I met all activity deadlines and requirements throughout the semester by their posted deadline. Each semester I work to review and revise my previous work. As I gain a greater understanding of the task (this learning approach), I can evaluate and determine if my past work is meeting those outcomes and objectives. This semester (and more specifically, this course) enabled me to expand those past assignments beyond my wildest dreams. I am more equipped to carry my innovation plan forward through the Crucial Conversations content. I will be able to thoroughly assess my motives for myself and those with whom I need to engage in productive dialog. The gained confidence through thoughtfully planning the Influencer Strategy and the 4 Disciplines of Execution will help me be a self-differentiated leader that will provide the calm resolve to stay the course, despite the year-round advising whirlwind.
What worked
In addition to completing all course readings, videos, and supporting research, I thoroughly explored and welcomed every technique and piece of advice offered by the content presented. The subject matter could not be more desperately appropriate to my situation. While the reading load was heavy, the content was so interesting I found it easy to review it multiple times in multiple formats. I discovered last semester that incorporating audible along with the book while outlining and note taking while taking various times through the content helps me uncover the depth of the content. That proved especially true this semester as the authors were presenting essential “how to” guides for influencing behavior change, executing the plans, and holding difficult and uncomfortable conversations in the midst of it all. I continue to embrace the learner’s mindset and am grateful for the authentic learning opportunity my innovation project has become.
What could be better
I am still guarded about some of the work I am doing in the program. Maintaining my professional voice while balancing act between vulnerability and authority is a reoccurring struggle. The content on self-differentiated leadership initially felt cold and distant, but I realize there is a strength that comes with the confidence of effective dialog to create solid plans.
Supporting Contributions
What could be better
Unfortunately, the discussion boards and posts still feel too checklist/regurgitation model. Everything else about the program is so very authentic, but something still lacks from the formal “class discussions.” Other people may feel like they are having valuable in-depth conversations about the content of the different modules but have been lacking in this area throughout most of the program. Additionally, there is so much benefit from regular virtual synchronous meetings. Our collective does a great job of filling in the space daily so that the entire cohort has become a learning community. I don’t know if others have small groups they meet with regularly, but most of us rely upon the collective we have formed. I have always left our collaborations feeling like I have a better understanding of the content, an assignment, or just better in general for helping to provide clarity to someone else.
What worked
The ADL Cohort Collective group chat is the most supportive and beneficial part of the program for me. Each semester we add members to the group, and people are at all different levels, but we have found support through one another. I continued my responsibilities within the group and generally tried to maintain a welcoming and supportive environment for others to participate.
Early in the semester, I created a course calendar using the template of Dr. Grogan’s EDLD 5313 calendar. The calendar helped me keep up with assigned readings, assignment due dates, and other important deadlines. I shared this via google docs for the collective.
I continue to enjoy the role of facilitator. I am excited to embrace this personal strength and passion as I move into holding crucial conversations with my team in my new leadership role.
In a previous post, I worked to identify what I must address to become a self-differentiated leader. With the knowledge that change initiatives can be anxiety-producing for many people, it will be essential to have a clear plan. As a self-differentiated leader, I must be committed to my purpose to stand firm in my goals and strategies. To be effective at holding crucial conversations, I must be willing to consider an outside view of myself.
Crucial Conversations teaches that we must first deal with ourselves to evaluate our motives. We must assess ourselves to focus on what we want while maintaining our bearings on the original purpose of the dialogue. We must be able to keep our brains engaged by asking complex questions to present new choices to regain safety and re-engage in dialogue.
Since all change begins with me, I must first stop to ask myself the following questions:
What do I want for myself?
What do I want for others?
What do I want for the relationship?
Action Prompt: How would I behave if I wanted these results?
These three questions and action prompts can foster healthy, open communication and a collaborative work environment. After working in unhealthy environments in the past, I aspire to help create a healthy and productive one.
Learn to Look
As I work to create an environment that encourages these healthy conversations, I must also be diligent in observing myself and the team as we move through this innovation to advising together. I must watch for the signs when individuals either resort to (silence) by “purposefully [withholding] information from the pool of meaning” or (violence) “by trying to force meaning into the pool” (Patterson et al., 2012, pp. 58-61). With safety problems or when dialogue stops and conversations become crucial, the human brain switches from a source of rational reasoning to one of fight or flight. We can reactivate the rational brain and help bypass this evolutionary response to hold effective dialogues by working and learning to engage through questions. This process of asking myself what I want to get out of a conversation allows me to check my tendencies toward silence or violence.
The book’s authors offer additional resources, one of which is to determine your Style Under Stress.
I found these results and the examples from Crucial Conversations very revealing. I know I avoid and withdraw when conflict or disagreement arises, but I would never have self-assessed “controlling” in the violence category.
I will have to be mindful of these tendencies and stop to:
Spot Crucial Conversations (physical/behavioral signs or emotions)
Look for Safety Problems (both what and why)
Make it Safe
Throughout the development of my Influencer Strategy and by creating a 4DX Plan, there has been no doubt about how important accountability is to motivation, morale, and the success of a change strategy. Therefore, I must create safety so communication and innovation can flow freely among team members. I must be observant and aware when the team is engaged in dialogue and when it is not. Committing to actively engage in crucial conversations when dialogue stops cultivates accountability throughout the advising unit. The process outlined by Crucial Conversations will help as we move through the implementation of an advising innovation. These conversations will also help us grow and evolve with multiple perspectives, points of view, and, most importantly, understanding and respect for one another. Crucial conversations “teaches direct and respectful ways to express [my] thoughts” (Vital Smarts India, 2012) and to “reestablish mutual purpose and mutual respect” (Patterson et al., 2012, pp. 76-82) when the dialogue becomes threatened. The authors challenge me to assess whether others know I care about their goals and trust my motives. I sincerely hope that sharing my why will help me establish a mutual purpose (Patterson et al., 2012, p. 77) from which we can build and recover when conversations become crucial. This communication strategy will be valuable to this change initiative since maintaining mutual respect is the only way to stay in dialogue. It is empowering to help equip every team member with the skills needed to effectively move forward in dialogue through difficult and stressful situations like those we will face as emotions run high.
The chapter on mastering my stories is one of the most valuable aspects of the crucial conversation strategy to my reflection. The facts outlined about how only I can be responsible for my emotions and how I respond to them will be helpful as I inevitably meet resistance at different stages of implementation. The steps outlined for the “Path to Action” have given me much perspective on how I perceived situations and interactions from my professional past. I can now evaluate how the stories I created surrounding past conversations are responsible for how I felt about those interactions. Indeed, the cumulative effect of those stories and emotions eventually led me to leave those positions. Undoubtedly, the authors’ “skills for mastering our stories” will prove helpful as I evolve into a self-differentiated leader and as our team works and collaborates. As the advising team moves forward through our innovation of advising, these skills can equip us to have crucial conversations that will allow our efforts to be effective and our relationships to grow stronger.
Following the path to action and retracing the steps help with personal awareness and more control over our emotions.
STATE my Path
Everything up until this point helps to prepare to engage in crucial conversations. The steps and processes help to ensure that we are clear on our motives, purposes, perceptions, and perspectives as we finally begin to engage in dialogue. Striking a balance between open honesty and respectful humility is something the best at dialogue can do.
In step 3 of STATE-ing our path, we ask for others’ points of view and genuinely listen to receive their input or perspective. To do this, we must explore others’ paths. At times we will be in situations where we must navigate rocky waters, like when others are expressing silence or violence. We must acknowledge that just as we tell ourselves stories and make individualized interpretations and understandings of others’ words and actions, others do the same about ours. Therefore, I must be transparent about mistakes, aware of emotions, interpretations, and verbal/non-verbal messages, communicate my intentions clearly, and apologize when they are not. It is humbling and powerful to require leaders and team members to check themselves when they find themselves out of line and to demand that they admit and own those errors in judgment or temper.
Start with Heart
Suppose we work to sincerely and patiently listen to another’s experience. In that case, we can openly and curiously explore how others are feeling, what they are thinking, and how we can help restore safety so that dialogue can continue (Patterson et al., 2012, p. 157). Just as we have done in our preparation for crucial conversations, we can encourage others to follow the five steps outlined above to retrace them together to develop our crucial conversation skills.
Use Inquiry Skills
When?
When silence or violence begins, it is time for us to step out of the conversation and establish safety so that we can get to the source of the emotions causing others to stop dialoguing.
How?
Patterson et al. (2012) state, “We must be genuine in the face of hostility, fear, or even abuse” (p. 162).
What?
Make it safe for others to be vulnerable about their feelings and truly listen to what they are saying.
Work to be sure that dialogue continues and is not interrupted by minor details. Focus on the areas of agreement to grow and evolve from as a starting point.
Build:
Actively search for points of common ground on which to build. By starting a dialogue with the areas of agreement, you open space to create discussion and understanding.
Compare:
Share how your perspective differs from the other person and use that conversation about your facts, stories, and emotions to explore how each of you sees the options up for discussion, which is much more effective than simply declaring that you are right the other person is wrong. You can disagree and still hold valuable dialogue.
Move to Action
Now that we have been actively working on practicing strong dialogue skills, we must follow through to the action steps derived from those discussions. Once again clarity is key to this phase of the dialogue strategy which helps convert crucial conversations into both results and action.
How are decisions going to be made?
If people have differing views on how the decision will be made, there could be miscommunications and misunderstandings, eroding the trust built throughout the dialogue.
Are we ever going to decide?
This condition occurs when there are too many options or maybe no solutions after dialogue and meaning are explored. This condition leaves everyone playing a game of not it wondering if anything will ever happen.
Decide How to Decide
“To avoid violated expectations, separate dialogue from decision making. Make it clear how the decision will be made – who will be involved and why” (Patterson et al., 2012, p. 179) before starting a dialogue. When the line of authority is clear, the manager will be the decision maker. When the line of authority is unclear, identifying the decision-maker can be more challenging because a dialogue will be needed to identify who will decide collectively.
Consider who on the team has an invested interest and truly desires to be a part of the decision-making. There is a better time to push for involvement from those who don’t.
Who knows?
Think about the team members with experience or special skills that would add beneficial knowledge to the decision-making process.
Who must agree?
Get ahead of the opposition. Consider all the players for whom you will need to obtain acceptance and involve them in the decision-making process.
How many people is it worth involving?
“Involve the fewest number of people while still considering the quality of the decision along with the support that people will give it” (Patterson et al., 2012, p. 183).
“Assign a name to every responsibility” (Patterson et al., 2012, p. 184) to avoid confusion or a general lack of progress due to ambiguity.
Does what?
Review, reanalyze, and compare your vision with the understanding of those assigned to carry it out. Very clearly outline each aspect of your expectations.
By when?
The 4 Disciplines of Execution (4DX) clearly explain the fury of the day-to-day whirlwind. If deadlines are not communicated, then that urgency will inevitably cause our plans to be pushed to an undefined date, likely never to be complete.
How will you follow up?
Accountability is key to success in the Influencer Strategy through its measures of success and the 4DX Plan through a compelling scoreboard. Therefore, it is essential to build specific and time-sensitive follow-ups into the action steps outlined.
“Write down details of conclusions, decisions, and assignments. Remember to record who does what by when” (Patterson et al., 2012, p. 187) and keep your team members accountable. With all these skills combined, we can finally recognize that it is possible to heal from past hurts and become skilled, proficient, and comfortable holding high-stakes dialogues even when situations are uncomfortable so that together, we can innovate advising.
References
Patterson, K., Grenny, J., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2012). Crucial conversations: Tools for talking when stakes are high (2nd ed.). McGraw Hill.
Effective leadership requires the leader to be self-aware and clear on their motivations. To effectively lead, one must “develop the characteristics of a self-differentiated leader so that you can have the stamina and resolve to keep moving forward in the face of resistance” (Dwayne Harapnuik, 2021). Becoming a self-differentiated leader demands one to remain in touch with their driving purpose and the proposed change.
The most appealing aspect of self-differentiated leadership is the ability to remain connected to the team while staying true to the purpose and plan. Fortified against the virus-like triangulation and sabotage that surface from anxiety and insecurity, a self-differentiated leader can stand firm, lending stability from within. While working to help team members accept personal responsibility for their discomfort with change, a self-differentiated leader can listen and provide support without adopting the team’s anxiety.
Just like a self-differentiated cell in the body knows its purpose and function, becoming a self-differentiated leader allows me to foster and lead change without being influenced or stressed by the response of those around me. It is humbling to think that I can learn, practice, and evolve into a self-differentiated leader who creates the climate for healthy and effective organizational changes. I would love to be the change agent that provides my team members with happier, healthier, and more productive lives.
Since my goal is to develop and implement innovative changes, I must utilize each tool in my ADL Program toolbox and embark on the crucial conversations needed to get the change process underway.
Swan Hill Youth Mental Health Project. (2015, August 12). Friedman’s Theory of Differentiated Leadership Made Simple [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FaifIIeQC9k
Advisors will formulate and share their why statements, then create web based advising resources/ePortfolios to utilize in their advising interactions.
Advising will create and allow for flexible advising options (online, e-advise, module/quiz-based, video/quiz-based, in-person), allowing for the ultimate diversity of choice, ownership, and voice for each learner and advisor within accepted and set boundaries/expectations. This vital behavior empowers and frees students and advisors from mandated expectations of advising interactions to express their individuality while contributing to the collaboration of compelling flipped advising opportunities.
Advising teams collaborate on content development and establish best practices for ePortfolio implementation into advising interactions while holding one another accountable for use of the resource.
Long term development goals might include content modules can include internal triggers to direct students’ needs based on assessments from within advising modules. Answers/scores can launch informative videos, initiate a referral to support services (Careers, Accessibility Resource Center, advising appointments, financial aid/scholarships status updates and direct inquires), targeted outreach, and follow up from stakeholders to explain options and impacts and/or advising/coaching campaign links.
During peak advising/registration times, outreach efforts/campaigns will direct students to flipped advising resources. This action leaves advisors’ schedules open and available during critical availability timeframes.
How credible is each Vital Behavior that you listed?
Have you found credible research done by others that validates the behavior you listed? Yes
“Blended advising draws directly from the benefits of synchronous, on campus advising—”same time, same place” experiences that enable human connection and spontaneity—while simultaneously taking advantage of the asynchronicity and computer-mediated environment of online advising—or “different time, different place” experiences that afford more opportunities for flexibility and accessibility, thereby leaving out any weaknesses from either method”
Ambrose, G. A., & Williamson Ambrose, L. (2013). The Blended Advising Model: Transforming Advising with ePortfolios. International Journal of ePortfolio, 3(1), 75-89.
“… improve the advising experience by helping students prepare in advance for advising meetings and to be more mindful in the making of academic decisions through pre-engagement, reflection, and planning”
Ambrose, G. A., Martin, H. E., & Page, H. (2014). Linking advising and e-portfolios for engagement: Design, evolution, assessment, and university-wide implementation. AAC&U Peer Review Winter.
Through content unites and modules in various technologies, advisors integrate services and resources that can be evaluated to show an individual’s understanding of and meaning applied to learning.
Steele, G. E. (2016). Technology and academic advising. Beyond foundations: Developing as a master academic advisor, 305-326.
Have you conducted a positive deviance study to determine what has worked for you or others in the past? (Chapter 2) Yes, through the use and pilot of this advising ePortfolio.
Change How You Change Minds
Check YES or NO for each question.
When trying to convince yourself or others to change minds, do you create ways to experience the need to change (For example: field trips, pilots, trial runs, or other hands-on experiences) rather than simply trying to talk yourself or others into changing through presentations, lectures, pep talks, or other verbal means? Y N
Do you use powerful and credible stories as a way of touching people’s hearts and minds with the need to change? ** For more information on how to change minds, see Chapter 3 in Y N
Diagnose the Current Behavior—Why Does Change Seem Impossible?
When it comes to your current results, to what extent are the following factors a source of your current behaviors? These questions should apply to others whom you are trying to influence (boss, team, company, etc). Check YES or NO for each question.
Personal Motivation
Do you or others take satisfaction from the right behavior or dislike the wrong behavior? Y N
When the going gets tough, do you or others think carefully about how the Vital Behavior would help with long-term goals and align with moral values? ** To work on personal motivation, see Chapter 4 in Y N
Personal Ability
Do you or others have all the skills or knowledge to perform what is required? Y N
Do you or others have the self-control to engage in the Vital Behavior when it’s hardest to do so? ** To work on personal ability, see Chapter 5 in Y N
Social Motivation
Are the people around you or others actively encouraging the right behavior or discouraging the wrong behavior? Y N
Are you or others modeling the right behaviors in an effective way? ** To work on social motivation, see Chapter 6 in Y N
Social Ability
Do you or others provide the help, information, and resources required, particularly at critical times? Y N
Do you or others hold people accountable for behaving in the right way? ** To work on social ability, see Chapter 7 in Y N
Structural Motivation
Are there clear and meaningful rewards (such as with pay, bonuses, or incentives) when you or others behave the right way? Y N
Are short-term rewards in alignment with the desired long-term results and behaviors you or others want? ** To work on structural motivation, see Chapter 8 in Y N
Structural Ability
Are there aspects in the environment that make the Vital Behavior convenient, easy, and safe? Y N
Are there enough cues and reminders to help you or others stay on course? ** To work on structural ability, see Chapter 9 in Y N
Transform transactional advising general information and onboarding orientation to systems, procedures, degree plan, resources to video, audio, and text resources in personally curated web resources by the Fall 2025 intake cycle for individualized flipped advisor guidance.
Advising Team:
Like-minded solution-oriented workgroups collaborate and cross collaborate to identify and implement solutions for orientation, enrollment and support for current and prospective students by Fall 2025 while reevaluating “standardized” touch points and robotic interaction limiting scalability.
What are the measures you’ll use to track your progress?
Assess Learners:
Measurement efforts can utilize typical question/quiz formats for transactional pieces of advising to clear various holds and satisfy specific enrollment requirements When students illustrate or articulate successful behaviors they are able to by pass standardized interaction currently required for registration.
Likert survey assessments to gauge students understanding of resources, services, access, links to advising campaigns and support service referrals throughout assessment utilizing advising system.
Likert surveys to obtain valuable and informative data metrics at targeted assessment points(two-three times during each semester).
An example is an informational Tik-Tok campaign about the impact of dropping and currently available (live) resources/support services around significant drop deadlines.
Followed by a “did this information help you” survey to assess growth mindset messaging‘s and support service referrals’ impact on retention/student success.
Team Assessments:
Advising teams share focused 3-minute check-ins daily to share weekly goals and intentions. These can be scheduled meetings, video messages, or emails.
Meetings are scheduled for longer communications or clarifications as needed/requested to honor and respect each individuals day utilizing advisors preferred communication (video chat, text chat, in-person meeting, team discussion).
Weekly team-wise meetings (30 minutes or less) to review what’s working and what could be better as ensure all individuals are progressing in their advising resource and to provide opportunities collaboration planning.
Collaborative peer-groupings twice a month to evaluate effectiveness, to provide feed-forward, to reflect on what is working and what could be better in individual and group collaborations at all levels within the advising unit.
Workshops (quarterly) to gauge and assess progress to goals and celebrate successes.
Department/Unit Assessments:
Weekly think-tank sessions with solutions-collective, inviting stakeholders as needed and coordinated to solve various needs that arise throughout the different academic cycles
Monthly department meetings to solution-storm (brainstorm) problems held separately (sacredly) from any staff meetings, professional developments, or presentations to re-engage with our individual why and collective why
At minimum quarterly collaborations with departmental and support service stakeholders across campus to ensure messaging and initiatives align with available offerings
Anonymous satisfaction surveys for advisors to describe bottlenecks and pinch-points as expressed by students following signification deadlines in academic cycles to evaluate improvement opportunities to policies and procedures
Monthly departmental updates, requests, and feed-forward to and from academic departments to improve communication and accuracy for learners
Ongoing collaboration groups with university coalition collective to scale procedures, evaluate and update policy, and improve training resources for all
Who is involved in your efforts?
Advisors will be one of the most significant cultural influences in this change strategy because they have the front-line perspective of students’ frustrations and confusion. This innovation will empower advisors to help improve the student experience while reducing the repetitive and transactional calls, emails, and appointments that prevent them from more meaningful interactions with students
Collective of solution-oriented collaborative stakeholders will be another source of significant cultural influence in the transformation of advising as it encompasses and overarches all offices and services of the university structure (such as the admissions; records; scholarship, financial aid, and veterans affairs; system administrators; technology support; service desk; instructional designers; administrative support; and support services to provide improvement ideas as front-line interaction experts.
Put simply, care. Care about students. Care about advisors. Care about departments. Care about program and state requirements. Care about policies. Ultimately, care about changing lives.
… how vital the role of a strong advising relationship is to students’ retention and success. Providing students with 24/7 access to personally curated information resources can guide them throughout their programs’ completion. This innovation aims to improve the experience for both advisors’ and students’ while strengthening that relationship.
Guiding students to find or reconnect with a passion for learning and to make meaningful connections throughout their learning experience on the way to becoming life-long inquisitive learners.
Helping advisors find their purpose and joy in helping others by helping them overcome challenges and valuing their input as change agents.
… my purpose is to make a difference in other people’s lives.
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition. McGraw-Hill Education.
Jeni Cross does a great job of outlining that common sense ideas are often antithetical to behavior change in her TEDxTalk. I found Myth #1 interesting. This first common sense myth believes that education or information will change behavior. In this example, the speaker gave a compelling perspective on how we must present information to influence behavior change. The speaker illustrates that we can learn from social science to affect change by making personalized and tangible information for a more significant impact. To do so, “knowing your audience is a key factor in change” (TEDx Talks, 2013a). The recommendation to “frame loss, not gains” was a surprising shift in perspective. Common sense might say to outline and highlight everything an organization will gain from a change strategy but “hearing what you are losing is more motivating than hearing what you are gaining” (TEDx Talks, 2013a). Common sense, myth #2 states that you must address and change attitudes to change behavior, but the speaker illustrates that attitudes follow behavior, not predict it. Therefore, you can avoid fighting to change attitudes by connecting values to behavioral expectations. You instead set expectations. Myth #3 about common sense says social interaction, pressure, and modeling are some of the most significant influences on motivation. An effective way to enact change is to connect behaviors to issues about which people care to “make the change meaningful” (TEDx Talks, 2013a).
The vital behaviors outlined by Joseph Greeny align with many of the cautions proposed by Jeni Cross. For example, Greeny’s first source of influence, personal motivation, sounds like the personalized social interaction defined by Jeni Cross. Creating that tangible presentation helps to increase urgency around the reasons for change. Myth 2 about attitudes and expectations sounds like the vital behaviors identified by Greeny. Lastly, change agents identified by Greeny tie directly to the social norms and modeling outlined in meaningful change efforts by Cross.
The results I wish to achieve through the Innovation to Advising is to equip students with the knowledge and information needed to make informed decisions. The goal is to do this while simultaneously relieving advisors of the repetitive, prescriptive, and informational components of advising to create space for advisor-advisee relationship building and meaning-making through reflection on what is working and what could be better.
References
TEDxTalks. (2013a, March 20). Three myths of behavior change – what you think you know that you don’t: Jeni Cross at tedxcsu. YouTube. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l5d8GW6GdR0
This post is the first step in developing an influencer strategy that can help in the Innovation of Advising, which empowers students and advisors in creating authenticity in the advising relationship.
Identify Results
Transform transactional advising general information and onboarding orientation to video, audio, and text resources in flipped advising modules with digital assessments by the Fall 2025 intake cycle.
Measurement
Measurement efforts can utilize typical question/quiz formats for transactional pieces of advising to clear various holds and satisfy specific enrollment requirements.
Further and ongoing assessments
Open-ended feed-forward monthly one-minute (what’s working/what can be better?) check-ins with students and advisors. Results open the door for collaboration opportunities that improve, clarify and streamline online resources for various readers, levels, and delivery modes and preferences.
Satisfaction surveys for advisors to express bottlenecks and pinch-points described by students. 30-minute weekly advisor check-ins to discuss and brainstorm for solution-oriented collaborative groups from across campus support (admissions, financial aid, IT, records) that provide solution-based improvement ideas as front-line interaction experts.
Departmental Likert surveys to obtain valuable and informative data metrics at targeted assessment points (two-three times during each semester). An example is an informational Tik-Tok campaign about the impact of dropping and currently available (live) resources/support services around significant drop deadlines. Followed by a “did this information help you” survey to assess growth mindset messaging‘s and support service referrals’ impact on retention/student success.
Site visit statistics used to track resource utilization during targeted campaigned proactive outreach.
Vital Behaviors you are trying to change
Create and allow for flexible advising options (online, e-advise, module/quiz-based, video/quiz-based, in-person), allowing for the ultimate diversity of choice, ownership, and voice for each learner and advisor within accepted and set boundaries/expectations. This vital behavior empowers and frees students and advisors from mandated expectations of advising interactions to express their individuality while contributing to the collaboration of compelling flipped advising opportunities.
Advising modules can include internal triggers to direct students’ needs based on assessments from within advising modules. Answers/scores can launch informative videos, initiate a referral to support services (Careers, ARC, advising, financial aid/scholarships), targeted outreach, and follow up from stakeholders to explain options and impacts and/or advising/coaching campaign links. During peak advising/registration times, outreach efforts/campaigns will direct students to flipped advising resources. This action leaves advisors’ schedules open and available during critical availability timeframes.
Cultural/Organizational Influencers and Why
Advisors will be one of the most significant cultural influences in this change strategy because they have the front-line perspective of students’ frustrations and confusion. This innovation will empower advisors to help improve the student experience while reducing the repetitive and transactional calls, emails, and appointments that prevent them from more meaningful interactions with students.
Stakeholders will be another source of significant cultural influence in the transformation of advising as it encompasses and overarches all offices and services of the university structure (such as the records department; scholarship, financial aid, and veterans affairs; system administrators; technology support, service desk, and instructional designers; administrative support).
Put simply, care. Care about students. Care about advisors. Care about departments. Care about program and state requirements. Care about policies. Ultimately, care about changing lives.
… how vital the role of a strong advising relationship is to students’ retention and success. Providing students with 24/7 access to personally curated information resources can guide them throughout their programs’ completion. This innovation aims to improve the experience for both advisors’ and students’ while strengthening that relationship.
Guiding students to find or reconnect with a passion for learning and to make meaningful connections throughout their learning experience on the way to becoming life-long inquisitive learners. Helping advisors find their purpose and joy in helping others by helping them overcome challenges and valuing their input as change agents.
… my purpose is to make a difference in other people’s lives.
Who do our students want to become? Who do our advisors want to help them become? What motivates our advisors to come and guide students? How does each impact the lives of our students and advisors? (CSLE2COVA, 2018)
Grenny, J., Patterson, K., Maxfield, D., McMillan, R., & Switzler, A. (2013). Influencer: The New Science of Leading Change, Second Edition. McGraw-Hill Education.
The Advisor That Cares 