 My thoughts did a metaphorical boomerang today. I read a post on LinkedIn. The author made a very good anecdotal case for why academe needs a better culture of acknowledging and recognizing colleagues for their work beyond celebration of scholarship. They cited a specific example of work they did for their department that most definitely deserved recognition. Only one colleague, not the chair, reached out to acknowledge their effort and contribution. The acknowledgement was sincere and heartfelt and it meant the world to the author. And, the author was hurt by not being recognized by others.
I've been there- a lot. I know that feeling of emptiness and hurt that led me to feel like a victim of invisibility in both my "micro" role as a faculty member and in my "macro" role as a provost, VPR and Dean. So my initial reaction was "Right On!" Let's fight. But then I remembered one of the most impactful books to me I ever read- Braiding Sweetgrass. A key theme in that book is reciprocity. That act of remembering Braiding Sweetgrass caused my original thoughts to boomerang back, knocking me to ground after taking my legs out from under me, and causing me to say to myself, "Thanks, I needed that.". Below is a slightly edited comment I made to LinkedIn post. It's structure is kind of random, chronicling how my thoughts changed as I was writing- kind of like a winding road through a forest without a clear destination. But, in the end it led back to the age old axiom, "it is better to give than to receive." Here is an edited version of the comment to the LinkedIn post: I agree with the post (the LinkedIn post referred to above) below in most ways! And, I say that even though my career has been relatively successful and I have received positive individual recognition from bosses, peers (e.g, AAAS Fellow) and students. Although I wish we spent more time recognizing each other, I also know that academe is focused on individual not collective achievement. We are individually rewarded for our individual work as faculty--our most prized professional recognition is individual. So, it would be natural for us to focus on our ourselves, our individual achievements and our recognition as individuals more than our role in, and our appreciation of, an interconnected group of colleagues. Being on the autism spectrum, I can be blissfully, but sadly, unaware of what colleagues need. I've made an effort in the last couple of years to more often tell my colleagues, particularly the faculty that are not the leading scholars, how much they mean to the department. But, I need to be A LOT better at it. I am also insecure enough that I get hurt when my colleagues don't recognize my efforts- and I hurt a lot. Fortunately my chair recognizes me, and the comments I receive from students let me know that my efforts are meaningful to them. We have a culture of recognizing scholarly achievement in academe. And, scholarly achievement should be recognized. Still, I find it disconcerting, though, how little energy it takes to say something genuine to colleagues regarding their value outside of celebrating an award of some type, competitive grant or a paper in an elite journal, and how little we (including me) find the energy to do it. But, then I thought about reciprocity. What if when I felt hurt or empty because I wasn't recognized for something, I responded by asking myself whether I recognized any of my colleagues recently for their efforts? And, if the answer was "no", might it be better for my own mental health to reach out to someone? "It is better to give than to receive" is an axiom we all know. With respect to acknowledgement, most of us like to be on the receiving end. And, we can be pretty sensitive when we think we should be on the receiving end but are not. For the culture to change to be more reciprocally supportive, we all need to live our values. Perhaps we should ask ourselves "who should I acknowledge today?" as opposed "who recognized me today?". All of us want to live in culture of genuine and reciprocal acknowledgement. It seems to be basic human nature, at least in western culture to be seen. For me it is really important that acknowledgement comes from the heart and is sincere (both in receiving and giving). I'd rather not get anything if the only other option is disingenuous acknowledgement. But, I know that to get genuine recognition, I have to give it, too. So, in the end, all of us who feel that we need a better culture of peer support and recognition have the power to change it. Postscript- After my first draft of this blog post I talked to my wife about its theme. She is a retired IT project manager. She told me a story of members of a project team she led who were getting frustrated because their efforts were not being recognized in their units. In those projects, there are team members that have jobs in many units across the organization and they are on the team to make sure the project is successful for their unit. They talked about the emptiness they felt due to not being acknowledged at one of their project meetings. A decision was made for everyone to think of a couple of people they should thank, perhaps resulting in reciprocity.. They bought thank you cards, personalized them, and sent them out. It became a regular activity at every meeting. My wife said that she was not sure whether the active sharing of gratitude led to any increased recognition of the members of her team by their colleagues. But, she found that the process of thanking people changed the whole attitudinal dynamic of team for the better. She told me that it was amazing to watch as the tone of meetings got more and more positive and how team members came into meetings having fun thinking about who to thank and the people that have been supportive, rather than feeling hurt about who didn't thank them. I will be on a mission now to see if this strategy works for me.
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