Change in life can be difficult to process, so the department of Student Development sought to support the Stockton community through transitions in their latest installment of the Leadership Lunch Series: Pivoting the Perception. 

The gathering took place through Zoom on March 11th. After brief introductions by Associate Director of Student Development, Lauren Wilson, the main discussion began. It was led by Stockton’s Sport Marketing Coordinator, Dr. Cheryl Robinson, a.k.a. Dr. C, whose years of experience as an author, international speaker, and founder of LLC Ready2Roar provided some insight for the community on pivoting; experiencing change, adapting to it, and moving forward. 

The art of pivoting encompasses change and moving forward with respect to it, according to Dr. Robinson, and there are three types of pivots that she defined: mindset, personal, and career pivots. These are instances of new developments in any of those life aspects and how one progresses forward from each. From a change in attitude to a change in occupation, pivoting is an unavoidable aspect of life and is commonly associated with advancement, failing forward, and new beginnings. Stagnancy is not the name of the game here, and Dr. Robinson gave great advice for managing change. One of her prominent recommendations was to change one’s perception. 

Through perception-based activities, she showed attendees that there are many valid points of view when it comes to problem-solving, and one must be open to seeing other perspectives. Doing so creates a more inclusive mindset inherent for positive team collaboration, and increases both productivity and creativity. The key to opening perceptions, or “widening your scope” as Dr. Robinson put it, is accepting the fact that there are multiple right solutions to a problem.

Furthermore, Dr. Robinson advised to “think big, then scale back”, because it is easier to start with an abundance of ridiculous ideas with a range of practicality and narrow down to real solutions instead of just looking for one solid solution from the start. To practice such a mentality, Dr. Robinson recommended writing down twenty solutions to a problem, scaling realistic to outrageous. This practice gave one more material to work with when it comes to establishing a feasible solution to a problem.

“Those outrageous answers get you to a middle ground, get you to a solution that works for you or your team,” said Dr. Robinson.

Dr. Robinson gave more sage advice to the audience to improve their pivoting ability. She discussed risk taking, communication, and celebration over all victories no matter their magnitude. Reflection is the key to taking a step back to evaluate one’s perception to further broaden it.

Tune in for more leadership development skills at the subsequent Leadership Lunch sessions, which take place every Thursday at noon; Zoom links and information can be found here through the events calendar or by contacting the Office of Student Development. 

All information sessions are recorded and can be viewed through the Stockton Student Development YouTube channel.