Tomorrow begins a historic fall semester at York Technical College. Our enrollment is tracking 20% ahead of last year, which was 8% above the previous year, which was 12% above the previous year . . . wow! Who knows how it will end up, since we have a twelve-week session and an eight-week session left to go. People are looking for answers and they’re looking to us.
Student services personnel have already seen most of this increased number. Obviously we don’t have more personnel than we did last year, so there is an increased demand for “person time.” The folks we are seeing are from all walks of life. Some are more accustomed to navigating a college than others, but few are fully prepared to approach us in the best possible condition. And while there is capacity for vast hope for improved lives, there are also infinite opportunities for confusion.
For those who’ve been here awhile, this may be hard to believe, but potential students are nervous even if they don't show it. Many are a bundle of nerves. Perhaps they are out of work or afraid they soon will be. Perhaps they are feeling threatened by bankruptcy, foreclosure, or by being dependent on someone else at a very stressful time. Then again, maybe they act like they don’t have a care in the world but we know they should.
I walked outside my office last evening and there was a man looking confused. He asked where the “XYZ” (fictitious and unoriginal name) class was. He said he was told that it was in the “next building down.” I asked him if the person he spoke with gave him a room number. He was holding a number of papers and anxiously going through them looking for clues. I asked to see them and he handed them to me. There was lots of information, along with a list of about 20 colleges (one was YTC with the main number and fax), and a matrix containing dates and times.
I finally walked him to the front drive and asked which building he went in; he said it was “C.” I confirmed that he walked in the entrance we were facing and up some steps and spoke with someone at a desk. He said “yes,” so I took out my mobile and called Continuing Education. I did not reach anyone, so I asked him to follow me and we walked down to CE.
I asked the ladies at the front desk in CE if they recognized the gentleman with me. They did not and he then let me know these were not the same people who had helped him. I then realized he did not go to “C” building that evening but had been here at some time in the past. I asked for the room number for his class and was told A252. I walked the gentleman back up to A252 to find it dark and realized the class did not start until 6:00 p.m. and it was now 5:35 p.m. I told him it appeared he was early and would have to wait a little while. He said he came early to register, and when I told him I did not realize he was not registered, he said he had mentioned it to me earlier. Now he had to go back to “C” building, pay and then come back to “A.” He seemed to be okay with that and we parted ways.
Why am I making you suffer through yet another of my home movies? Because I want you to know that I only get a glimpse of how tough it can be for you and for them and I empathize. I felt frustrated that he wasn’t more precise; that he had not called ahead and thought through the process; that he just showed up and expected it to all come clear, somehow. I also felt frustrated that we could not design this sort of confusion out of our system. I was frustrated by my own assumptions in how I perceived the situation. Then I realized that although we must try to continuously improve our processes, “WE ARE THE FAIL-SAFE.” You see, this gentleman could have nailed all this down before he got here, but he simply did not have a framework for managing it. He did not think like me. And he probably does things on a regular basis that I do not have a framework for either.
So I took a deep breath and kept marching.
4 comments:
I was discussing this with the library student assistants today.
After giving them a chance to talk about the frustrations they face with patrons, I asked them to turn the tables and think how they feel when trying to get things done and they don't know who to see or where to go.
It was a good opportunity to prepare them for tomorrow and the sure to be lost individuals they encounter.
Debbie Jones
Any "people business" (and that's just about all of them) constantly tests our ability to be empathetic with a wide variety of people from different backgrounds and types of life experience.
The test isn't whether you have it more together than someone else; the test is whether you can/will meet and help another person where they are. And that requires a degree of patience that I don't always have...but when I fail, I always try to remember so many times in my life when people who knew a lot more about something than I did took the time to help and educate me...and I have to try my best to pay that forward.
Here's to all the dedicated folks here at York Tech who do that every day.
Rocky
This is good advice I got from two devotions. Enjoy!
What do people think when they hear your name? Do they think, "Oh, that person is always so trustworthy and faithful; they always do the right thing?" Or do they think, "Watch out for that person. You never know what they're going to do?"
You might say, "Oh, I'm a pretty good person. I do the right thing most of the time." But understand it's the little foxes that spoil the vine. You can veer off course just a little bit, and before you know it, you're miles away from your destination. Don't allow the little things to keep you from your destiny; choose integrity.
Are you a person of excellence? Do you do more than what´s expected, or do you look for the easy way out? Do you just do the minimum requirement, or do you go the extra mile?
What do people think when they hear your name? Do they think, "Oh, that person is always so trustworthy and faithful; they always do the right thing?" Or do they think, "Watch out for that person. You never know what they're going to do?"
You might say, "Oh, I'm a pretty good person. I do the right thing most of the time." But understand it's the little foxes that spoil the vine. You can veer off course just a little bit, and before you know it, you're miles away from your destination. Don't allow the little things to keep you from your destiny; choose integrity.
Are you a person of excellence? Do you do more than what´s expected, or do you look for the easy way out? Do you just do the minimum requirement, or do you go the extra mile?
Post a Comment