SEAHO Report - Winter 2022 - 52

FEATURE ARTICLES
Positivity with a Dose of Reality
Chasten Conway, University of Mississippi
Positivity is a word that looks simple on the surface, but in actuality, can be extremely difficult to find and
emote properly. As a supervisor, I often tell my student staff members to remember that having a positive
outlook does not mean shooting rainbows and butterflies out of your eyeballs all the time, but it does mean
recognizing when things are hard and life sucks and choosing to look for how you can make the situation
better for yourself and others. A common misperception about positivity is that the person is delusional or
not accepting reality, but most often, people projecting positivity are extremely aware of negative factors and
use it to counteract those pulls. The pertinent question in higher education is how do you look on the bright
side with the pandemic constantly changing guidelines, job expectations fluctuating, understaffing issues,
and the traditional college experience being redefined? How do we tackle these topics realistically while
maintaining our positivity?
In my second year of Graduate school, I was given the opportunity to take the CliftonStrengths assessment.
I discovered that my number one strength is positivity, and I admit that my first thought was one of
disappointment. I thought people would see that as my top strength and assume I was " fake " or not a
genuine person. Growing up, life was not always the easiest. It was a struggle to sometimes look on the
other side of the door, but I always knew it could be worse and reminding myself of the community aspect
of life helped me handle my own pain. Everyone has baggage that they have to haul around, and even bags
that look light on the outside can be exceptionally heavy when carried too long. All people struggle and all
people deserve to be able to do what they need to keep up the fight day after day. Once I let myself embrace
positivity as a true strength in my life, I began to reflect on how I can apply this power in my role within
housing and higher education.
Some methods began to immediately develop within my daily routine, like encouraging a positive work
environment with simple joy, happiness, and a smile. I currently supervise Crosby Hall, a 700-bed, all-female,
traditional community at the University of Mississippi. I learned rather quickly that running one of the most
active buildings on campus requires me to create an encouraging environment for my staff consistently.
I
have 19 female community assistants, and creative, regular, and varied ways of modeling and stimulating
positive team dynamics and individual mindsets has been important. One of my community assistants,
Sahara, wrote to me, " Thank you for taking the time to always pinpoint the good things, and how much you
care. " By simply being myself and letting my positive light shine, I am making a difference that is seen and
appreciated by my student staff members. More importantly, they see how it affects them and mirror that
behavior to their colleagues and residents.
I found that openly recognizing student staff by letting them know I could not do my job without them
significantly impacts their work ethic. We take time in every weekly staff meeting to do anonymous " kudos "
where everyone highlights good things someone else on staff has done. I have them submit them to me prior
to the meeting time so I can review them and ensure everyone is included appropriately. This may seem like
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