By Samantha Edelman, Assistant Director of Recreation Facilities, Stanford University
Many of us are as tied up in our thoughts as we are in day-to-day life.
After some much needed reflection, I’ve realized that the experiences and growth that come from our work lives are opportunities to make our personal lives richer—and vice versa.
Below are some key themes and lessons I’ve learned from working at recreation facilities over the past few years. These have impacted me on a larger level in my professional—and at times personal—life.
Arrillaga Outdoor Education and Recreation Center at Stanford University.How you impact your surroundings
One thing that never ceases to amaze me is how truly sensitive we are as people. In facilities, by a shift in layout, a change in hours, a closure for maintenance—whatever it is—you create a ripple effect that is sensitive enough to touch both programs and people. Our everyday actions have the same effect. In both our personal and work lives, we have to reach into our empathy and become aware of the immediate and lasting impacts we make.
At the University of New Hampshire, I learned a great lesson from Teri Hurley, Coordinator of Support Services, that will continue to stick with me as I move forward. She said to me: “Any time I’m making a decision, I think of whom it will impact and I make sure to not only talk to them, but to take them into consideration.” Simple really, but as a graduate student who’s just trying to solve problems and be a rock star, it’s easy to forget this. And it’s hard to always remember to have the patience to slow down and be considerate and empathetic toward those around you. Teri impacted my surroundings, which filtered into how I impacted my surroundings; she had a ripple effect.
This leads me to another lesson: you never know who is going to offer a work/life lesson—who’s going to teach you. You also, no matter what your role or place in life is, never know who is learning from you. Be aware of this—it doesn’t matter if you’re supposed to be the teacher or the student. Often, you’re going to be both.
How to invest energy into maintenance
Whether you just opened a facility, or are managing an older one that has a lot of charm, you’ll need to take care to maintain it well. You can’t open up a new facility without having a plan and budget for keeping it in as close to the quality it was the first day you opened it! Okay, I’ll get off my soap box now.
Opening and maintaining a facility is similar to beginning and fostering a relationship. In the beginning, you’re in your honeymoon phase and things are great. A little later down the road, you have to work through issues.
The indoor cycling studio at the Stanford University Arrillaga Outdoor Education and Recreation Center.If you show up unwillingly—or as if you didn’t expect challenges moving forward—then before you know it, you have a relationship that is falling apart and very costly to repair. Be prepared to invest the kind of care you put into your relationships into your facility; know that, at times, it will take a lot of work to maintain them after they’ve opened.
To figure out the problem before daring to think of a solution
We often sit in meetings grumbling about what we think is best. Everyone in the meeting chimes in with tons of ideas, but never the same ones. Why does this happen? I’ve realized it happens because we don’t all see problems in the same way.
I’ll illustrate what I mean by this. If a building is consistently opening late, someone may chime in and say that opening the building is the staff’s responsibility and they need to make sure to open on time. Someone else may say that actually more keys just need to be given to more people. The potential solutions for this one problem will all be very different.
The fitness center at Stanford University’s Arrillaga Outdoor Education and Recreation Center.Before rushing into a solution, as a group, invest time in truly evaluating the problem. Doing this actually takes into account the section above on how all people impact their surroundings. So make sure you really understand a problem before you shake up worlds, people, and processes to solve it. I would like to thank Syrous Parsay, Assistant Director of BeWell at Stanford, for this great lesson that I will always carry forward.
To not take those around you for granted
Growing up, I remember going to our local community college with my Grandma who was a custodian there. I heard stories about how she was treated at the college, and then I saw that those stories were true with my own eyes. So I strongly believe that no matter what someone’s role is in your organization, you need to value them. And don’t value them in silence only; be expressive, and authentic, about how you feel.
I remember attending a conference and hearing a manager there say, “My staff knows they’re doing a good job when I don’t say anything to them.” This person’s point was that they only step in when they see poor performance or behavior. At the time, as an undergraduate, I liked the sound of what he said. At this point in my career, and now that I have a lot more experience, I strongly disagree with this approach. At the root of who we are, we want to be appreciated. We are all people with choices; don’t ever forget that no one has to work for or with you.
I’d also like to add another lesson here: if you truly invest time in hiring, you should hire people you trust and respect. There are people out there who are smarter than you, and these people come from all walks of life. With these people on your team, you don’t always need to personally have the best or right answers.
To continue handling situations gracefully
This one is a constant challenge. I chose grace instead of tact because to me—at the end of the day— grace takes into consideration the emotional maturity and intelligence necessary to navigate a situation. We all have sensitivities we balance when facing challenges and people in a work setting; when dealing with an employee or vendor, I have to navigate which approach is best for the situation.
As managers, we all have our unique thresholds for dealing with conflict, and so situations do arise that cause us to either become more or less flexible. I like to think of navigating these kinds of situations as learning to drive a stick shift vehicle—learning how to get the clutch and gas in just the right spot to make the car move.
Depending on the situation you get in—you may be in a different car or are parked on a hill—you need to gracefully find the point where your vehicle will smoothly begin to move and accelerate. The car and its placement are like the type of person and situation you’re dealing with.
The trick to handling situations gracefully is knowing yourself and the results you want, as well as being thoughtful and considerate of the impact you’ll have on all involved. No matter our levels of experience, we never hit a point in life when we’ve completely mastered grace, or how to manage and understand people.
There are other lessons I’ve learned—and I continue to learn every day—but seeing that our attention spans continue to decrease, I’ll pause here. I encourage you all to stop and soak in the lessons that are around you.
Samantha “Sam” Edelman is Assistant Director of Recreation Facilities at Stanford University. She has been working within university recreation for 10+ years. She attended the University of New Hampshire for graduate school, working as a graduate assistant within club sports. After graduating, she moved out to San Jose, California where she worked at San Jose State University as a Club Sports Coordinator before moving into the role of Assistant Director of Facilities. She has been a part of the Stanford Recreation and Athletics team since September 2013. In her free time, she enjoys reading and staying active on a flag football field, near a lake, on a campground, or on a trail in some remote location.
