The Need for Resilience Rebuilding in Higher Ed
I remember when the pandemic hit two years ago, I felt like I was in the right position to support individuals and groups as a department chair and professor. So when I switch to full time coach and consultant, I continued listening and holding space for folks to process, grieve, and re-skill - all this has taught me is the importance of resilience rebuilding and reframing. Skills I didn’t have intentionally built into my routine back then either.
As I’m working with folks and teams in higher ed across the US what I most want to share and normalize is that TONS of folks are and have been struggling and that outside work things spill over in greater amounts now. And also, not everyone has that experience and some have maintained wellbeing (lots of reasons and contexts for those differences but I’m not addressing that today.) A point though is, even if you’re not struggling, you’re likely working and supporting those who are.
Here’s what I’ve learned thus far and hope to better understand what we can (re)create together:
These 2 years have hurt the sense of belonging and community for individuals and within teams and groups
When folks hold to fear, forward movement isn’t possible - so wanting to ‘go back to normal’ or create change ain’t happening when there are folks who sit in fear and wounds
Salary vs inflation, location cost of living, combined with the crappy field standard for higher ed - all this existed before and have gotten EXACERBATED during these last two years of rising costs and scarcity of supply
Career options and desires have shifted as folks have reevaluated their values, purpose, and how they spend their time - this is an opportunity for organizations to rethink positions and people rather than status quo
Racial and oppression fatigue on top of pandemic, economic and climate crises is GIGANTIC and needs to be acknowledged and incorporated into all healing conversations and work
Systemic and cultural climate of White privilege exists through out all these conversations which make calls for self-care of bubble baths and a day off beyond being toxic positivity
Rebuilding a culture of wellbeing and support has to look different given all the changes we’ve faced individually and collectively. This is an opportunity to be a part of a critical paradigm shift in how we do education and work. Leadership (whoever you are - higher ed, corporate, k-12) needs uplifted skill sets and capacity to approach work through trauma-informed lens of care while continuously rebuilding resilience.
What I know from 15 years as a grad prep professor is that the formal and informal curriculum doesn’t teach folks how to navigate between what’s their internal work, how to regulate and lead within crisis, and how to support trauma-informed practices. Meaning our educational systems and prodevo are grossly under-prepared to prep folks.
One stat that might shock you (or not), but it affected me. The National Institute of Health in October said that more than 140,000 kids have gone back to school this year having buried a caregiver due to covid with the racial and ethnic families disproportionately impacted compared to white families. That’s only immediate caregiver - not to mention extended family and friends. Now image your work as an educator, helper, leader. Fuck.
Needless to say, old models and stereotypes of resilience promote toxic overworking because they are built on the idea of pushing through rather than pausing and tuning in to what needs to occur next.
Resilience is about how your recharge - rebuild not rebound. It’s about recovering and neuroscience shows that it can be done through learning skills and restorative practices that can be done at home and work.
Resilience is a well rested person, meaning not taking work home via worry, ruminating over the actions from the day. Whereas the majority of US workers - I’d argue especially in higher ed fit the category of workaholics which means that your brain never to rarely turns off from work. So we expend a lot of energy trying to find balance but never being able to get there - hence the feeling and conversations around burnout and constant exhaustion. Stopping an activity doesn’t equate automatically to restoring or rebalancing
Some of the areas where there is room to recreate and transform:
Life-work negotiation (formerly known as ‘balance’) - reconfigure work so that folks can live and work feeling satisfied in both
Support folks separating identity from work to find more fulfillment - work teams are an important community but not our family
Shifting on call, busy culture to more regenerative than exploitative
Cultivate mindset shifts to feel empowered with control over boundaries and resilience - neuroscience has shown that these are skills that can be taught and will decrease stress and increase wellbeing (I love Linda Graham’s work on this - she’s a therapist who has focused on skills for wellbeing)
Healing grief, burnout, anxiety within community - this is huge and before we can transform, we need some healing spaces and conversations.
What have you noticed in your work and teams? Where’s there opportunity to reskill and heal?