Thank you to Mark and Tony and the UNL Academic Advising Association for bringing me to share your first annual conference.

I am extremely excited to be at the University of Nebraska here in Lincoln. The last time I was on the campus, I was eight and I was here to watch Tom Osborne and the Huskers play in Memorial Stadium.

Work with the National Academic Advising Association
Committee on Academic Advising and Retention
Professional Development Subcommittee - workshops on advising as a profession and the role of advising in retention.

I was struck at the responses I was hearing from advisors on my campus.
• It became evident to me that many of them were not acting as professionals. I don’t mean to say they didn’t act professionally, but that they were not going beyond the task/skill/job of advising.
• Worse yet, many of them didn’t think they could call themselves professionals. Some didn’t think they had the right degree; others spoke of professions needing certification, etc.
• Advisors need to know that they can and should be doing more to develop professionally.

This is why I created the session I will present here this afternoon, The Brand Gap. Idea of potential.

Region 7 NACADA. Broke my foot. Belongings Stolen. Police. Minutes before I am to present.

My foot worsening along with my mood, I stumbled into a session that took my own professional journey on a detour. The session was on mindfulness.

This session brought my own brand gap to life. I had been in my job for almost a decade. I was bored. I felt stuck. I had increased responsibilities and promotions and raises, but I was sleep walking through my days.
• Over time, I stopped listening to my students. Stories began to merge together and I had heard it all.
• I went back to Texas Tech University dedicated to being more aware and present in my day-to-day activities. And I had one of my best semesters with my assigned students.

Then, colleague asked if she could interview me as part of her doctoral work. She asked me questions related to my career path and my future goals and it was all the sudden crystal clear to me.
• I was not steering. I was being moved along. I was in a job that I liked a lot, and I was good at it. But I was coasting. I was not following my passions or using my full potential

"It's easy to get lost, and wake up many years later in a strange land asking yourself, "Who am I, how did I get here, and how do I get back?"

So, I started driving.
• Placed a sign in my office: “You are not a tree.”
• This was SCARY.
• Changed direction in my focus, new area of interest
• Often, just putting your energy to a goal is enough. In just a few months, I began a PhD program and was offered a new career opportunity.

Emboldened by my own experiences, I took the Brand Gap presentation to National NACADA, where Mark Nelson was sitting in the front row in UNL red.

My goal today is to get you to consider: What aspects of your potential are you not using? What have you been ignoring?

Professional growth is important regardless of what point you are in your career.

We have the choice to leave our potential up to chance or we can be in charge of its design.

Later today, I will talk about branding yourself as a professional.

As a University, you’ve already set some great things into motion to solidify the Big Ten brand.

Shared vision and a united effort
Sharing the story of quality “well-kept secret”
Expanding the University’s Outreach

Improving students’ retention and graduation rates:
• High impact practices
• Faculty interaction
• Intentional and coordinated advising systems.
• Streamlining institutional processes and systems (such as course scheduling).

New academic recovery program for students on probation-mandatory advising and mandated programming.

To say I believe in the power of the UNL brand and the potential on this campus is an understatement.

As we talk this morning, I want to focus on the idea of potential.

I invite you to think about this in one or more ways: What is my personal potential? My office? Advising at UNL?

Potential: push ourselves to reflect, grow, and create positive change.

"You possess a one-of-a-kind combination of passions, skills, and experiences; there is something you bring to your work that no one else could."

Henry, T. (2013). Die empty: Unleash your best work every day. London: Penguin Group.

The only way to avoid getting off track or burned out is to be mindful and engage in consistent practices that keep you on the path you design (Henry, 2013).

You need to consider-Your contribution

What people believe shapes what people achieve. “Self-theories.”
Can either be motivating, contributive forces, or limiting, destructive forces (Henry, 2013).

Engaging in deeply gratifying work requires consistent, focused efforts to cultivate your instincts and skills, and make measured progress on your goals. This requires urgency and diligence (Henry, 2013).

Your body of work includes every task and project, every time you encourage someone else or contribute to a relationship, every time you make an effort to grow your skills or develop your mind, every time you go the extra mile even though you are exhausted (Henry, 2013).

You can either operate by design, meaning that you put specific measures in place to keep you energized, self-aware, and operating at full capacity. or you can operate by default, doing what seems comfortable or easy in the moment (Henry, 2013).

Over time, it becomes easy to begin coasting.

When we begin to sleep walk through our days, we are wasting our potential.

What are you going to do to grow?

Acquiring new skills and adapting to complex, uncertain environments isn't easy. Requires persistent attention and near-constant effort to maintain a trajectory of growth (Henry, 2013).

Things that allow mediocrity to set it:
Aimlessness
Boredom & Comfort
Ego & Fear
Guardedness
(Henry, 2013)

To avoid AIMELESSNESS, "you have to define the battles that are important to you, and align your resources to fight them" (Henry, 2013).

Approach your work with the question, "what can I add?"
What will you stand for today?
What do you know you should doing, but have been ignoring? (Henry, 2013)

Must constantly align the things we’re doing to the bigger picture:
“How is this going to impact the students?”
“Is getting involved in xxx going to make me a better adviser or professional when I help the students?”

Recruitment and retention are THE focus -you can make a difference in a student’s life.

What types of things are we doing to bring students in and/or push them away?
Doorbell to greeted/hours of engagement.
How do our offices look? How do we look?

Recruiting and retention events:
These events that we do over and over and over become monotonous for us, but it’s new to the student. Mindfulness.

How can you be involved within the student body community?
Are you attending student events, advising student groups, etc, in which you are making other targeted connections to the students where they see you as more than an adviser.

“It is the people who come face-to-face with students on a regular basis who provided the positive growth experiences for students that enable them to identify their goals and talents and learn how to put them to use. The caring attitude of college personnel is viewed as the most potent retention force on a campus.” Charlie Nutt, National Academic Advising Association (NACADA) Executive Director

Cultivate a service mind-set. "What can I offer?"

Every moment and every choice is significant (Henry, 2013).

Even with a sense of mission to avoid aimlessnes, we can be faced with BOREDOM & become overly COMFORTABLE

When was the last time you focused on one thing for an extended amount of time?

Many of us are what Todd Henry calls "busily bored": highly productive but mentally stagnant. Have to reclaim engagement. Little in between spaces are filled with entertainment and gadgets.

"The cure for boredom is intentional and applied curiosity" (Henry, 2013).
Set time for deep engagement with content/project.

What is your element?
Resource: Robinson, K., & Aronica, L. (2009). The element: How finding your passion changes everything. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

Now that we are going to be more engaged, we have to move out of our COMFORT zones.

"The love of comfort is frequently the enemy of greatness." We can easily become too comfortable with existing practices and products and cease to innovate (Henry, 2013).

Instead, we need to contribute to a culture of innovation and excitement. Our offices can be places with which staff, students, faculty, and community members want to be involved.

Boredom & comfort are going to continually creep in: If you want something to happen predictably, you systemize it.
-keep a list of questions to pursue later
-Dedicate time to immerse self in books, videos, etc. and make time to reflect.
-plan time to be creative
(Henry, 2013).

Recognize that every product, every service, every method and every aspect of your job can be done differently and better.
Resource: Ways to improve your creativity at work
http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2013/10/28/ways-to-improve-your-cr...

"Cover bands don't change the world." ~Todd Henry

You can imitate others in order to build skills until you gain a basic level of competence, but you must begin at some point to take risks and experiment with your own form of expression (Henry, 2013).

Creativity Under Pressure-Toddy Henry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hWRva_sPeE

Now we have conquered aimlessness, boredom, and comfort. Let's talk about:
EGO & FEAR

For some people the stigma of failure is simply unbearable. Will do anything to avoid appearance of failure (Henry, 2013).

Change your attitude to failure. If everything you try works then you are not being bold enough. Innovation involves trying some things that don’t work. Treat each failure as a learning opportunity. The innovator’s motto is, “I succeed or I learn but I never fail” (Henry, 2013).

We have to adopt a posture of adaptability. Stay in a state of continual learning & be open to correction (Henry, 2013).

In order to move past our fears, we have to practice strategic, intentional, and purposeful risk-taking. Experiment, play, and find your voice by taking small chances to express yourself through your work (Henry, 2013)..

The final roadblock to reaching our potential is GUARDEDNESS.

The solution to guardedness is to build a system of checks into your life to help you scan for relational outages, and to remedy them before they become destructive (Henry, 2013).

We need to constantly think about how we relate to other departments and entities, seeking ways to partner or connect or promote and avoid duplication of services.
- Thrive in a network of relationships cultivated over time.
-Understand what others do.
-Building others up (adopt an office)
ex. College of Business Admin did invited ASC advisers over for a brown bag luncheon just to visit. Advisor breakfast, open house, receptions, opportunities to collaborate

"it doesn't matter how much drive or motivation you've got, if you don't share information with team members openly, share credit with colleagues readily, put others' agendas and schedules ahead of your own when necessary, and help your colleagues, then you are missing a critical business skill."
-write a note
-make a call
-mark a moment
Jodi Glickman, Great on the Job

Great work happens most consistently in the context of community (Henry, 2013).

Left unchecked, many of us drift toward the most comfortable path. We have to avoid the pitfalls of mediocrity (Henry, 2013).

To keep this in check, regularly challenge yourself to jump over hurdles that force you to grow (Henry, 2013).
"Stretch exercises"
Don’t just think/talk about it. Make it happen. (journal, Trello)

Theresa Amabile, Harvard Business School: “Making progress is one’s work is the single greatest motivator” (Pink, 2009).

Was I a little better today than yesterday?

What about the challenge of being pulled to do more, more, more… How can you stay motivated through growing stress?
Try to view the challenges as opportunities for growth. Focus on the mission. Keep an attitude of service. Take care of each other. Do as much as you can.

"Say yes!" then sort out the details.
We don't grow by simply doing what is expected of us (Henry, 2013).

Stop worrying about who gets credit
"you can accomplish anything in life, provided that you do not mind who gets credit." Harry S. Truman

Pink, D. (2009). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. New York, NY: Penguin Group.

One of the most important areas of growth is Knowledge

Pursue knowledge to stay current on issues related to UNL, undergraduate education, and advising.
Read relevant new articles, journals, books, videos and other web resources, and utilizing the resources of the campus and regional, state, national and international associations.

Opportunities to enhance professional growth at UNL:
• Academic Advising Association
• University Association for Administrative Development
• Conference/ retreats

Another important aspect of growth is reflection.

Set aside time every day for reflection.
Review your calendar, interactions with others, schedule for the day. Consider the choices you made. Are there patterns? What would you change?

Where am I putting myself ahead of the work?
Where do I feel slighted over small inconveniences?
Where am I assuming success?
(Henry, 2013).

“Being a professional is doing the things you love the days you don’t feel like doing them.” Julius Erving, Basketball Hall of Famer in Dan Pink’s book Drive.

Establish code of ethics/culture: service, knowledge, connection, creativity, and leadership. Put on your computer/wall so you see them constantly.

Focus on your mission:
What change will exist today as a result of my efforts?
What isn't already represented?
What needs to go away?

Seek feedback. Give them full permission to tell you whatever they think will help you improve. Stay open, flexible, and adaptable.
(Henry, 2013).

Don't compare your work against the work of others, but rather on its own merit.

As you push yourself to reflect, grow, and create positive change, remember that everyone has the potential to be a leader.

Work for continuous improvement for UNL/office and themselves through goal setting, professional development, and volunteerism (on campus, with professional organizations, in the community).

Don't blame others for your lack of progress. If only the administration would... If only my students would... If only my colleague would...
Take responsibility for doing what you can, in your current surroundings.

Don't wait around for a map. Make your own path.
"Waiting for permission to act is the easy way out" (Henry, 2013).

Define how you want to grow and establish a plan to get there. Should always be working on a stretch goal (Henry, 2013).

Departments: Are there ways you can develop models for professional growth and leadership? Career Ladders allow advisors to feel empowered:
Advisor, lead advisor, coordinator, assistant director, director

When the structure is flat, it can be hard to feel motivated to take on more since there is no moving up. If there is room to move up, staff will work to gain the skills necessary to lead.

Design Excellence

Students can audit courses. Don't audit your life. You may be present, and even succeeding in career, but you must seeking opportunities to do better and more unique work (Henry, 2013).

We are all by nature looking for more.
- We want to fulfill our potentials, we want to affect the world around us, we want to know our work is making a difference.
- We want to be authentic and want affirmation of our selves.

Stop trying to be great. Just be great.
Be confident in your abilities and opinions.
Great work results when you stop doing only what you know you can do and begin pursuing what you believe you might be able to do with a little focused effort (Henry, 2013).

To have an opportunity to excel, you have to put in the time to develop a platform that provides the kind of opportunities you desire.

The only two approaches are design and default.

Your contribution is defined by how you choose to engage the battles you face every day. Your legacy is nothing but a series of choices to engage in or abstain from action.

Don't hold out on the rest of us
(Henry, 2013).

If we all begin to dare, begin to use our full potential and invest in each other, our students, and ourselves then we can be successful. 30K by 2020? Your role in that is to be your personal best.

Go Big Red!