Last week, I tuned into a free webinar by IDEO U called “Remote Collaboration.” Sacha Connor, Founder of Virtual Work Insider, shared strategies for staying collaborative and creative while working from home (and none are about improving your Zoom background!) Here are my top three takeaways : 1. Spend some time thinking about new communication norms. How will your team primarily communicate? Does it make sense to have a regular (weekly or daily?) Zoom chat to touch base? And if so, what hours would be best to schedule? Maybe have a rule about no Zooms before 9 a.m. or after 3 p.m.? This all depends on individual team members and their circumstances, especially if they are juggling childcare responsibilities, etc. (And if you’re struggling with all of your responsibilities at home, be empowered to ask your supervisor for accommodations, like moving a Zoom time.) One idea shared … if frequent communication is essential to your team, maybe have a standing 9-9:30 a.m. “coffee chat,” where everyone just touches base while they get their coffee ready? 2. Preparation for Zoom meetings is really important! Are you facilitating meetings for your team? Sacha says sending a thorough agenda at least 24 hours… Continue Reading 3 tips for remote collaborationRead More
The first time I cried was after I read that commencements across the VCCS had been canceled. The second, more intense sobbing happened as I overheard my daughter’s teacher reading excerpts of “The BFG” during their first classroom Zoom session. Waves of emotion continue to crash over me during my days at home …. fear, grief, rage, anxiety, gratitude. Exhaustion. We will continue to cope with the upside-down world in our own ways. One week into social distancing, and my husband’s major coping project is: Adopt a chihuahua puppy. (He’s chocolate brown, weighs 1.5 pounds, and we’ve named him Chewbacca, “Chewie” for short.) My husband’s major coping project is: Adopt a chihuahua puppy. My way of coping is to read like a maniac. I spent about 20 years in newsrooms before working at Virginia Western, and my journalism roots are showing (also, my hair roots are starting to show, but whatevs). Specifically, I’m reading about how the pandemic is impacting higher education. I scan the Chronicle of Higher Education, Inside Higher Ed, and the AACC’s Community College Daily on a regular basis. Education futurist Bryan Alexander has been tracking the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic and its higher ed implications for quite… Continue Reading How I’m coping with the pandemic … and how can the engagement team help?Read More
Early in 2019, I checked out the business book “Traction” (by Gino Wickman) from Brown Library. I heard about the book at the VCCS Hire Education conference, where folks from Lord Fairfax Community College explained how they used it to transform their Workforce division. It was my favorite session of the conference, as it was both inspiring and useful. This is going to sound extremely nerdy, but I just loved the idea of aligning bite-sized daily goals with a long-term vision. That’s how you get things done … how you gain traction. One of the most memorable takeaways was the concept of “Rocks,” which the author actually credits to an analogy in Stephen Covey’s book “First Things First.” Wickman writes: Picture a glass cylinder set on a table. Next to the cylinder are rocks, gravel, sand, and a glass of water. Imagine the glass cylinder as all of the time you have in a day. The rocks are your main priorities, the gravel represents your day-to-day responsibilities, the sand represents interruptions, and the water is everything else that you get hit with during your workday. If you, as most people do, pour the water in first, the sand in second, the gravel… Continue Reading One year later: How ‘Traction’ keeps changing my life & workRead More
About Shelley
Shelley Lyons is glad to be back on campus as she is a Virginia Western alum, and has served as the Administrative Officer for Grants Administration at Virginia Western since early 2022. Prior to VWCC, her career focus was within the Human Services and Arts fields. She wrote her first grant in 1996 on a whim and has continued to plan and learn since that time. She most enjoys seeing a well-planned project come to fruition, where funder, project manager and beneficiaries can all feel success and see impact.
Recent Posts
- Why Try An LOI? May 10, 2024
- Grant Nerds Unite! March 12, 2024
- The Power of Collaboration November 17, 2023
- Time to Innovate October 4, 2023
- How to tackle grant season? August 14, 2023