February 20, 2024
Finding Your Frequency: How to Tune in to Personal-Professional Satisfaction for a Sustainable Extension Career
Presentation Abstract:
Colleagues from West Virginia University recently shared professional development on Finding Your Frequency: How to Tune into Personal-Professional Satisfaction with new agents. This was an excellent presentation that all professionals can benefit from.
Across the nation, Extension personnel have traditionally worn many hats through their work to serve their communities, professional departments, and land grant universities. The nature of the work has institutionalized stress within Extension which has since been increased. In some states, budget cuts have decreased the number of Extension personnel available to complete the same workload (and in some cases, a larger workload). Then, the COVID-19 pandemic spiked stress levels that caused a backlash of “quiet quitting” across the nation’s workforce.
Rather than “quietly quitting” (or actually quitting) on the constituents that depend on our programs, Extension professionals should take thoughtful and appropriate steps toward making their Extension career personally sustainable. The purpose of this session is to reduce Extension burnout by increasing the personal-professional satisfaction of the participants.
A review of literature in organizational culture and work-life balance reveals that “balance” is not what we want. Instead, we desire satisfaction in our work and in our personal lives. Furthermore, it reveals what we in Extension already know - the two (personal lives and our work) are inevitably intertwined. This session will engage participants in meaningful conversations and identify practical suggestions to help them tune in to their personal-professional satisfaction within their field of Extension.
Viewers will:
• Recognize unique challenges and opportunities presented by Extension work
• Reflect upon the reasons they were compelled to work in their field of Extension
• Identify practical ways to decrease the stress of delivering impactful programs
• Chart a personal pathway to achieve personal and professional satisfaction
The power to make Extension careers more sustainable is up to each of us and all of us. Tuning in to personal-professional satisfaction for a sustainable Extension career is attainable when we find our frequency.
The answer is for each of us to find our frequency and to support our colleagues as they find theirs.
Lewis Honaker has been a WVU Extension Agent for 4-H Youth Development in Ohio County since 2012. He works to empower youth through community programs to become civic leaders, find their sparks, expand their horizons, and become the best version of themselves. He currently serves on WVU faculty senate and was recently elected Vice President of the West Virginia Association of Extension 4-H Agents. Lewis and Megan, his wife of 18 years, live in Wheeling, WV with their two children.
Barbie Little is a WVU Extension Agent in 4-H Youth Development in Raleigh County. She works to support capacity and sustainability through STEM, healthy living, and civic engagement across West Virginia. Prior to working for Extension, Barbie was an elementary and middle school teacher for over 20 years while serving 4-H as a volunteer in county and state programs. She and her husband, Mark, met through 4-H and have raised three children who are also active in West Virginia 4-H.