In academia it is easy to find yourself surrounded by negativity, especially if you are in the arts. There are copious amounts of reasons that professors and/or administrators may find themselves wallowing in this shadowy realm. There are the usual suspects such as overwork and underpaid, aging equipment and facilities, entitled and/or difficult students, demanding or inconsiderate supervisors, poor funding, and of course the ultimate fear of programmatic cuts and layoffs. In my experience most negativity comes from fear.
Fear
The arts are incredibly unique in academia. They typically require small class sizes, specialized facilities and equipment, and a substantial amount of material and supplies. This creates significant issues in the new consumer-based model that universities are having to transition to for survival. This new model also requires quantitative results, or as we in the arts simply say “the numbers.” And let’s face it the arts usually don’t have the numbers.
Before I move on any further let me just say this is not a post defending the arts. The fact that you are viewing this on a website (web design) and got here from a social media post (graphic communications) illustrates that point.
This lack of “numbers” can put a lot of fear in faculty and rightly so. It is the lack of numbers that usually creates many of the negative issues mentioned above including the ultimate fear of programmatic cuts and layoffs. However, it is incredibly difficult to make a justification for your existence when your only action is to cower or remain stagnant. The consumer model requires more than just numbers, it also requires demonstrated potential because funding in the new model is seen as an investment that requires an ROI (return on investment). There is no potential or return on investment in cowering and stagnation.
Risk
Naturally investment requires risk. Like the baseball adage states: “you can’t steal second with your foot on first.” Moving forward and practicing a growth mindset requires courage to face fears that are inherent in the risks needed for investment. Also, just like the baserunner stepping off the bag, risk can also generate excitement and attention both of which are very positive and motivating. The difficulty is prioritizing the excitement and attention over fear.
Risk, growth, and moving forward also imply change. Change for those who have grown comfortable can be terrifying. Change introduces unpredictability into routines and regimens which not only creates fear of the unknown but creates daily discomfort. In academia this can be severely problematic for veteran faculty who more often than not hold rank and power over the newly hired or younger faculty who have not quite become comfortable.
Understanding the negatives of risk is easy. What can be difficult is understanding the positives that come with it. Along with creating excitement and attention, risk can also create opportunities to empower and embolden. Though some faculty are at a stage of comfortability others may have grown weary of the repetitive and mundane and by injecting a new cause or initiative they may find themselves with a reason to act.
Hope
It is said that fear is our imagination’s worst-case scenario while hope is its best. With risk we find ourselves trying to balance the two. And given that they are both potentially false outcomes for the future we can choose which to give more weight. My tendency is to believe in the most useful for both myself and for whatever group I am apart of, whether it is my students or my fellow faculty.
Fear is rarely useful when taking risks. Sure, a little bit of fear can keep you honest and help prevent mistakes but, if you do your job right you shouldn’t need it. Fear induces panic and undue stress both of which can create mistakes and sour morale. Don’t mistake my thoughts here for a profession of fearlessness. I feel fear… all the time. However, I try to use my fears to prepare, and my hopes to live by.
I try to use positivity as a method of framing hope as a possibility and thus remind myself that there is a possible outcome to look forward to. In the book The Confidence Gap, Russ Harris and Steven Hayes do an excellent job of explaining the importance of choosing to think of the positive outcome possibility rather than the negative. Their useful practice of identifying when it is occurring and then creating an inner dialogue to talk yourself out of the negative mindset though difficult does prove that it is choice. In a group setting that inner dialogue usually plays out between individuals those choosing negativity and those choosing positivity and just as in the Confidence Gap, it is up to the positive side win out.
Hope and positivity are not to be confused with blind idealism, which can be every bit as dangerous as toxic negativity. Blind idealism or blind optimism seems to occur when you chose not to see any of the negative. By doing this you ignore reality and tend to make poor investments of time, effort, resources, etc. while also failing to prepare for repercussions or consequences.
Balance
George Lucas was right. We need to bring balance to the force. Balance enables us to utilize hope as a motivator and to use fear to prepare. Balance enables us to assess risk and build strategies that are founded in reality not blind optimism. Balance allows us to express our stresses while also communicating ways to overcome them. But to have balance people today must be open to listening to both sides.
Creating civil dialogue within a group is the best way to build balance. Discussions that deal with large and/or dramatic risks should always take place in person and not over email. I’ll be the first to say that I write terrible emails that are quite often misinterpreted. There just isn’t a great way to share empathy and understanding through an email. Each side needs to feel heard but those in fear almost always need that more. Those in fear are typically feeling the weight of their negativity through stress and anxiety which adds to the toxic environment.
So what can one do to bring positivity to academia? I am definitely not an expert, but I would start with yourself. Assess who you are and how you are. Be patient and understanding with others and allow them to feel heard. Be smart about your risks and don’t expect too much too soon. But definitely take the risks and grow and fail and learn and risk again and grow.
Sorry for the long time between posts. I’ll have a new post soon about new work, so stay tuned!
