Retreat Summer 2015 – Teamwork, Accountability, Wellness, Trust and Fun!

This is my 200th blog post. Yes!

Bakersfield College Administrators. Summer 2015.

Jennifer Marden and Sonya Christian

Summer that is considered a “downtime” for an academic institution is a time for the administrative team and classified staff to regroup and plan for the following year. In this spirit of valuing reflection, and planning, the administrative team at BC retreated for two days. The focus of the two days was to promote and deepen:

– our teamwork: getting to know each other and building trust

– our collective accountability to our students, our colleagues and our community

– our collective understanding of what leadership looks like in the fast-paced 21st century with the explosion of information

– our wellness individually and collectively.

Nicky Damania and Terri Goldstein

I asked Karla Young, our new Student Success Program Manager to capture this two-day event. Let’s hear from Karla:

Part of that year-round drive for excellence includes our summer Administrative Council Retreat, a much-needed annual opportunity for some connection and reflection throughout our BC family.

Over the course of the retreat, the entire management team at BC came together to reflect on accomplishments, develop work plans for the upcoming year, reconnect, foster leadership, and enjoy a friendly lip-sync competition.

The first day consisted of various presentations on several topics, including the strategic direction of our campus, the importance of health and wellness, reflections on transformational leadership by Dr. Michael Wesch, the review of our past year accomplishments, brainstorming on work plans for the upcoming year, and a good old-fashioned lip-sync competition between members of our eight teams.

Todd Coston and Manny Mourtzanos

The second day was filled with great momentum from the previous day. Everyone displayed their work plans for the upcoming year throughout the room for all to review. We broke out in groups to focus on and discuss various leadership scenarios and received a presentation on the Renegade Scorecard version 2.0.

More reflections on transformational leadership followed, and then, the conclusion of our lip sync competition with the remaining teams.

Although the performance aspect of the retreat caused a few pauses with the management team everyone jumped in and had a great time. Here are two samples:

Team: Todd Coston and Manny Mourtzanos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XFFp9mVchc

Team: Odella Johnson, Liz Rozell, Ramon Puga, Danell Ward (who was ill and Manny Mourtzanos stepped in), Sonya Christian

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUbrC4Ag36o

For the photo gallery check out