OAE Town Hall Spring 2024

Participant Identity – I am a(n):

Q1 – I especially appreciated (note as many as you like):

• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?)
• Breathing/centering exercise; Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Rumble Starter Tools
• Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room; Rumble Starter Tools; Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?)
• Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room; Rumble Starter Tools
• Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room; Rumble Starter Tools
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Breathing/centering exercise; Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room; Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Rumble Starter Tools
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?)
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?)
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?)
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room
• Breathing/centering exercise; Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room
• Breathing/centering exercise
• Breathing/centering exercise; Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Rumble Starter Tools
• Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room
• Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room; Rumble Starter Tools
• Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room
• Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room
• Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?)
• Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?)
• Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room; Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?); Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?); Breathing/centering exercise
• Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room; Quad sharing (what stories do we tell?)
• Breathing/centering exercise; Dyad sharing: (when did someone really see you?)
• Breathing/centering exercise; Sharing/Witnessing with the entire Room

Q2 – What was one thing that you took away from the Town Hall that you can/will use to inspire or practice vulnerability:

• I have the power to be kind even if I feel otherwise powerless in my current position. the vulnerability that others in the room shared and the invitation to breathe and be rooted wherever we are (Always love some centering with Sita! <3)
• There are some scared people in the College that feel they have NO power.
• I think the most important thing is to listen to hear instead of listening to respond. It's all about being in intentional dialog and relationship with each other.
• Displaying vulnerability often begets the same from others.
• I really appreciated learning about the phrase, "the story I'm telling myself." I think it will be helpful in practicing vulnerability, as well as noticing that just because I am seeing things from a certain perspective, it might not have been a co-workers intention/perspective on a certain topic, issue, etc.
• The idea of what stories we tell - how we fill in stories for things we don't know and should perhaps ask questions / have conversations instead
• I took away that these types of events will continue to be geared more toward faculty than staff. I was disappointed, to be honest. I did not feel seen.
• I value gathering with colleagues from across the college in something more than a social. The facilitated conversations do facilitate more than an exchange of ideas. They promote collegiality.
• The key words that were shared out from each quad group
• The emphasis on attempting to talk with or understand someone again that perhaps I "had a story" about; to remain curious about people
• Dyad Sharing.
• I loved the breathing exercise and imagining what our hearts would grow if we planted it.
• I think the idea of "stories that we tell" was eye opening.
• knowing that those who are around me are experiencing the same things I am
• What stories do we tell.
• Increased connection
• Not the answer to the question, but Dr. Drane's graph was really great.
• actively listening to others' stories
• I feel very supported in my unit, and I believe that I already am given the space to be vulnerable to the degree that I would like to be in a professional context.
• Perspective
• I may not feel comfortable practicing vulnerability with those in supervisory positions and leadership, but I am committed to consistently doing so with peers. Perhaps starting in some spaces and communities will help me practice vulnerability in others.
• I am still relatively new and so I am meeting people, hoping that they are bringing their authentic selves to these encounters, as am I. I was not expecting this kind of workshop but I appreciated it. I was not expecting stories of built up frustration, hurt, anger, that was prevalent. I also noticed that there could have been better turn out but I enjoyed meeting people outside of SOVA. Takeaways are that I am feeling welcome and connected to a bigger team of arts and cultural workers and hoping that we are supporting one another- wanting to see us all succeed. The role of DEIB is SO important in this work.
• open invitation
• more people can relate than you may realize.

Q3 – What do you think is essential to encourage more trust within the A&A community?

• A commitment to change the culture from department/unit leadership. As long as some leaders demonstrate a lack of trust in their inferiors (that word choice is intentional), those workers will not be induced to trust those leaders.
• more opportunities to engage authentically in a non-hierarchical fashion and radical transparency from leadership
• I was brought back to a very unsavory place in my past listening to some of the “testimony”during the event. I think this discussion needs to be highlighted in smaller groups of interest, both departmental and similar career levels within the college.
• Transparency and communication from the college. Increased sense of community and a collective ownership outside of individual programs.
• In this current environment at this institution, good luck. I am a perpetually positive person but lately have been feeling quite discouraged with the direction the institution is taking (as very distinct from the college whose leaders in the Deanery I think are awesome actually). Just being as transparent as humanly possible at all times will help to quell the distrust insofar as that's possible.
• I think having more of these town halls and more vulnerability of sharing stories/experiences is essential to building trust within the community.
• more casual gatherings
• More transparency. There is virtually none, in the college or the University overall.
• More conversations. I think if we just held round table discussions with some guided ground rules and direction that could greatly build trust.
• I felt like we were not ready for full group story sharing. I was very scared and intimidated to say anything in front of the group. The dyads and quads were ok as they were small but I personally think that much more small group trust building is necessary to achieve trust as a college.
• Support from unit leaders, administrators, and the dean to bring more tension or dissension to Old Main for the sake of students, faculty, and staff. Or if this is not possible, to make room for more wrenches thrown in the works of Old Main's workings. We don't have clear signs from our leaders that they are not just playing along with OM's dictates. Additionally, while faculty and staff need to find common cause with faculty in other colleges, our leaders also need to make alliances with the leaders of other colleges against OM.
• Connection/Engagment with one another. We all are very busy and it is entirely too easy to stay in our own silo.
• I found this and thought it was a good resource: https://positivepsychology.com.
• I think we need to reassure each other that we value what they do. As someone said, what we do is very bound up with feelings about who we are in the college.
• open communication across the board
• Treating others with respect and empathy.
• Connection
• We need to be able to speak our minds on paths forward that can improve things. We can do that by being respectful of people whose lives and jobs that is going to change, but at the same time accept that we might have to adjust.
• break the old story of distrust
• Recognizing colleagues (of higher and lower rank) as whole people helps build trust because job or task related conversations do not have to carry the wieght of a person's entire identity
• Transparency and respect
• Transparency. And the acknowledgement that it takes a different kind of effort and commitment for folks outside leadership to be vulnerable than those in supervisory roles. I understand that it takes strength to show vulnerability as a leader, but the power dynamics make it challenging for many folks.
• Transparency, for sure. balance the systems in place that can seem more like judgements than meaningful assessment. lift our foot off the pedal a bit on pushing us towards running after money or create spaces for collective/organic support in achieving funding- at the moment the push towards grants is reinforcing an icky capitalist culture- like our only value is the money. we need to slow down and see where we might resist some of that and still succeed with eachother- not sure what that looks like. and finally have moments for slowing down with each other to allow ourselves more authentic presence and the chance to see/experience what we all are creating together in this enterprise.
• Continue with anti-racist practices
• sessions like these are great

Q4 – Additional participant comments...

• There is a built-in imbalance of power in any hierarchy which makes it difficult, and in some cases dangerous, for those lower in the hierarchy to practice vulnerability. Our discussion glossed over the problem of hierarchy. Without addressing that, I don't think we can really move forward very much.
• I wonder if a session just for staff, just for faculty, and just for leadership would also be helpful. Then bring us all together again. Encourage leaders to balance modeling vulnerability with making space for folks who are less senior.
• I am very grateful for the work that Dean Wilson is doing for the College.
• This was a great workshop. Friday at Noon was not the best time to have it since many (a majority?) Faculty do not teach on Fridays and therefore aren't on campus.
• More of this, please!
• One thing I noticed though is that it might be hard for employees to share stories/personal work experiences in this type of setting when their supervisors are present at the same town hall, especially when they feel like they have been vulnerable in the past and tried to address issues which have not been resolved with their supervisors.
• Staff morale is at an all-time low across the University, and is particularly bad in A&A. That needs to be addressed. It's hard for staff members to practice vulnerability when they are being beaten down at every turn - inaccurate job classifications thanks to Comp Mod, lack of trust, micromanagement...the list goes on.
• Thank you for leading!
• thank you for conducting this town hall.
• I believe this same session should be offered multiple times, so that others who can attend.
• My question is, how do you build trust while still being careful? A good majority of people are willing to share and learn from one another, all within an understanding of mutual respect. However, what happens when you encounter that person who is just not going to be fair, and they take what you have shared, and use that against you for their benefit?
• Attendance was good, but it would be nice to have more people involved.
• I appreciated the effort that went into this event. From my perspective, the shared experience, especially with the element of humor, was the most important aspect because it fostered connection. The rumble starter tools could be useful; I would have liked to spend more time with those. Of course, the unspoken rules would be different for men vs women, but I think that engagement with conflict is an area of weakness for many of us.
• The town hall was not what I expected and I was happy to participate in it.
• it requires time and commitment to have cultural shift on DEIB. thanks for your efforts.
• Mixing faculty and staff at similar events seems good.
• Thank you!
• Many thanks for putting this event together. It would be great to encourage unit-specific discussions of a topic before that same topic is covered in a college-wide event.
• Thank you for creating that space- it is hard to do that within this overarching culture of power- but it was appreciated and made a difference
• This gathering was labeled as a town hall, but perhaps you meant the space and not the process of town hall? This lack of clarification felt to me unkind to language and, given the creativity of the presentation, a disconnect. Gathering in person felt particularly important due to the day before Univ announcement of the impending 20% budget-cut, but the community feeling was undermined at the close of the meeting when presenters communicated that their facilitation skills are available for hire.
• thank you for putting this together