Profiles in IT: Kara Thomas—Active listening advocate

MiWorkspace desktop support specialist associate, Kara Thomas, provides IT support at the Fleming Building to some of the highest-ranking officials at the university. She does it with aplomb and an eye toward mental health well-being. She is active with the ITS and Fleming Building DEI teams, and interested in overall health and general well being. 

Tell us about your role. 

I’m a MiWorkspace desktop support specialist associate. I work on a very close-knit team; there are just five of us to support the Fleming Building, the Parking and Transportation Services Building (523 S. Division), and Argus Building 1. 

Communication is extremely important to let everybody know what’s going on each day. During the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order we have been having daily huddles via Zoom, daily phone calls with coworkers and my manager, and utilizing Slack and texting.

You took an unusual route into IT. Tell us about it. 

Before I started at U-M, I was the liaison between a medical device company and the external IT support company. I had to learn each medical device system inside and out. A family friend suggested that I apply at U-M. I was very unsure, because I didn’t have any formal tech support experience. I didn’t realize that my enjoyment of troubleshooting and being patient would serve me well in my current role. Turns out, those are very helpful skills to have because they give me understanding about what’s going on and what customers are going through. 

How do empathy and active listening assist you in your job? 

In this position, empathy and active listening are an important part of the customer service experience I deliver on a daily basis. Active listening is a technique that helps me understand and appropriately respond to my customers more succinctly and accurately. Empathy helps me relate to my customers.

Here are some of my own tips for active listening:

• Maintain eye contact with your customer
• Focus on the person in front of you
• Make gestures like nodding your head to let them know that you’re paying attention
• Try to put yourself in their shoes – what are they working on, what pressure are they facing, or how frustrated are they
• Don’t interrupt them, let them finish their thought and use their natural pauses to respond 

What do you cherish most about this job?

The best part of my job is the relationships that I have built. I serve some of the university’s topmost leadership, including the president, executive vice presidents, vice presidents, and other senior leaders. It’s an honor, and they are some of the nicest people I have ever met. I know they are under a lot of pressure and are very busy. I do my best to help them so they can get on with their day and lead the university. I like knowing that I’m helping them. When they’re happy, when I see that look of relief on their face, it’s just such a powerful and satisfying feeling. I’m good at making people feel comfortable and cultivating trust to put people at ease. I take the view that we’re in this together, and we’ll solve the problem together. 

You are passionate about Diversity, Equity and Inclusion. Tell us about that work. 

There is a common misconception of what “IT” is supposed to look like, which is why diversity and inclusion in IT are so important. We should be working to break those norms and pushing those boundaries of what’s “supposed to be.” We all say the wrong things, make mistakes, or have these unconscious biases—we’re human. I do this DEI work because we all experience biases either internally or externally and non-inclusion for different reasons, and what matters most is how we choose to react to it. 

We’re focusing on accessibility, creating an equitable and inclusive community, self-care during quarantine, white fragility, and sexual assault awareness. We have taken trips to Flint and Dearborn to create a larger more diverse U-M community that’s centered on DEI, held book groups, brought in speakers, and watched movies. I make most of the courses that are offered by ITS DEI and the UHR professional development courses. I attended the LGBTQ panel that was held at Arbor Lakes. My takeaway was a reminder that you have no idea what internal struggles and life events others experience, so being kind to everyone is extremely important.

The ITS DEI Passport is phenomenal. It makes self-paced learning manageable and impactful, and helps my professional development stay on track. I also like the Organizational Learning Inclusion Insights micro-learning video series by Steve Robbins. You can learn a lot in these two-minute videos! 

I recently read an article from the Harvard Business Review about why inclusion is so important. It’s about creating a safe place where people can feel like they can be themselves. Imagine if everybody felt like they could just be themselves at work—what kinds of problems could be solved if people felt free to be themselves? 

What are some of your coping techniques for a busy job?

With so much going on at work and in the world, I’ve found it valuable to have a therapist. This is someone who is trained to help me grow tools to have in my toolbox for dealing with everyday life, and has been especially important lately. My therapist keeps me honest and holds me accountable. This type of self-work can be tough, but I think it’s important for my long-term well being. 

Deep breaths also help me refocus my mind (if you want to try it: sit in a comfortable spot, focus on your breathing, take a deep breath, hold it for two to five seconds, and let it out slowly). I also take a walk or just get outside, talk to a close friend or someone you trust to get a fresh perspective or just vent.

What do you do for fun? 

I’m really into working out. Before the “Stay Home, Stay Safe” executive order, I found an unexpected passion in taking a high-intensity interval training class. I’m still taking it, but now it’s via Facebook Live. I enjoy watching movies. I delight in music—concerts are my jam! I love to read fiction novels. I value spending time with my friends and family (which I do virtually). 

Now that we’re practicing social distancing, I had to find new ways to stay active to replace the five to six miles I walked everyday as part of my job. Here’s what I’ve been doing: 

• Go for a walk at lunch and right after work 
• During the day, I do squats every three hours
• I work out after my “day” is done; my friends and I share videos of ourselves doing exercise; using the buddy system really helps!