February 5, 2019
Musings Over a Social Media Post
I admit it. I probably spend too much time on social media. Instagram is my favorite.
As a lover of quotes, I love really concise, thoughtful, and/or witty posts and memes. The other day I saw one oriented towards my sport, weightlifting. It suggested that all weightlifters have the same mission and the same nemesis. All lifters compete against gravity. You had to overcome challenges in your life to train. Your competitors had to overcome challenges in their life to train. You have unique qualities you bring to the sport. They have unique qualities they bring to the sport. It suggested that you were ultimately the only one in control of your own success. There is nothing you or your competitor can do to hinder the performance of each other. Once again, the lifters have the same mission and nemesis. Weightlifters, even though it is an individual sport, should act as a team. Why not choose to help, cheer, appreciate, console, learn from, and celebrate each other’s success?
In Extension, we, regardless of discipline or program area, have the same mission and nemesis. We compete against a lack of knowledge and/or misinformation. We all have unique professional and personal challenges we must overcome to do our job well. We all have unique qualities we bring to our profession. Each one of us is ultimately responsible for the success of his or her own Extension program.
Where the meme differed from our lives as Extension professionals and colleagues is the statement regarding “There is nothing you or your competitor can do to hinder the performance of each other.” We have three choices. First, we can choose to be a team member with our colleagues and support them by helping, advising, consoling, cheering, congratulating, appreciating, and learning from them. Second, we can choose to not do any of those things. Third, we can treat our colleagues as competitors or enemies and go out of our way to derail our colleagues' successes.
When I see offices that implement the first choice, I generally find situations where the Extension professionals are excelling, happy, and striving to become even better Extension professionals. Their board members, department heads, unit heads, and county commissioners are happy. They may even brag about their great team of Extension professionals. More importantly, the people they serve are served better. The team of Extension professionals is indispensable.
Whenever I see offices that practice the second choice, I generally find situations where the Extension professionals are working, but they are just going through the motions. Their careers are professionally unrewarding. Their supervisors and funders are less gracious with their praise and with their allocations. The people they serve are still served, but not as effectively as in the paragraph above. In these situations, the team of Extension professionals becomes a “nice” service as opposed to a necessity.
There are a few Extension professionals who practice the third option. Backstabbing causes more backstabbing. Conspiracy theories and rumors run rampant. The supervisors spend most of their time squelching the latest emotional firestorm. Funders refuse to increase budgets or threaten to decrease budgets unless the Extension professionals “get their act together.” Even worse, the needs of the people the Extension professionals serve start to suffer as more and more time is devoted to winning the “game.”
The choice is clear. We need to help, cheer, appreciate, console, learn from, and celebrate each other’s success. We need to do a better job of striving to be better colleagues and teammates.
How? Why not start by asking our colleagues two things: “How is it going?” and “How can I help you succeed?”