"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work." - Thomas A. Edison
One of my first meetings with my supervisor and team involved a discussion on expectations, and one of those expectations of my supervisor was that we seek out professional development opportunities beyond attendance at conferences. It being my second week on the job, and thus second week even working this school, I had no clue how I would meet that expectation and only slightly more of a clue what professional development even was. The way I saw it, every day of training was professional development for me being new to the field.
But once we left RA training and began to settle into a routine, I started to realize just what my supervisor expected. Yes, I am already registered for a professional conference, but every single day new opportunities to develop professionally arise, some experiential and others more passive. The experiential ones have been my favorite - I enjoy presenting, advising, teaching, and creating and have capitalized on every such opportunity that has come along. They offer me to hone these skills and put what I learn and read about into practice. The more passive opportunities, such as attending presentations and conferences, are exciting as well, because I not only learn from my colleagues but also have the chance to take what I learn back to my practice and experiences, employing that newfound knowledge.
As great as these opportunities are, I have also started to be very conscious of the time commitment they require. I am still a graduate student and hall director, which amount to a full-time job alone, and it is not as though professional development activities are an excuse for not completing duties for those commitments - those opportunities are extracurricular. So now I am very careful to consider three questions: (1) How much time will this take?, (2) When will this occur?, and (3) Will I develop professionally in a way I am not already? If the time is not taking me away for too long or during an important time of the year (i.e., Closing), and it will assist my development along a competency in which I do not have much experience, I consider taking it on. The way I see it, I might as well make the most of what is available to me, because professional development will only help me in the end!
Quote Citation: Edison, T. A. (n.d.). The Quotations Page. Retrieved from: http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/793.html
“Not all those that wander are lost." – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
The reason I entitled this post "Part 1" is because I expect to comment on this facet of my position multiple times, and will hopefully in the future as well. And I say "hopefully" because I already genuinely enjoy supervising student staff members. Sure, you can check back in once they begin classes and extracurriculars and turn 21, but I expect that part not to change. Disclaimer: the RAs I supervise are amazing, understand the importance and influence of their position, and put-up with my being new to campus, my position, and supervising every day and thus must be angels.
An expectation I set for the RAs in my building this year reads: "Be
professional, and work towards skills according to the RA Competencies." Reflecting on this item, we discussed how the RA position is a paraprofessional position, and consequently they should treat it like one, taking their RA agreements and my position as their supervisor as seriously as they would any other position. They all of course nodded their heads in unison, saying "Of course, why wouldn't we?" and the like. But they probably did not grasp this item fully.
As a colleague and I discussed this idea last night, he was actually the one to point out the difficulty for student staff's grasping true professionalism in their position. His comment opened my eyes, and much more than I expected too when I reflected this morning. His comment was on fairness - why do we expect our student staff to grasp true professionalism - at the same level we do, for the record - when they are in fact working amongst other students, developing as students and not professionals?
My quintessential example is scheduling RA duty for Spring Break. It never fails - there are RAs who have already made plans, have made hypothetical plans, or are planning to make plans. And then some of us as supervisors become frustrated, because their contracts clearly cover Spring Break and so they should plan to be present. Reflecting on this shifted my mindset slightly, though. Spring Break is sometimes a huge part of the college experience. Some students go on service trips, instilling a sense of serving others in them. Others go on road trips or beach trips, assisting in the development of interpersonal competencies and also plenty of personal care and responsibilities. And yet we still become frustrated when RAs want to have these experiences. Is this contradictory? I still do not believe so, but it forces me to be more understanding.
An additional thought I have had on this topic is professional development. Some of those RA competencies are professional skills, which include knowing how to appropriately prioritize and recognizing the importance of certain tasks. Why I expected the RAs I supervise to be full-fledged professionals upon stepping into the hall is now beyond me - I'd much rather that they develop professionally, growing throughout the year. This falls into our goals of student development and supervising student staff.
Quote Citation: Tolkein, J. R. R. (1954). The fellowship of the ring. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Photo By: Me
“I don't know if you've ever noticed this, but first impressions are often entirely wrong. You can look at a painting for the first time, for example, and not like it at all, but after looking at it a little longer you may find it very pleasing. The first time you try Gorgonzola cheese you may find it too strong, but when you are older you may want to eat nothing but Gorgonzola cheese. Klaus, when Sunny was born, did not like her at all, but by the time she was six weeks old the two of them were thick as thieves. Your initial opinion on just about anything may change over time.” - Lemony Snicket (1999)
Today I met my first supervisees! It was nerve-wracking at first, as I was trying very hard - possibly too hard - to make a good first impression. Not as a person, but as a supervisor. I like to think (probably too confidently) that I make a decent first impression with peers and supervisors, but this was entirely different. Do I set a strict tone from the start? Do I attempt to relate to them? Do I try to be super-energetic to get them motivated, or is that not cool? All of these and more ran through my head as I walked to that meeting.
In the end, I went for an honest, realistic, trusting, but no-nonsense approach, which is one that I have appreciated the most from supervisors. I prefer when a supervisor trusts me to complete the tasks expected of me and at the same time is realistic in their expectations. Furthermore, I prefer a supervisor to be as open and honest with me as possible about my tasks and position. And since I want this from a supervisor, I want the staff I supervise to see these traits in me.
Did I put this across on the first day? Did I need to? I do believe I was open with them, and I did "get down to business" as soon as we started. Plus I believe I made it clear that I trusted them to be professional enough to be at places on time on their own. I don't know for certain, but it is only day two now. Will their perceptions of this day change, though?
Which brings me to Mr. Snicket's quote, from the first book of his Series of Unfortunate Events, The Bad Beginning. I have been trying to think back to my first impressions of my previous supervisors, of which there have been many, to think if my impressions of them changed over time. I believe it has varied according to supervisor, to be honest. For some my perception changed, and for others it did not. Of course I call to question whether or not my current perception on the "consistent" ones has simply overridden any previous impressions, but that is a psychological discussion for a later date.
I believe consistency is the most important factor, when you truly analyze impressions of supervisors. While I may want the staff I supervise to have one impression or another, I would not want it to change because I changed. Rather, I would want it to change because they rethought my style or sought to understand my expectations in a different light. And if it stays the same, then my first impression came across the way I desired, and I remained consistent throughout the year. More new staff to come tomorrow, so wish me luck on more new impressions!
Quote Citation: Snicket, L. (1999) The Bad Beginning. New York: HarperCollins.
Photo By: Me (I imagine this penguin being shy about meeting new staff members...)
"It is our responsibilities, not ourselves, that we should take seriously." - Peter Ustinov
One of the larger adjustments I have had to make during training for my new assistantship is becoming a supervisor and learning the responsibilities that role entails. I've never truly been "in charge" or anyone. Yes, I've been in a position to tell people what to do, and long ago when I was an assistant instructor for karate classes there was no question of "who's in charge?" But I've never held the complete responsibility of supervising another person in their professional tasks - it has always been much more of an advisory role.
I remember thinking very specifically about the differences between advising and supervising before my interview weekend, and it was an exercise our leadership development coordinator had us do during training as well. One of my colleagues used an analogy that stuck with me: advising is guiding someone, whereas supervising is steering them. In some situations, you do not have to follow a guide. Sure, it is usually in your best interest, but the most they can do is show you the path, and it is up to you to take it. If someone is steering the jeep down the path, though, the only way for you to not go down the path is to jump out.
What interests me about this adjustment is not that part of the analogy, though. I am honestly fine with my small staff of RAs being required to take the path I choose, or else "jumping out." It is my being required to choose the paths that has been the largest adjustment. In my advising roles in the past much has been chosen or set for me, while in this new supervisory role I am responsible for setting list after list of requirements and expectations for my staff. I have set "Staff Expectations," "Training Expectations," "Duty Expectations," and so on, and every time I have finished a list there has been this foreboding feeling of having sealed someone's fate for the next academic year.
To get past that feeling I remind myself that this experience is all part of my journey of professional development, and so I take the supervisory responsibilities that much more seriously. I double- and triple-check those expectations, invite questions and comments on them, and envision how conversations concerning them will go. And - much more importantly than my own growth - I always consider my staff's professional growth and how my expectations will steer them on their paths. Because only guiding them would not be taking the full responsibility entrusted to me as their supervisor.
Quote Citation: BBC News. (2004, March 12). Ustinov's comic touch. Retrieved from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3578959.stm
Photo by: Me
