Talking Stick - January/February 2019 - C23

to start. Next, be strategic in knowing
your campus colleagues. Identify individuals who will have your best at heart
and who will cheer you on throughout
your career. This is not about handing out business cards but developing
meaningful and intentional relationships. This leads to needing strong interpersonal skills to assist in building
and maintaining your network. It is important you reflect on your emotions,
what triggers them, and how to best approach them. Learning to self-regulate
will help you to think before you react.
Another key to my professional
success was identifying mentors who
invested in and steered my career. Listen and learn from their advice. Absorb
and collaborate whenever possible with
these key people. Sometimes this means
accepting and learning from constructive feedback. Mistakes will be made,
and a good supervisor will address

them with you. Receiving disappointing
feedback is not always easy, but do not
sulk or shut down. Focus on how you
will learn from this experience. In those
cases where issues arise, approach them
from a solution-based outcome. Bounce
ideas off colleagues to identify ways to
resolve the issues. Avoid complaining
about the issue if you do not have a solution. At the end of the day, it is about
turning lemons into lemonade.
One also must become knowledgeable about how your organization
works. Hidden or unspoken practices
can be maddening in any organization.
Quickly familiarize yourself with your
organization to avoid landmines. Learn
to work within the system to make
meaningful change where you can. Culture is long ingrained and if you do not
learn it, it will lead to frustration and
disappointment.

"Learn to work
within the
system to make
meaningful
change where
you can. Culture
is long ingrained
and if you do
not learn it,
it will lead to
frustration and
disappointment."
~Charles Holmes-Hope

#acuhoi

Finally, I suggest dressing for success. Your work attire can play a significant part in how confident, creative,
and competent you appear to others at
work. Never be in a position to fill in for
your boss at a meeting and not be ready
to play the part.
Charles Holmes-Hope, Associate
Director of Residence Education,
University of Connecticut

YOU CAN'T BE A
PROPHET IN YOUR
OWN LAND

've been in the profession for more
than 30 years, but it wasn't until I got
involved with ACUHO-I I saw things
change for the positive. When I started, there were few professionals of
color and even fewer in upper management. Initially, individuals intentionally blocked my efforts to perform
my job. Because of this, I felt I had to
work harder than everyone else; have
an answer for every question; and come
in early, stay late, and take every assignment handed to me for fear of someone
thinking I was incompetent at my job.
I had to battle over things other professionals didn't, and it left me with
little energy to connect with people on
campus or in my profession. The result
was I focused only on the job, with little
time for anything else.
When I reached the middle of my
career, I started to expand my role outside of my department. I felt less need
to prove myself but quickly learned the
role that politics played. I was asked to
be on numerous committees, and, not
knowing, I accepted every opportunity. I felt people were starting to take

Talking Stick - January/February 2019

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