New Semester, New Goals

"Start by doing what's necessary; then do what's possible; and suddenly you are doing the impossible." - Francis of Assisi

Happy New Year, Everyone!  The blog is back!

I realized rather slowly last semester that I was in over my head in this endeavor.  I barely had time to tell my wife about my day, much reflect on it with you all.  So now, after being rejuvenated by a relaxing winter break with my family, I am setting out to do one post per week on Mondays.  As always, thank you for understanding and reading!

I believe a good way to start the new semester would be to set some professional goals for now through May.  I have had the chance to think back on last semester and want to reach for developing in the following ten areas.    Hopefully some may be general enough that other new professionals can relate, or at least consider where they can be analogous to their own positions:

1. Ask for more feedback - I have yet to figure out why, but I find myself consistently wondering if I am doing things well or doing enough in my position.  I think some of the time I spend wondering would be better spent this semester by actually asking someone who will have an answer.
2. Plan and implement a campus-wide program with the Hall staff - We have started to think about it and are excited to make it happen.  This will be a grand test in the action of following-through!
3. Assess some initiatives within the hall - There is a lot that we do that we assume is working.  It is about time that I actually talk to some residents about what they think works and doesn't work.
4. Create more space for academic success - I discovered at the end of last semester that many more residents than we thought were struggling with academics.  We can always do more, so it is time to rethink how we incorporate our Faculty Fellow, intentionally discuss classes, and create a space for students to be first and foremost academically successful.
5. Be a more approachable and intentional supervisor - Again, there is always more to be done, and facilitating the professional development of RAs to me is one of the most important areas of my position.
6. Reflect more on how students manage conflict and how to facilitate this - I plan to discuss this in depth with the RAs I supervise during our winter training; it is an area in which I have become very interested, and I believe helping students manage conflict became a much larger role last semester than I had expected.
7. Gain a sense of my professional network / reconnect - I did not realize how quickly a professional network grows in this field, and before I even thought of how to best network I had more connections than I could track in my head.  I need to at least start a list before it grows beyond my reach.
8. Be more present with advising - I have had the chance to reflect with some mentors on advising and realize that my approach could be less hands-off.  Redefining my role with Hall Council is one of my primary goals this semester.
9. Give more time to one-on-one conversations - Within a conversation with a student I (ideally) have a captive audience.  I need to appreciate this more, capitalize on these moments, and have the conversations I can have with those students.
10. Continue to bring theory into practice - My cohort is finally studying student development theory this semester, and I am excited to apply this to my work.

There you go!  What do you think of these goals?  What do you plan to work on this semester?

Quote Citation:

Francis of Assisi. (n.d.). BrainyQuote. Retrieved from http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/f/francisofa121023.html 

Photo By: Me :)

Some Thoughts on Advising

"Success is the ability to go from failure to failure without losing your enthusiasm." - Winston Churchill

     Well, a lot has happened since I last posted.  There was conflict, there were - and still are - readings, and there was a ton of fun (what?! =)).  But there was also group advising.  In my position I have the responsibility of advising a hall council - a group of students who advocate for the residents of the hall and put on programs using a portion of the student fees.  It is essentially a full student organization with a full executive board and everyone contributing.  More importantly, they answer to only themselves, as I can only require actions of them when policy (or the law) forces me to.  Other than that, I am simply a voice on the sidelines that they can choose to listen to when they want.

     I have been developing a lot in what I say with that voice.  Last year I advised an excellent Hall Council as a Head Resident Assistant, but it was a very different experience, because they were all upperclassmen, programmed for an Apartment Complex, and were fairly self-sufficient in generating ideas.  This year's Council consists of mostly freshmen living in a more traditional residence hall, and, even though the ideas are always flowing, the follow-through and communication skills are not always.  This has forced me to step-in and guide conversation much more than ever, but the need to do this conflicts with my own views of what an advisor should or should not do.

     An important aspect I see in advising is allowing mistakes to occur.  Plenty of times last year and already a few times this year, I have seen parts of programs and initiatives that I could and wanted to change, but I had to leave them be.  They were simply not mine to modify.  Instead, they were the residents' programs.  Because I have let them be, they have been able to see the mistakes occur themselves, then reflect upon those mistakes and (ideally) learn from them.  This is part of the leadership development that we facilitate in student affairs - growth through mistakes and seeing what does not work when leading an organization.

     This is not to to say that I am perfect, at all.  I have made, and continue to make, plenty of mistakes when planning and executing programs.  I have advised groups and been surprised when their programs do not go well.  The aforementioned growth occurs at every level - I just have the privilege to advise groups because I have experienced more - this does not necessarily make me better.  It makes my voice louder in the room, which is why I have to restrain it at many point.  Because as much as I have steered students away from mistakes in the past, they have also proven me wrong and experienced great success when I saw flaws.  Their potential to create wonderful programs is so vast that my voice on the sidelines could just get in the way.  And so I will continue to only steer when asked.

Quote Citation: Churchill, W. (n.d.). Goodreads. Retrieved from: http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/2834066.Winston_Churchill