Thursday, April 2, 2020 – Dede Williams Vann
In the midst of my changing work environment – from being at TCU to being at home, I have new coworkers within the ‘Vann Family Department’. They are my husband, teenage son and our newly adopted puppy. I used to see my fellow SDS peers, other TCU colleagues, and TCU students in person every day. Now, I see them from a computer screen or hear their voice over the phone. However, I see my new coworkers pretty much all day, every day. They each have their own schedules to maintain, their own motivations behind the work that they do, and times throughout the day where they are operating at their optimal best, much like any coworker would.
My son is a sophomore in high school and has transitioned to online learning. Now I’m hearing about Chemistry and World History as well as answering questions about these and his other subjects. So, I took on a new role of being a home school teacher as well (I guess that’s the part under All Other Duties as Assigned in my job description). He is struggling to cope with his new ‘new’ as are his teachers while they learn to use Zoom and other online resources to continue to teach. My husband, who has gone back to school has transitioned to online learning as well, so I hear more about Oceanography or Poetry now. I hear him in Zoom classes ‘nerding out’, as he calls it, as he tends to be that guy in the class who answers his professor’s questions when no one else does. Personally, I’ve gotten (as much as you can) used to several Zoom meetings a day, utilizing Microsoft Teams or TCU Box when coworking with others remotely, as well as other ways to connect and still accomplish what I need to, in order to transition my work to online content to our TCU students.
My last coworker is named Gidget (featured in the picture above) and she is the most recent addition to our little family coworking department! She joined us on Sunday when we adopted her from a sweet TCU alum who is a nurse and could no longer spend as much time with her. Gidget is not only new to our ‘department’ but she is also learning a new environment – where rooms are, what is in them, where each of our designated learning/working stations are, what the departmental politics are (who to go to for a treat), etc. Think about her onboarding process for a minute, she came to this ‘department’ in a time of major change where all (and I mean ALL of us) are in the ‘office’ and around her 24/7. She always has someone she can get attention from, but sometimes we are on a Zoom, watching an online video for learning, on a phone call, etc. She gets impatient as she was not properly onboarded into our ‘department’ at the best time. On the flip side, she was brought into our ‘department’ at the BEST time. She sees us all the time, she is learning our habits of when we wake up, when we eat, when we need to work/learn, and she gets to have someone to run to and get attention from. We have been able to teach her 2 new tricks (in only 5 days in our ‘department’), she has gotten more attention (and belly rubs, walks and treats!) than she is used to, and most of all, she allows us to focus on something incredibly positive and uplifting during a time of chaos and stress in the world.
My husband is the Chief Executive Officer of our ‘department’, I am the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, my son is the Chief Technology Officer (as he understands ALL the technology when we don’t!) and our newest coworker, Gidget, received the title of Chief Fun Officer. We wouldn’t have our department any other way and we are all getting used to the nuances of having each other as coworkers and colearners. I hope each of you are getting in to a new groove with the new coworkers in your lives.