicle hot life.
00:17:58
Speaker
But then I thought about it about Move-In and how hot
00:18:02
Speaker
that day typically is.
00:18:03
Speaker
And so from moving, I think maybe two years ago, we added popsicles to, we put them in the cooler.
00:18:11
Speaker
So the water too.
00:18:13
Speaker
And so, and we didn't really advertise it.
00:18:16
Speaker
We didn't tell anyone, but,
00:18:17
Speaker
And we tell them ahead of time, they just opened the cooler and they saw the popsicle.
00:18:22
Speaker
And we thought that was, I think for me, I felt very giddy about it because I was like, oh, that's cool.
00:18:28
Speaker
You're unexpected.
00:18:29
Speaker
And then they get in and they're like, oh, I really want a popsicle right now.
00:18:32
Speaker
And, you know, and so, well, of course there was water in it.
00:18:36
Speaker
But for us, I saw that as an elevated moment because one, it wasn't expected, but then it was something also, again, refreshing where it
00:18:44
Speaker
you know, something sweet they could enjoy on a hot day.
00:18:48
Speaker
And then I think we also- Yeah, I'm sure that news spread like wildfire after the first few people saw that.
00:18:54
Speaker
Yes.
00:18:55
Speaker
And then, of course, they kept asking, where's the popsicle?
00:18:56
Speaker
Where'd you get the popsicle from?
00:18:58
Speaker
We're like, well, open the cooler.
00:18:59
Speaker
Yeah.
00:19:00
Speaker
uh and so that was really cool for us and i think even i think my favorite one of this the moments of elevation um some example that they even mentioned in the book was the flight attendant with southwest i know we've already talked about that one but that's like one of my favorite ones because again you're not really expecting the flight attendant to wrap and then they start and you're like whoa that was cool and then people start laughing and
00:19:24
Speaker
We'll talk about connection in a little bit, but, you know, they start laughing.
00:19:28
Speaker
You build this sort of, oh, we're in this together and we all got the joke, you know, about choosing your favorite kid versus the other.
00:19:36
Speaker
And it just breaks the script.
00:19:38
Speaker
And I think that's what makes moments like that so meaningful and things that you remember, you know, after the flight.
00:19:45
Speaker
And I love the popsicle example because it also illustrates how easily the examples in this book can be translated into our work as like housing professionals.
00:19:55
Speaker
And what Apefa was alluding to is that there's this in Los Angeles, this hotel called the Magic Castle, and it's a real marginal looking hotel.
00:20:06
Speaker
But it's like the number one or number two, like highest ranked on TripAdvisor or whatever, because as they describe in the book, they've really mastered the art of like moments that create those peaks and through a vacation.
00:20:19
Speaker
And the popsicle hotline that Pefa talked about was –
00:20:24
Speaker
Out at the pool, there's a phone and you just pick it up and they're like, what kind of popsicle do you want?
00:20:28
Speaker
And some person comes out like in full butler, white gloves, outfit with a silver platter with popsicles on it.
00:20:36
Speaker
And it just is this like moment.
00:20:37
Speaker
And so I've changed that to work on moving day.
00:20:41
Speaker
I actually several years ago at RA, I threw this out as it's like, wouldn't this be kind of a cool idea?
00:20:47
Speaker
Like some Wednesday night.
00:20:49
Speaker
And they did it.
00:20:50
Speaker
And the RA dressed up in a butler with white gloves.
00:20:53
Speaker
They bought a silver platter on Amazon.
00:20:55
Speaker
And they just advertised it for one night between like eight and nine.
00:21:00
Speaker
You call the front desk and they answered it, Casey Hall Popsicle Hotline.
00:21:04
Speaker
And it was real neat.
00:21:06
Speaker
It was like kind of an elevated moment.
00:21:07
Speaker
I remember hearing stories from the RA.
00:21:09
Speaker
It's like,
00:21:10
Speaker
these two roommates ordered popsicles together and they both said we'd never hang out and we did this together.
00:21:15
Speaker
And it's like, how do we bring elevated moments into people's rooms when sometimes they don't want to leave?
00:21:21
Speaker
So yeah, definitely.
00:21:23
Speaker
I think this wasn't necessarily planned, but in 2017, I remember it was the solar eclipse just happened to be on move-in day.
00:21:33
Speaker
And I worked with our planetarium and bought out like all the remaining solar sunglasses they had.
00:21:39
Speaker
And we put them in all the science community, learning communities rooms and said, Hey, join us at two o'clock in the day.
00:21:45
Speaker
And like,
00:21:47
Speaker
It was just real neat on moving day.
00:21:48
Speaker
Like the world just kind of stopped and all these people were standing.
00:21:51
Speaker
I think, where'd you get those glasses?
00:21:52
Speaker
How did I get like, how do I get ahold of those?
00:21:54
Speaker
And you talk about like currency, like if you had solar glasses on that day, like you felt pretty special.
00:22:00
Speaker
And that just wasn't, I was not trying to make a elevated moment, but it was one of those that just turned out to be.
00:22:09
Speaker
Yeah, what a great way to bond everyone on their first day on campus, J.C.
00:22:14
Speaker
Yeah, it was really neat.
00:22:15
Speaker
And, you know, all the staff members around student affairs were like, hey, can I get some of those glasses?
00:22:20
Speaker
I heard you got them.
00:22:22
Speaker
Well, building a little capital there.
00:22:25
Speaker
Yep.
00:22:25
Speaker
All right.
00:22:26
Speaker
So the next type of moment is insight.
00:22:28
Speaker
And these are the ones that are like kind of those aha moments.
00:22:32
Speaker
So one of the things that, and I'll relate it to an example they also use in the book, or maybe it was, again, something that we had just heard of by Sarah Blakely.
00:22:43
Speaker
And I actually follow her on LinkedIn now.
00:22:44
Speaker
And she's the owner of Spanx.com.
00:22:47
Speaker
or CEO, and she created that.
00:22:49
Speaker
But after getting laughed at, countless boardrooms, she finally broke through and became the first self-made female billionaire with a hugely successful product, Spanx.
00:23:01
Speaker
And she was an interviewer, and she talks about how the success of that was because of her dad.
00:23:07
Speaker
And her dad would ask her, who would be so disappointed if they came home and they gave this answer to a question where
00:23:15
Speaker
this question was, what did you, what did you fail at today?
00:23:20
Speaker
And if they didn't have that answer, he'd be disappointed because it showed that they didn't try something new or they weren't risking enough, you know?
00:23:28
Speaker
And so for, for sure, how this ties into that moment of insight, because one, it challenged them to do something differently, right?
00:23:35
Speaker
They're asking them, what did you fail at this week?
00:23:38
Speaker
And so push them to do something that was out of their comfort zone, but then it was one of those aha moments, right?
00:23:44
Speaker
Of like, okay,
00:23:45
Speaker
It's not all about just winning every time, but what are those times where you get to do something difficult and fail at it so you can learn from it?
00:23:54
Speaker
And I really connect this particular moment of insight to just mentorship.
00:24:01
Speaker
And I can count some answers.
00:24:02
Speaker
a number of people in my life that have really challenged me to really think about those aha moments.
00:24:08
Speaker
And even getting on to take this next role in my career, going on to another position than what I was doing, I think for me that I had someone kind of remind me of, okay, it's time.
00:24:22
Speaker
You're ready, right?
00:24:23
Speaker
You're ready to do this.
00:24:24
Speaker
I believe in you.
00:24:25
Speaker
And so...
00:24:26
Speaker
Throughout, through a lot of those conversations and experiences, I was able to get that moment of insight of, yes, you're right.
00:24:35
Speaker
I can do this.
00:24:36
Speaker
I can't go into the next thing.
00:24:38
Speaker
I can't go into the next step.
00:24:39
Speaker
And those are moments that are going to stick with me, right?
00:24:42
Speaker
Because those are those things that I'm going to remember.
00:24:45
Speaker
And when I get to another situation where I'm doubting myself and I have those people in my corner, they're like, no, Pefa, you got this.
00:24:52
Speaker
Those would be moments of insight for me.
00:24:55
Speaker
And so this one is a hard one a little bit, but it's one that is also very powerful when used even in small, small ways.
00:25:06
Speaker
Yeah, I think the moments of insight are the toughest ones to like engineer because they are.
00:25:11
Speaker
And I think you hear it all the time.
00:25:13
Speaker
We talk about aha moments in grad school and how do we make aha moments or like what are these moments like in student lives?
00:25:20
Speaker
We're like, oh, yeah.
00:25:23
Speaker
that's what we've been talking about this whole time it's so difficult and then when you see them it's like hmm how do i replicate that for all 4 000 other students living with us here because it's just such an individualized experience i remember this one time it was uh there was a student in hall council and uh the rd had given me a heads up that he was coming to see me and uh so he
00:25:48
Speaker
set up a time and appointment.
00:25:50
Speaker
I got the gist that he was basically going to complain about lack of productivity by hall council.
00:25:56
Speaker
And it was like, okay, well, we've been here before.
00:25:59
Speaker
So, uh,
00:26:02
Speaker
Beating is supposed to happen.
00:26:03
Speaker
And 15 minutes passed, 20 minutes passed, half hour.
00:26:07
Speaker
And I've called there.
00:26:07
Speaker
He's like, where is this guy?
00:26:08
Speaker
Like, it's not here.
00:26:10
Speaker
And finally, he comes in and just starts unloading about like, nobody ever gets anything done.
00:26:14
Speaker
Nobody's that we don't stay on agenda.
00:26:16
Speaker
People never show up.
00:26:18
Speaker
They're always late.
00:26:19
Speaker
Nobody's focused.
00:26:21
Speaker
And I just said, oh, it must be real frustrating to try and manage something when people aren't committed.
00:26:27
Speaker
And he's like, yes.
00:26:29
Speaker
And people aren't showing up when they say they will.
00:26:31
Speaker
Yes.
00:26:32
Speaker
And when they're late to things.
00:26:34
Speaker
And he was like, yes.
00:26:36
Speaker
Oh.
00:26:38
Speaker
Like I just did to you.
00:26:41
Speaker
And I was like, there we go.
00:26:45
Speaker
And it was like people talk about the light bulb coming on.
00:26:47
Speaker
And that was exactly one of the I'll always remember that moment because the light bulb just like.
00:26:52
Speaker
popped on and it was like, I really didn't plan it that way, but it just kind of happened.
00:26:57
Speaker
And I mean, the student didn't really go on to do great things.
00:27:01
Speaker
And that to my knowledge, I don't know how impactful it was, but certainly makes a great example.
00:27:07
Speaker
All right.
00:27:08
Speaker
So the next moment that we can work on is moments of pride.
00:27:13
Speaker
Yeah, so actually this is a quote from the book.
00:27:16
Speaker
And it says, it points out that about 80% of supervisors say that they frequently express appreciation, while less than 20% of the employees agree with that exact same statement.
00:27:30
Speaker
And so that's probably, if you're hearing this for the first time, a moment of insight.
00:27:36
Speaker
If you're a supervisor or have employees that you oversee in whatever line of work that you do.
00:27:42
Speaker
it's a significant difference there.
00:27:45
Speaker
And moments of pride can be really related back to just things as easy as recognition or feeling appreciated, feeling like what you're doing is valued and matters to the organization that you work for.
00:28:00
Speaker
And one example, I feel like
00:28:04
Speaker
we have the opportunity to create this moment of pride for students is I feel like we all have some form of weekly reports that we have our RAs or lead RAs or student staff members complete, whether it be on the off weeks that we don't meet with them for one-on-ones or even if we do meet with them on that week for one-on-ones, something could still happen.
00:28:24
Speaker
And so maybe you require your RAs to submit a report about resident interactions throughout the week or just in general how they're doing at the end of each week.
00:28:33
Speaker
So I think an easy way that we can all do this and that I try to hold myself accountable to do every week is when I see these come in, I designate time to sit through and actually read them.
00:28:42
Speaker
Because even as a graduate assistant and full-time residence director at UTA, my supervisor wanted me to submit these reports, right?
00:28:51
Speaker
Like we are also human, working really hard every day.
00:28:55
Speaker
At the time I was in grad school and had a lot going on.
00:28:58
Speaker
So they care about us too, hopefully, you know, and I believe JC did.
00:29:02
Speaker
So yes, but you know, I had to do these too.
00:29:08
Speaker
And sometimes I wonder like, do they even have time to read this?
00:29:12
Speaker
Like who's reading this?
00:29:14
Speaker
I'm just typing like nonsense at this point.
00:29:17
Speaker
Yeah.
00:29:17
Speaker
I look forward to those weekly reports every week, Maddie, just yours.
00:29:20
Speaker
I only read yours and nobody else's.
00:29:22
Speaker
Yeah, I'm sure mine were always filled with just, you know, exhilarating information.
00:29:28
Speaker
But I think the point is our RAs probably think the same thing.
00:29:32
Speaker
And so let's do something to change that.
00:29:34
Speaker
Give them a moment of pride here.
00:29:36
Speaker
If they tell us about something personal in this report, talk to them in person or call, pick up the phone and call them and let them know, Hey, I just read this.
00:29:44
Speaker
Let's talk more about it.
00:29:45
Speaker
Or, you know, as simple as responding in an email, if there's something they mentioned about a resident, like schedule time to follow up with them or better yet follow up with the resident yourself and create a pride, a moment of pride for the resident to knowing that you know about them, you know who they are and you know what's going on in their life.
00:30:02
Speaker
Like how cool would that be?
00:30:06
Speaker
And then also we all do things with data, right?
00:30:08
Speaker
Like Sky Factor, departmental surveys,
00:30:12
Speaker
And there's so many opportunities from there that we can celebrate our RA's accomplishments.
00:30:17
Speaker
Like, yes, we do a lot, but our RA's are really the boots on the ground, programming all the time with them, really digging into the lives of their residents.
00:30:27
Speaker
How can we turn the data that we get, you know, whether it's daily or just in those yearly assessment tools and show our RA's, this is what you did.
00:30:38
Speaker
This resident said they experienced...
00:30:41
Speaker
a more positive programming experience this year than they did last year.
00:30:45
Speaker
Not to pin RAs against each other, but like, look at what you did.
00:30:48
Speaker
You have elevated their programming experience this year and they didn't have you as an RA last year.
00:30:52
Speaker
So I think there's, there's tons of opportunities there.
00:30:55
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:30:56
Speaker
I feel like we could probably do a whole podcast episode on the value of weekly reports.
00:31:00
Speaker
That might be a real lively one.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:04
Speaker
There would be a lot of varying opinions.
00:31:07
Speaker
Just to my own credit here, I think it might have been after you left, Maddie, that we kind of stopped, at least in my area, doing weekly reports.
00:31:18
Speaker
I think we talked enough in person, too.
00:31:21
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:22
Speaker
There's a lot of great reasons.
00:31:25
Speaker
We stayed in touch very often.
00:31:27
Speaker
It's so funny.
00:31:28
Speaker
I had a student speaking about weekly reports.
00:31:31
Speaker
The first report that they wrote, they were in third person because you tell them with their instant report, you have to.
00:31:38
Speaker
And so then I was like, so then when I responded, they're like, oh, I didn't know.
00:31:43
Speaker
I thought it was just a...
00:31:44
Speaker
just checking, you know, I thought I just had to write my name.
00:31:47
Speaker
And so of course it was like, RD Apefa saw me in the end or saw RA, you know, whatever.
00:31:54
Speaker
And it was so funny.
00:31:55
Speaker
But then when we added that human part of it, it was like, Hey, I'm so glad you did this or a great job with this program.
00:32:02
Speaker
Or, and then they're like, what?
00:32:04
Speaker
I can write this with my, with a lot of, you know, personality.
00:32:08
Speaker
Like, can I write this and tell the truth and not, you know, whatever it was, but I think weekly reports are fun.
00:32:14
Speaker
Just reminded me of another like moment of insight.
00:32:16
Speaker
There's been countless times where I've been talking to RAs about like their duty logs, their IRs.
00:32:22
Speaker
They just suck.
00:32:24
Speaker
Like they're terribly written.
00:32:26
Speaker
They're not good.
00:32:28
Speaker
Like, what's the purpose?
00:32:29
Speaker
And I'm like,
00:32:31
Speaker
Correct me if I'm wrong, but you want to be a nurse or like a social worker, right?
00:32:35
Speaker
They're like, yeah, that's my dream.
00:32:37
Speaker
I'm like, okay, well, let's talk about skill development here and how you do anything is how you do everything.
00:32:43
Speaker
If you're writing...
00:32:45
Speaker
Like writing IRs or writing weekly reports is transferable to writing charting as nursing or writing social worker notes on like cases you're providing.
00:32:56
Speaker
And so the moment of insight was like, what do you think I'm going to say if I get a reference call from like a nurse practitioner who's like, hey, we interviewed this great person.
00:33:03
Speaker
They said, how is their note taking or how is their written communication?
00:33:07
Speaker
I was like, ooh, okay.
00:33:09
Speaker
these IRs are real terrible.
00:33:11
Speaker
So I wouldn't trust their charting.
00:33:13
Speaker
And the moment of like, ah, there's some value there.
00:33:19
Speaker
Oh, that's so true.
00:33:20
Speaker
And so I think for me, the pride, the moments of pride,
00:33:26
Speaker
I mean, I see this when I think about recognition.
00:33:29
Speaker
And one of the ways that I saw this play out was, you know, for our RA, so specifically for when I was there, we would, prior to me arriving, they would wait till the end of the year for RA of the year, right?
00:33:43
Speaker
And so we started implementing RA of the month because we knew that
00:33:48
Speaker
A lot of them were doing things and there are times where, yes, some of them excelled more than others, but we wanted them to recognize each other.
00:33:56
Speaker
But then also kind of going back to what you're saying, Maddie, being able to see the good work that they're doing.
00:34:03
Speaker
And so I think for me, a little bit of pride also goes back to, and I think it connects to the next one that we're going to talk about, that
00:34:10
Speaker
feeling seen, right?
00:34:12
Speaker
And feeling like, okay, I've worked really hard for this.
00:34:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:34:15
Speaker
Like this is, this is a good feeling.
00:34:17
Speaker
Right.
00:34:17
Speaker
And I want to, I want to be seen.
00:34:19
Speaker
I want to be noticed.
00:34:20
Speaker
And how do I feel, feel when, when that's, that happens.
00:34:24
Speaker
Right.
00:34:25
Speaker
And so there's this little moments.
00:34:27
Speaker
And so we would,
00:34:28
Speaker
you know, have them write notes, but then also the RAs recognized each other, right?
00:34:36
Speaker
They were the ones that were nominating each other for RA of the month.
00:34:41
Speaker
I think one of the things, and maybe, you know, JC, you're thinking about this too, and I'm not sure if you're about to say it with this, but
00:34:48
Speaker
This one is also a hard one because it's also very easy to miss, right?
00:34:54
Speaker
One of the questions that someone can ask is, okay, well, if you do a moment of pride for one person, then can you do it for all of them?
00:35:01
Speaker
And we get into this, I think with all of them, we get into our minds of, oh, we really need to do it for...
00:35:09
Speaker
for every single person.
00:35:10
Speaker
Well, when we do that, it really does become forced a little bit, right?
00:35:16
Speaker
And then it goes back to the status quo of like, okay, well, we should expect it, like this is happening.
00:35:22
Speaker
And so I think this is an area where we have to be very intentional about not making it all about, okay, let me find every single person and create a moment of pride, a moment of elevation, a moment of this.
00:35:35
Speaker
But just going with it, small moments, right, in this one aspect.
00:35:41
Speaker
Yeah, I agree, Peppa.
00:35:45
Speaker
I think it is challenging to kind of navigate the line of who...
00:35:51
Speaker
in what setting do you create these moments of pride?
00:35:54
Speaker
Because I personally struggle with like, oh, do I do group recognition?
00:35:57
Speaker
Do people hate it?
00:35:59
Speaker
Like I hate it.
00:36:00
Speaker
So like, do I want to create this awkward moment for other people?
00:36:03
Speaker
But one thing I do that I think makes it a little bit easier and takes the pressure off of everyone, but also creates a little bit of moment of pride for my students is in those weekly reports, I give them opportunities to share just like,
00:36:18
Speaker
funny like limericks or jokes or something else that's going on that they just want to share that's like, you don't mind me sharing with everyone or the group as a whole.
00:36:26
Speaker
And in every staff meeting, I'll like gather those jokes or whatever it is that they wanted to share with everyone.
00:36:33
Speaker
sometimes act as if they're my own at first and try and fool the group.
00:36:36
Speaker
But then, you know, it's kind of fun to see, okay, this is a fun way to kind of laugh together.
00:36:43
Speaker
One of my RAs shares a joke, but then also like, thank you so much, RAsO and so for sharing this joke, because it created this moment for us all.
00:36:51
Speaker
And you are hilarious.
00:36:52
Speaker
Like, hopefully they can walk away knowing, wow, I feel good about myself.
00:36:57
Speaker
I put that effort into doing my weekly report.
00:36:59
Speaker
And that helps create a moment that we can remember as a staff too.
00:37:03
Speaker
That's great.
00:37:04
Speaker
I think about, Pefa, I think you're absolutely right about the consistency and, oh, we missed someone on X, Y, or Z reason.
00:37:12
Speaker
And I think that loops back around to what I, the value I got out of like customer service or I don't know.
00:37:18
Speaker
Hopefully you've put enough goodwill out in the world by acknowledging birthdays along the way or like staff GPAs that, oops, we missed someone.
00:37:28
Speaker
And they will, instead of thinking, oh, I got wronged, it's more of like, oh, something must have happened because I know this is like recognizing and providing moments of pride is something that's important to PEFA.
00:37:39
Speaker
It must have, something must have happened that got in the way this time around instead of something more nefarious.
00:37:44
Speaker
Like PEFA just doesn't like me like everybody else.
00:37:47
Speaker
Right.
00:37:48
Speaker
this is also like moments of
Genuine Connections and Community Building
00:37:50
Speaker
pride.
00:37:50
Speaker
It's, it goes back to, uh, the, uh,
00:37:54
Speaker
graduation and, you know, for the whole reason we're here is to graduate students.
00:37:59
Speaker
And I'm personally not someone who buys in necessarily to like all the pomp and circumstance and all the branding and this whole big production of graduation.
00:38:09
Speaker
But when I walked, when I got my PhD, yeah, I was proud, but there was this moment where I was walking across the stage and I shook the hand of the president of the university and
00:38:22
Speaker
Getting a PhD.
00:38:23
Speaker
And he leaned over into my ear like he was going to share a secret just between the two of us.
00:38:29
Speaker
And he said, feels good, doesn't it?
00:38:33
Speaker
And just whatever that moment right there with the whisper in the ear.
00:38:37
Speaker
And I was like, it feels amazing.
00:38:41
Speaker
And if you had asked me, like, it was like, yeah, it's cool.
00:38:44
Speaker
Like, that's cool.
00:38:45
Speaker
But it was like something about that moment.
00:38:47
Speaker
And I don't know, maybe he said that to every single other person that had come across the stage.
00:38:52
Speaker
But it was just like, it's something that wasn't normally attractive to me, like a moment of pride, all of a sudden became like this really like, prideful, also elevated moment.
00:39:02
Speaker
And I will I will remember that forever.
00:39:07
Speaker
And how much did you pay to have that whispered in your ear?
00:39:09
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:10
Speaker
Right.
00:39:11
Speaker
I was like, thank you.
00:39:13
Speaker
Here's everything else I've done for you.
00:39:17
Speaker
All right.
00:39:18
Speaker
So our last of the four moments is connection.
00:39:20
Speaker
And this is one of my personal favorites, but this is about like moments of connection between people.
00:39:25
Speaker
So what do we have to say about this?
00:39:28
Speaker
The moments of connection one, CJC, I will agree with you.
00:39:31
Speaker
This one is a
00:39:33
Speaker
It somehow feels natural to me, I think, just based on my personality.
00:39:37
Speaker
I think the three of us, right?
00:39:38
Speaker
It just feels natural to us because it reminds us about the people aspect of just what we do in our daily lives and in our jobs.
00:39:49
Speaker
And so I think this one is really fun.
00:39:51
Speaker
But one example that I had was with our staff, one of my staff members and very similar in terms of just wants to give everything to people like selfless and thinks a lot about how others feel and how they feel, you know, in relation to others and really puts a lot of, a lot of people above themselves and, and,
00:40:16
Speaker
And sometimes the point where we're like, okay, it's okay.
00:40:18
Speaker
Don't worry about that.
00:40:19
Speaker
Let's move on.
00:40:20
Speaker
And so this is something that she did that was really special to everybody on her floor.
00:40:27
Speaker
I bet she was an RA and she was going into the next semester and she realized that
00:40:32
Speaker
She had a lot more of returners and there were going to be some new residents that were going to be in her building.
00:40:41
Speaker
And she was trying to think of, you know, she'd built this community with her previous residents and it was going to be in the spring semester and people who were transferring were probably going to feel alone and not feel like they were connected.
00:40:54
Speaker
And so she was thinking, okay, what are some ways that I can do to still build that connection with people, but also make...
00:41:02
Speaker
make the new residents feel like they belong and are a part of something.
00:41:08
Speaker
And so she reached out to all of our returners and
00:41:11
Speaker
She did this.
00:41:12
Speaker
She created a bulletin board, put it right in front of her floor and her wing, and then wrote, welcome new residents and gave everyone the opportunity to sign that and sign that poster.
00:41:26
Speaker
But then she also sent out welcome cards to those joining the community for the first time that semester.
00:41:34
Speaker
And so I think in that moment, one, that poster board,
00:41:38
Speaker
really showed that, you know, of course for a new wrestling coming in, it was just a reminder that, okay, I'm not alone, right?
00:41:45
Speaker
This is what we really build about that building, that sense of community.
00:41:49
Speaker
One, they didn't feel like they were alone.
00:41:50
Speaker
But then two, you know, she, she had, she had a way where for their roommates obviously knew who, who, who was moving in.
00:41:59
Speaker
And so they were able to share their names, but then other people in the community, they were able to kind of create that personal connection with them and saying, Hey, welcome.
00:42:07
Speaker
We're so glad that you're here.
00:42:08
Speaker
Or, Hey, I don't know you yet, but I'm so, I can't wait to get to meet you and see you at a program, you know?
00:42:14
Speaker
And so that was really, really special.
00:42:17
Speaker
And I think, uh,
00:42:18
Speaker
small way of creating those connections, but making them meaningful enough where, of course, I bet you those residents remember that, right?
00:42:28
Speaker
They remember their first day walking in and seeing that poster in their hall.
00:42:34
Speaker
So it was one of my personal favorites too.
00:42:37
Speaker
One thing I think about and that I think is really important when it comes to this concept of connection, and I'm happy you're right.
00:42:45
Speaker
Anyone in student affairs would probably say this is their favorite because we have a genuine interest in others and care about them as people.
00:42:53
Speaker
But I think in order to do that, you have to have a genuine interest in learning more about others too and asking those questions to get below the surface, but also listening to their responses.
00:43:04
Speaker
Yeah.
00:43:05
Speaker
And I think that is the foundation of connection is really being able to listen to what people say and think of ways and how you either relate or how others relate that you can connect them to as a resource or to strengthen the relationship you already have.
00:43:22
Speaker
And one thing that I kind of reflect on from my first year here at TCU as a hall director is actually, no, it was the beginning of this past year.
00:43:34
Speaker
I actually had an encounter with a resident through school.
00:43:37
Speaker
a conduct situation with an alcohol policy violation.
00:43:41
Speaker
And so I had to meet with her and we talked through the policy and, you know, of course we got to know each other.
00:43:48
Speaker
I used that as a way cause it was first weekend they were here, didn't know her before.
00:43:53
Speaker
And that was my first experience with her cause she'd been on campus for a week and use that to kind of get to know her as an opportunity to not make it so negative, but really take that and kind of start that foundation of a relationship.
00:44:05
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:06
Speaker
And we got to talking about her personal interests and she expressed to me some of the things she likes to do and that she really liked boxing.
00:44:13
Speaker
And she was like, I don't think TCU has a boxing club.
00:44:16
Speaker
That'd be really cool to start it.
00:44:17
Speaker
And it was just kind of like an off thought to her, didn't really have any sort of stake in it, didn't really have any plans.
00:44:25
Speaker
And I remember, too, my current RAs in that moment had founded clubs or organizations at TCU themselves.
00:44:33
Speaker
And so I was like, oh, my gosh, like that was a moment of insight for me.
00:44:36
Speaker
I'm like, I couldn't tell you verbatim what the process is to start a foundation or start a club at TCU.
00:44:42
Speaker
But I know they can because they've done it.
00:44:44
Speaker
So I called one of them.
00:44:46
Speaker
They answered.
00:44:47
Speaker
I was able to connect them, gave them their phone numbers,
00:44:50
Speaker
That RA ended up taking her out to lunch and told her the entire process of how to found a club at TCU.
00:44:57
Speaker
And then from that day, now we're a year later, that resident has founded the TCU Boxing Club and is in the process of recruiting members to begin next year or next fall.
00:45:08
Speaker
And I just think it's so cool that from a policy violation where I had a conduct meeting with a student,
00:45:15
Speaker
you know, really trying to listen to her and who she was as a person other than that policy violation.
00:45:20
Speaker
I was able to make a connection with her and she'll stop by my office now all the time and tell me about the updates on the boxing club or her personal life or just what's going on.
00:45:30
Speaker
And I think that, like I said before, you know, having that genuine interest in getting to know her and connect with her was what started that entire thing.
00:45:39
Speaker
It almost seems like moments of connection are really just quality networking in terms of value added in relationships.
00:45:49
Speaker
And like you said, Matty, identifying those.
00:45:52
Speaker
And I think that's a real unique way of like networking is sometimes a four letter word.
00:45:57
Speaker
But if it's like, what can I contribute to this relationship?
00:46:00
Speaker
And how can I connect people to create moments of connection is really what it might be about.
00:46:06
Speaker
So I think that's a really great example.
00:46:08
Speaker
Yeah.
00:46:09
Speaker
The one example that Walsh took is not as positive, or at least from on the start, but there was this student who kept walking by another office, like in the student union, several years ago.
00:46:24
Speaker
and would always stick up his middle finger to this office.
00:46:27
Speaker
He would walk in and just cause a ruckus and curse at all the employees.
00:46:32
Speaker
The office called me over because they knew he lived on campus and I was supposed to come take care of business apparently.
00:46:39
Speaker
So I finally got him to come into my office and we had this long conversation.
00:46:44
Speaker
And I think I was about 15 seconds from getting him to self-elect to like
00:46:49
Speaker
apologize for his behavior.
00:46:52
Speaker
But he didn't end up doing that.
00:46:54
Speaker
But I know he left understanding the expectations for like normal behavior and interacting with others, even if they disappointed you in some way.
00:47:03
Speaker
But he stood up out of, to get up by my office, turned to walk out and on my bookshelf, he said, oh, you read The Watchman, a graphic novel by Alan Moore.
00:47:14
Speaker
And I had it on my bookshelf, my office bookshelf.
00:47:16
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, I love it.
00:47:18
Speaker
And
00:47:20
Speaker
It just switched.
00:47:21
Speaker
Like this book caused a moment of connection between this guy.
00:47:24
Speaker
I just, you know, had a meeting with him and the business end of a two by four about behavior and talking about the Watchmen.
00:47:32
Speaker
And it was just something real neat that it's like you never know.
00:47:35
Speaker
Like the Watchmen will now always be on my bookshelf at work because you just never know who's going to see it and what kind of connection that's going to make.
00:47:43
Speaker
And I just, I think like this guy kept coming back to my office.
00:47:47
Speaker
Like, he's like, have you read Swamp Thing by Alan Moore?
00:47:49
Speaker
And I was like, no, I haven't, but I've always wanted to.
00:47:52
Speaker
Week later, guess what?
00:47:53
Speaker
He showed up, Swamp Thing, sitting on my desk.
00:47:56
Speaker
He came back a month later.
00:47:57
Speaker
He's like, have you read Swamp Thing yet?
00:47:59
Speaker
No, I haven't gotten around to it yet.
00:48:00
Speaker
It's still on, but it's like, you just never know.
00:48:03
Speaker
And it's like, Maddie, what you were talking about, the things about us that make us interesting or that our interests really catch people's eyes.
00:48:12
Speaker
Another example I have is...
00:48:15
Speaker
it's the people you'll never forget.
00:48:16
Speaker
Uh, when I got my vaccine, my COVID vaccine, I, my, my draft number got called up.
00:48:25
Speaker
It was go the next day between two and four.
00:48:27
Speaker
And, uh, I literally sat in my car, like down the highway because cars backed up for like an hour and a half.
00:48:34
Speaker
I ended up finally like parking at a hotel and walking a half mile to the, the,
00:48:40
Speaker
the expo center in Arlington and then waited another like two hours there.
00:48:44
Speaker
And I remember walking up to the, there was an administrator and the person like giving the vaccine.
00:48:52
Speaker
And I will, the woman there, and I was like, what's your name?
00:48:56
Speaker
She's like, my name's Regina.
00:48:57
Speaker
And I will just always remember that moment Regina and I shared right there when, you know, it's like a year and a half to get to this point and all the sacrifices people have made.
00:49:05
Speaker
It's like, I'm not an emotional person, but that moment with Regina, I will never forget.
00:49:11
Speaker
And all the three and a half hours that it took to get there that day and everything along is like,
00:49:16
Speaker
I will remember Regina until the day I die.
00:49:18
Speaker
And I don't think she'll like, she's like, actually, I've had some people come back for their second and it's nice to see people both times.
00:49:25
Speaker
And I just think that's, that's really kind of neat.
00:49:28
Speaker
There's neat things along the way that we all have those connections.
00:49:33
Speaker
Okay.
00:49:34
Speaker
So we've talked about the four moments, elevation, insight, pride, and connection.
00:49:40
Speaker
Any closing thoughts on the individual moments?
00:49:44
Speaker
I think for me, especially with a connection one, something that just came to mind was, you know, I was thinking a lot about kindness and how, especially in our world today and within the last year, just...
00:49:58
Speaker
being kind is just one small thing that you can do to create a powerful moment.
00:50:04
Speaker
Right.
00:50:06
Speaker
And so that was like the word that just kept coming as you were, you both were showing examples and just thinking about being, just being kind, kind to people.
Kindness and Meaningful Interactions
00:50:16
Speaker
And that could create connections, but then also create connections between myself and somebody else as well.
00:50:21
Speaker
And so, yeah, I love this book.
00:50:25
Speaker
I think every listener should go get it and read it.
00:50:29
Speaker
Change your life.
00:50:31
Speaker
I think if I may add one other thing that, Beth, you just jogged my memory, is like a tangible, actionable thing for listeners is like we all encounter bad moments or like students who are complaining about something.
00:50:44
Speaker
Like I have found so much value in connecting with students like me.
00:50:50
Speaker
after whatever they've wanted has been resolved or whatever disappointment they have resolved.
00:50:55
Speaker
It's like, I, not all the time, every time, but I try and make a habit of like, once I've taken care of something, it's like, I will delay, send an email for like two weeks later that just says, Hey, so-and-so real sorry about the AC that wasn't working.
00:51:12
Speaker
Uh, no, we got it fixed.
00:51:13
Speaker
Just wanted to touch base, see how things were going.
00:51:16
Speaker
And half the time I get no response back, but the other half I get a genuine, like, thanks so much.
00:51:22
Speaker
I really appreciate you reaching out.
00:51:24
Speaker
Everything's going great.
00:51:25
Speaker
And it's like that connection there that costs me almost nothing in terms of time spent.
00:51:33
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:34
Speaker
And the only thing you got to remember is something happens before then just to unschedule that email from going out because that would be a little weird.
00:51:40
Speaker
But, you know, there's a tangible way.
00:51:42
Speaker
Like you can you can engineer connections by just following up with people who have had issues.
00:51:48
Speaker
And then it's like everyone loves follow up.
00:51:50
Speaker
Everyone loves to know that we care, that they're important, that they important enough for me to send a 30 second email.
00:51:55
Speaker
Yeah.
00:51:56
Speaker
And then I guess also in turn, it creates that moment of pride too, you know, because then I, there's an area that I had and she had written cards to just personal cards and thank you cards to her residents.
00:52:10
Speaker
And she didn't think anything of it.
00:52:11
Speaker
And no one said anything to her.
00:52:13
Speaker
And then she was doing a random inspection and saw one of her cards that she had written.
00:52:18
Speaker
I don't know if maybe it was, I don't know if I've told you this before, or you've told me a similar story, JC, but she found the card,
00:52:23
Speaker
taped to the person's mirror and it was just like a like just random but then also just a an overwhelming sense of pride for her like what they did that you know it's just like yeah so cool and so again something small and when you find out right that that it made that moment um for them that meaningful moment for them it's just it's nice
00:52:47
Speaker
that's like those little moments are all we need to just like totally refill our tank.
00:52:51
Speaker
And it's like, man, that's all I needed.
00:52:56
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:57
Speaker
I mean, just to think about the nuts and bolts of everything that led to that moment of pride and how happenstance it was, because another RA could have done that inspection and wouldn't have known another, like it could have been put up,
00:53:11
Speaker
a day earlier or a day later, it's like, you just never know.
00:53:15
Speaker
And then how do we, because you and you all know, like talking to Ari is about like, no, everything to do is important.
00:53:21
Speaker
It's so valuable.
00:53:21
Speaker
It's like, but if you're not getting the reciprocal feedback from the people you're serving, that's problematic.
00:53:28
Speaker
And like you, this moment you just described with this thank you note on a mirror, like,
00:53:33
Speaker
It existed even if nobody saw it or there was no other validation, but you can't get people to feel that by just saying, yeah, I'm sure that card you put is on somebody's mirror somewhere.
00:53:45
Speaker
Mm-hmm.
00:53:47
Speaker
All right.
00:53:47
Speaker
So let's talk about professional development.
00:53:50
Speaker
You all presented on this at a conference.
00:53:54
Speaker
And in that presentation, you did an activity.
00:53:57
Speaker
And people love activities in their presentations and hands-on experiential learning.
00:54:05
Speaker
So walk us through what that activity was.
00:54:09
Speaker
Yeah, so we gave our program participants the opportunity to create their first day of employment using all four points of possible of moments.
00:54:20
Speaker
And so we asked them to construct what, you know, a common day of transition might look like into their new role, but make it elevated and
00:54:30
Speaker
provide some pride, provide some connection for them to create within that first day.
00:54:34
Speaker
And so some examples that we gave them were like all first days could be on a Friday or, you know, instead of forcing them, taking them on a tour on campus and interrupting all your coworkers time in their office and forcing them to have that awkward introduction, like maybe the new employee takes around a snack cart and, you
00:54:53
Speaker
Maybe some beverages if it's like 445 or something.
00:54:57
Speaker
And so it's like, hey, I'm the new employee.
00:55:00
Speaker
I'm here.
00:55:00
Speaker
I'm going to be working with you.
00:55:01
Speaker
And that's a fun moment.
00:55:03
Speaker
That would be a great first day in my mind.
00:55:05
Speaker
And as a returning employee, a treat for me.
00:55:09
Speaker
So how can we make this more elevated?
00:55:13
Speaker
So we asked that we gave them some time, asked them to create, if they could, their best first day experience for their new hall directors, new RAs, whatever it may be that they had in mind.
00:55:22
Speaker
There was one example too, and I don't know if we gave this to them or they gave it to us too, but then given if the department has enough budget or even personally, I think supervisors can do this by giving a gift card for their first meal, right?
00:55:39
Speaker
Because knowing that it's so chaotic when they're moving in or relocating, providing that first meal for them or giving them a gift card so they can go use that.
00:55:48
Speaker
But again, small moments.
00:55:51
Speaker
Well, the gift card also works like if it's like a special haunt to the, like this is the place that we all go as a department.
00:55:59
Speaker
That also creates a connection there of like, go to our favorite place on us.
00:56:03
Speaker
We know you've just moved across the country.
00:56:06
Speaker
Here's a place you might enjoy.
00:56:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:07
Speaker
Another thing was, you know, it's something so simple too.
00:56:10
Speaker
Like you mentioned earlier, JC, like an email, like for all your new employees, personalize an email to them, but make it fun.
00:56:17
Speaker
Like include a video clip of the rest of the team saying hi to them.
00:56:20
Speaker
Like,
00:56:21
Speaker
something that they can look at and view and get them excited for their first day instead of, hi, welcome to campus.
00:56:27
Speaker
Here's what you need to do on your first day.
00:56:29
Speaker
Here's your technology, action items.
00:56:31
Speaker
Here's what you have to do at HR.
00:56:32
Speaker
Like that's probably the first email they're going to get from a lot of places.
00:56:35
Speaker
So how can we turn that around and maybe put that on pause for a day or two and start off on the right foot by sending them something really fun and exciting?
00:56:43
Speaker
Yeah.
00:56:44
Speaker
So before we close out the show, let's talk about the act of presenting.
Collaboration in Conference Presentations
00:56:48
Speaker
You both have different professional approaches and styles.
00:56:51
Speaker
What was it like working together to put on this program with your different styles?
00:56:55
Speaker
I think it was really fun for me.
00:56:58
Speaker
Sorry, Papa.
00:56:59
Speaker
Because I think personally, I fall a little bit in the middle of both of you.
00:57:04
Speaker
I like to be laid back and I like it to be more conversational when I'm presenting.
00:57:10
Speaker
But I also like to have structure and know what I'm going to say and how it's going to go.
00:57:13
Speaker
And I think
00:57:14
Speaker
JC, you're like, when we did this, you're like sitting in the chair, legs propped up on whatever it was that was in front of you.
00:57:24
Speaker
You like got your two little note cards, but you're just so like informal that it makes people feel comfortable.
00:57:29
Speaker
But for me, I was like, should we all be standing?
00:57:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:57:34
Speaker
What's going on?
00:57:35
Speaker
But then a Peppa, you're also on the opposite end of like, I'm going to have, I'm going to know exactly what I'm going to say for every slide.
00:57:43
Speaker
And I want to make sure it goes perfectly.
00:57:46
Speaker
And just so like the formality of it all and both great, you know, presentation styles, but it was, it was really fun for me to kind of see both ends, but then also kind of like incorporate, you know, interacting with the audience is something I really like doing and making that a fun part of it.
00:58:02
Speaker
So yeah.
00:58:03
Speaker
I really enjoyed it.
00:58:05
Speaker
I sat in the corner because you two were the stars of the show.
00:58:07
Speaker
I want to distract from the agreement that you were bringing.
00:58:10
Speaker
Do you remember when we met the night before trying to make sure we got all of our slides in order?
00:58:17
Speaker
Yeah, that's when it sticks to my, I want to make sure you have it right, make sure you have your notes right, get the right pages.
00:58:25
Speaker
But I think for me, it was super fun.
00:58:27
Speaker
But one thing that I had to learn how to do is just learn about your styles and
00:58:34
Speaker
lean towards you in some areas and lean towards Tracy in some areas and just kind of go with the flow.
00:58:40
Speaker
And so there are times I just let go of my notes and talked it out.
00:58:44
Speaker
And I realized that that was more fun doing that, you know, in times where I was just, I let my guard down and in their times where I was serious.
00:58:51
Speaker
Right.
00:58:51
Speaker
And so really working with each other's styles to, to benefit the entire presentation and knowing that it's not just about me or, you
00:59:01
Speaker
You know, it's okay, how can we work together to be successful here as presenters?
00:59:06
Speaker
One of my favorite sayings is...
00:59:08
Speaker
Plans are worthless, but planning is essential.
00:59:11
Speaker
And I think that really speaks to presentations because like, Pev, just like you were saying, it's like we get to a point, it's like, let's just rock and roll.
00:59:18
Speaker
You know, you practice enough so it doesn't look like you practiced at all or whatever that other saying is, but you just got to rock and roll.
00:59:26
Speaker
So what piece of advice would you give to people working together on a presentation at a conference?
00:59:32
Speaker
I mean, definitely communicate with each other.
00:59:34
Speaker
I think it's awesome when you can bring together different presentation styles, but be aware of that so that you know what to expect for yourself.
00:59:43
Speaker
And so I think it actually brings more character to the presentation if you are a little different.
00:59:50
Speaker
So I think it's great.
00:59:51
Speaker
But that self-awareness and planning, like you said, JC, it's good.
00:59:56
Speaker
But also be aware that it's not going to go exactly as planned because...
01:00:01
Speaker
there's going to be some fun little banter or questions from the audience or things that happen that you just, you know, don't expect.
01:00:07
Speaker
So I think just be prepared for anything.
01:00:09
Speaker
I'd also add, you know, taking advantage of, not in a good way, but utilizing each other's styles for the good of the presentation.
01:00:18
Speaker
And so there are times where I knew JC was going to cover that example.
01:00:22
Speaker
And so I didn't want to go into detail.
01:00:23
Speaker
I knew Maddie was going to
01:00:25
Speaker
You know, go in this direction.
01:00:26
Speaker
And so, you know, knowing each other, but then understanding, okay, how can you, how can you lean on each other to cover those things, but then trust each other in that way, if that makes sense.
01:00:38
Speaker
Of course, you know, maybe you're trying to partner with somebody.
01:00:41
Speaker
from a different campus who you're just getting to know.
01:00:44
Speaker
I think some of those questions that you may need to ask is, okay, what is your style?
01:00:48
Speaker
Okay, what are you, what do you lean towards more?
01:00:52
Speaker
What are you going to say in this?
01:00:54
Speaker
How would you say it?
01:00:55
Speaker
How can I come in and really support you in that?
01:00:58
Speaker
Because the one thing you want at the end of your presentation is for the audience, you know, then,
01:01:04
Speaker
you knew that you were for each other, right?
01:01:07
Speaker
If nobody else was, like if I knew that JC was going to tell a lie, I was going to go with it, right?
01:01:14
Speaker
And say, yes, that happened.
01:01:16
Speaker
You know, loyalty.
01:01:18
Speaker
It's like, yes, that actually happened.
01:01:23
Speaker
I was there.
01:01:24
Speaker
And then be like, what was that story at the end of the presentation?
01:01:29
Speaker
So, yes, of course.
01:01:31
Speaker
I think we need a little more context here.
01:01:33
Speaker
It never happens.
01:01:34
Speaker
Otherwise, everyone's going to be questioning every presentation I've ever given.
01:01:38
Speaker
It never happens.
01:01:39
Speaker
Of course, this is just, I know.
01:01:41
Speaker
Yes, J.C., you never lied to your presentation.
01:01:44
Speaker
No.
01:01:45
Speaker
But the moral is just, you know, allow the audience to be able to know that the two of you or three of you are
01:01:52
Speaker
are for each other, right?
01:01:54
Speaker
And you're there to back each other up in every aspect of the presentation.
01:01:58
Speaker
And then you can critique at the end, right?
01:02:00
Speaker
After the presentation.
01:02:02
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:03
Speaker
Never let the truth get in the way of a true tangible takeaway, right?
01:02:08
Speaker
Yeah.
01:02:08
Speaker
That's what really matters.
01:02:10
Speaker
No, but I totally second that.
01:02:12
Speaker
Cause I will say there's nothing worse than like being in a presentation with someone or two people where it's clear, they don't really like have a relationship outside of that presentation.
01:02:21
Speaker
And so yeah,
01:02:23
Speaker
I think it says a lot if you even if you're presenting with someone from a different university who haven't really gotten to know as much, like put the time in to get to know them, because if you can interact with each other on a personal level, I think that adds a level of comfort and like reassurance to the audience that you have prepared and planned as well, because you actually like each other and want to spend time chatting about the topic that you're both passionate about.
Empowering Presenters Through Interaction
01:02:48
Speaker
And I think my piece of advice would be to, especially if you're doing with like multiple levels of staff, like entry level, mid-level, senior level, it's like throw job titles out the window.
01:02:59
Speaker
And I think you can, I've been in presentations where it feels very rigid of like,
01:03:03
Speaker
Everyone's deferring to the person with the most senior title that, you know, sometimes there's a whole lot of value in just like empowering everybody and their part for their moment.
01:03:13
Speaker
And instead of everyone's like a question, get asked.
01:03:17
Speaker
Everyone needs to be comfortable with whoever starts speaking or responding first.
01:03:21
Speaker
Like we don't all need to look to the senior housing officer or whoever's the most senior in the room that's
01:03:26
Speaker
We're all experts in this moment, in this presentation, and as long as everybody understands that, I think it feels a lot more candid and a lot more organic, which is something that's always been important to me.
01:03:40
Speaker
All right.
01:03:40
Speaker
So your program was obviously well-received by participants to get top five recognition at the conference that year.
01:03:48
Speaker
What do you think it was about the program that appealed to the people who attended it?
01:03:53
Speaker
I mean, we gave away free stuff.
01:03:55
Speaker
Like, what else do you need?
01:03:59
Speaker
No, but we, you know, we had a raffle.
01:04:00
Speaker
I think that appealed to some people.
01:04:02
Speaker
We gave away free copies of the book and had a little activity to go with it.
01:04:07
Speaker
So I think that it was engaging.
01:04:10
Speaker
I also think our, you know, real-time examples that were easily applicable across many, like, disciplines and levels of expertise, it just made it easier to follow.
01:04:23
Speaker
And I would like to think that's some of the things that kind of enticed people.
01:04:28
Speaker
I think the takeaway was also very strong as well.
01:04:31
Speaker
So they came in not knowing what our presentation looked like, but then we're engaged throughout the presentation and walked away with some examples, even if...
01:04:42
Speaker
They had done that before, but then we shared a lot of new stuff too that were moments of insight for some people as well.
01:04:50
Speaker
And so I think the takeaway was really strong during our presentation and something that listeners can implement, thinking about how can they, I mean, it's a to-go box of the points that you want them to go away with, right?
01:05:05
Speaker
How can you make it so meaningful that
01:05:07
Speaker
they leave and they can remember our presentation as a meaningful moment, right?
01:05:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's great.
01:05:16
Speaker
So thank you both for being here.
01:05:19
Speaker
And as mentioned at the beginning of this episode, this is the first book club for the Swakuho podcast.
01:05:25
Speaker
From time to time, we feature books and Swakuho members who have read the books and put the book deliverables into action.
01:05:33
Speaker
If you have a book that has been beneficial to your career with actionable takeaways, drop me an email at swakuhopodcast at gmail.com for consideration or be on the lookout for a call for readers for a preselected book in the future.
01:05:46
Speaker
I want to once again thank our guests, Apefa Cooper and Maddie Reed.
01:05:50
Speaker
Time is such a valuable commodity and I can't thank them enough for investing their time in this podcast today.
01:05:55
Speaker
Apefa and Maddie certainly delivered.
01:05:58
Speaker
Be sure to connect with and thank them on their preferred social media accounts listed in the show notes.
01:06:03
Speaker
Let me know your number one takeaway from this episode by replying on the Swakuho social media podcast posts.
01:06:10
Speaker
I welcome any feedback about the quality and content of the show via Swakuho podcast at gmail.com.
01:06:16
Speaker
I'm always open to suggestions to provide the most service and value to you, the membership.
01:06:22
Speaker
And as a new thing, are you having a professional conundrum and don't know what to do?
01:06:28
Speaker
Do you need some professional advice navigating a situation in the workplace or the job search?
01:06:33
Speaker
The podcast now has a submission form in the show notes where you can anonymously ask for professional advice.
01:06:39
Speaker
Once we have a handful of questions, I will pull together a panel to provide their take on your situation and provide some recommendations and guidance.
01:06:48
Speaker
Consider it like Ann Landers, but for housing professionals.
01:06:52
Speaker
On our next episode, we'll feature Craig Seeger from the University of Central Arkansas.
01:06:56
Speaker
We will be talking to him about his recently published article in the Journal of College and University Student Housing about factors infecting hiring decisions of RA candidates.
01:07:05
Speaker
It will be the first research-focused episode where we will feature a Swakuho-affiliated practitioner scholar who will bring and break down the research directly to you.
01:07:15
Speaker
With that, I say to you, good day.