December 4, 2018
On the Nature of Career Transitions…
No. I am not announcing my departure. You aren’t that lucky.
The past year has been punctuated with several career transitions, whether it be retirement, new opportunities or both. The pace seems to have picked up recently.
Of course, Coach Snyder announced his retirement as our Kansas State University football coach. He has done extremely well in his leadership role as a football coach. He took us from “worst to first.” He has also done well with regard to creating mentoring and leadership programs both here on campus and throughout Kansas.
In our K-State Research and Extension world, several outgoing career transitions are occurring. Stacey Warner and Wayne Moore are beginning their final month before moving into their well-deserved retirements. A couple of other Extension professionals, who also have been highly successful and dedicated Extension professionals and public servants, will also retire before the end of the year. Their dedication and passion for our profession and K-State Research and Extension will be missed.
Of course, one only has to look at the demographics of our Extension professionals and volunteers to understand that we will have many more people transitioning into retirement in the next few years. These transitions are bittersweet. We are happy that our colleagues and friends have reached the retirement milestone, but we are saddened to see their experience and skills leave our Extension system.
One of many things that Coach Snyder and our retiring Extension professional colleagues have in common is that they did an extremely great job. They made their respective areas of operations better than how they first found it, which is something we all must strive to achieve in our work. By doing so, they enabled the next person who takes on their responsibility to go into the position with a firm foundation, better enabling those new people to implement their ideas on how to improve upon our organization and the work we do.
And, so, Jennifer Wilson began on Monday to take that great foundation that Stacey laid and will make Extension Operations an even better unit than it was before. Dr. Chris Onstad did that in the Northeast when he took over the good foundation laid by Dr. Dale Fjell. When Dr. Onstad adds the Northwest Region to his responsibility next month, he will take the great foundation that Dr. Moore laid to make that region even better than it is today. All of those who will be replacing our departing Extension professionals and volunteers in the future will continue with the same overall goals as their predecessors; make the people we serve, our profession, and K-State Research and Extension even better.
I was reminded of how well this process works when I got to visit with three retired agents this past weekend. Like a lot of great opportunities, this one occurred by chance. When these three were agents, they were the epitome of great Extension professionals. Throughout their years in K-State Research and Extension, they made the people they served, their local unit, and K-State Research and Extension better. Their influence will never be lost.
I also thought about those who came after them. In each case, they are showing great potential and excelling. No, they may not be doing things in exactly the same way as their predecessors, but they, like their predecessors, are making the people they serve, their local unit, and K-State Research and Extension even better than they were before.
Retirements and departures are bittersweet affairs. They can cause anxiousness. Nevertheless, their influence on the people we serve, our profession, and K-State Research and Extension will never be lost. They have laid a great foundation, and their successors will continue on with our mission. It is the nature of career transitions.