As I began to type today I realized I needed a way to identify what it really is like to connect all these people. It is like trying to connect shooting stars. As soon as you see one and note it, another zooms by, you follow it for a second, look back for the first and it is gone.
So, how DO you connect people in so many different places? This isn't a company that can arrange identical software and fancy media connections. This is a mish-mash of students, stay at home moms, working parents, teachers, travelers... you get the idea.
We started off with Google. I had heard of Google docs and had experienced Google groups before so it was a sensible starting place. It is difficult to find options that do not require downloads and Google kept us free of that concern.
Let me say, Google docs is great and easy for live-time editing. Kathy and I whipped out several documents that way. Sadly though, Google docs does not connect directly to Google groups. It also does not play nice with format translation. So, we had a break in communication and extra steps to share with everyone and track what was up.
Enter Malissa. She told Kathy about www.tabup.com. WOW is all I can say. Does it have a few things we wish were a little different? Yes. Do they really matter in the daily stuff? No. It is free, easy to sign up, doesn't require a certain type of email and holds all that we need in one place.
Within minutes we were up and running, with titles, documents, calendar and to-do list all sporting our mark.
So far we have about 9 documents in the final draft stage, a web page in construction, a blog, a facebook page and a great way to connect those shooting stars.
We are eager to share with you our time lines and progress as we move along- as well as our frustrations, since no road well traveled fails to have moments of distress.
Please comment on our fb page or here and ask questions! I would love to answer a few.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Please Allow me to introduce you....
Many of you reading this will already have some idea of what this project is about. A few of you will know who is involved. Even fewer will know both so I would like to take a few minutes to introduce you to the collaborative team and explain our purpose in really brief layman's terms. I am sure this will help many readers out as I understand we are gaining a following that are not tied to either Fort Hays State University (FHSU) or the Leadership Department there. I am not doing this in any particular order so don't anyone get your panties in a twist. If I have forgotten someone or gotten information wrong, PLEASE let me know so I can adjust the blog to reflect accurately.
I cannot even begin to list the additional players in this- all supportive and excited just like us. From professors to students and many in between, they are what helps this to come together.
Now, what ARE we doing and why? We realized that many virtual college students do not get a critical component of leadership studies when they are not present in a classroom. Sometimes a class gels online in discussion boards but more often than not, they don't. We realized how reassuring it was to have found that experience- in essence a peer support and mentoring- and wanted to find a way to share that with other leadership students. So, we are creating a mentoring program to achieve this.
I hope I answered a few questions, gave you a few names to remember and watch for and have piqued your curiosity to keep reading.
Next time: how do you collaborate from farms, cities, colleges, homes, and offices? We tried a few things and finally hit on success!
Here is our Leadership Mentoring Program Development and Collaboration Team:
First up, we have Christie Brungardt, PhD., Instructor of Leadership Studies at FHSU and teacher of the class that brought this idea to bear. Christie is, in a word, Fantastic. I do want to take a moment and plug her passion now. She lost her beloved daughter to domestic violence and now fights on in Jana's name to establish ground- breaking laws to protect and eliminate this horrible blight on our society by encouraging and promoting a public policy response to domestic violence. You can learn more at www.Janascampaign.com.
Next up, Kathy Nordyke, grad- student, Adjunct Faculty Member, and best of all: Program Coordinator of this project! Kathy is a truly inspired woman with a passion for leadership and she really has taken this to heart, spending countless hours bringing it to fruition. She is one of the students from Christie's class that just couldn't let go of the bond we had created through discussion and learning- thus this project.
Brent Goertzen, PhD., Chair and Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies Department at FHSU and faculty advisor to this project. Brent has been our biggest Devil's advocate- really making us jump through hoops to get things right- because there is something here that is really worth doing right. He is also a great supporter!
In addition to these key players we also have the founding collaborative mentors: Keely Brown, Lisa Lutey, Julie Kelly (me!), Cami Kesinger, Melanie Kich, Lindsey Miller, Alana Riley, and Malissa Streeter, all members of that class who just couldn't walk away from the support they had found in each other.
I cannot even begin to list the additional players in this- all supportive and excited just like us. From professors to students and many in between, they are what helps this to come together.
Now, what ARE we doing and why? We realized that many virtual college students do not get a critical component of leadership studies when they are not present in a classroom. Sometimes a class gels online in discussion boards but more often than not, they don't. We realized how reassuring it was to have found that experience- in essence a peer support and mentoring- and wanted to find a way to share that with other leadership students. So, we are creating a mentoring program to achieve this.
I hope I answered a few questions, gave you a few names to remember and watch for and have piqued your curiosity to keep reading.
Next time: how do you collaborate from farms, cities, colleges, homes, and offices? We tried a few things and finally hit on success!
Monday, July 5, 2010
The Gift that Keeps Giving: Mentoring
As a parent, our wish is rarely that our child will be a follower, but instead, we wish for our child to grow up to be a leader. All our lives we are encouraged to "step up", "lead", and "do for others," all components of leadership. The problem is that when we grow up to be a leader (we all are in some fashion), if we do not take someone else along for the ride, showing them the ropes, encouraging them to do the same, we leave an empty coffer at the end.
It is fine and good to lead a life full of achievement, but of these, when we mentor, we leave behind the greatest of monuments to our life. We leave the ability for our life, our leadership and our dreams to continue to be brought to fruition by and through others.
Mentoring is a grand and generous gift. It is also a gift to ourselves. When we reach inside to see what others need from us and we seek to see through their eyes we are granted a rare glimpse at ourselves where we see both the good and the bad. This two sided gift gives us the opportunity to become someone better and to acknowledge that which we do well already. Let's be honest, we are all our own worst critic, yet when asked, we rarely see ourselves to blame for fault in the world. Mentoring gives us the clarity to see that for which we are responsible, for the bad and the good around us. It gives us insight into our dreams again and opens new doors to try one more time to get something "right", or at least get it "better".
Our society screams for leaders, but few take the time to guide, to walk beside, or even behind another to build a new leader for when we are gone. It is important too to recognize that some of us are not meant to be a visible leader, but instead, to build them quietly. Teachers are the best mentors out there second only to parents. They mentor when they are least expecting to. The beauty is that we do not all need to be parents or teachers. We all have a chance to reach out and mentor in other roles.
Before I leave you today pondering how you can mentor in your lives, and before I introduce you to an amazing group of people who are endeavoring to build a mentoring program in the Leadership Department of Fort Hays State University, I would like to share a bedtime story.
It is fine and good to lead a life full of achievement, but of these, when we mentor, we leave behind the greatest of monuments to our life. We leave the ability for our life, our leadership and our dreams to continue to be brought to fruition by and through others.
Mentoring is a grand and generous gift. It is also a gift to ourselves. When we reach inside to see what others need from us and we seek to see through their eyes we are granted a rare glimpse at ourselves where we see both the good and the bad. This two sided gift gives us the opportunity to become someone better and to acknowledge that which we do well already. Let's be honest, we are all our own worst critic, yet when asked, we rarely see ourselves to blame for fault in the world. Mentoring gives us the clarity to see that for which we are responsible, for the bad and the good around us. It gives us insight into our dreams again and opens new doors to try one more time to get something "right", or at least get it "better".
Our society screams for leaders, but few take the time to guide, to walk beside, or even behind another to build a new leader for when we are gone. It is important too to recognize that some of us are not meant to be a visible leader, but instead, to build them quietly. Teachers are the best mentors out there second only to parents. They mentor when they are least expecting to. The beauty is that we do not all need to be parents or teachers. We all have a chance to reach out and mentor in other roles.
Before I leave you today pondering how you can mentor in your lives, and before I introduce you to an amazing group of people who are endeavoring to build a mentoring program in the Leadership Department of Fort Hays State University, I would like to share a bedtime story.
Once upon a time, there was a class taught by the Crystal Princess. The Crystal Princess was a gentle and caring soul who encouraged her pupils to reach inside for the answers, not wanting something spewed back at her from a textbook. She encouraged discourse amongst her class and they accepted the challenge.
One day, there was a class that took this lesson to heart ever so much more than had ever been done. This class chose to bring the lessons to their real lives outside the classroom and they created lasting friendships that carried on long after class was done.
The Crystal Princess watched in awe as her fledgling pupils grew and flew to soaring heights. What truly brought her to joyful tears though, was their desire to share the gift they had found as a group with others. As she watched them reach out and share that gift, she knew she had achieved her dreams of teaching them a lesson greater than could ever be put into a book.
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