How to Facilitate Great “One-On-One” Supervisory Meetings

January 18, 2012

Meeting with your staffers on an individual basis to discuss their performance is an important part of being a supervisor and a leader. However, these meetings do not only have to be a means to critique your employees from an evaluation standpoint. “One-on-one” meetings can foster a rewarding mentoring relationship as well as a means by which to engage your staffers as a true partner in meeting the mission and vision of your organization.

Here are a few tips that I have found helpful in facilitating great “one-on-one” supervisory meetings:

1. Set the Parameters for Meeting Participation – As a part of the hiring process and during staff training, set the parameters for what is expected during one-on-one supervisory meetings. By setting the tone that these meetings are important and participatory in nature, your staffers will embody this as part of the team’s culture and act accordingly. Tell them that they should come prepared with feedback, questions, and suggestions for making your organization better. As I tell my own staff, I don’t want to hear complaining for complaining’s sake; if there’s a better way to do something, I want a suggestion, solution, or plan of action.

2. Always Keep Your Appointments with Your Staffers – This seems like common sense, but it is very easy to get sidetracked by other important meetings and activities and either forgot or attempt to reschedule your supervisory meetings. By making this time important, you are symbolically demonstrating that these meetings and, more importantly, your staffers are crucial to you and your team’s success.

3. Purposely Seek Out Feedback to Enact Change - Allowing for and seeking out honest feedback from your employees is a great way to keep your employees engaged in continuous improvement conversations. People take a part in what they help create so allow them to help create team goals, policies, and practices during regularly scheduled supervisory meetings. Be a servant leader and ask them how you can better help them in their position and if they need any particular type of resource or support so that they can be more effective.

4. Have an “Activity” Planned if There is Nothing to Talk About – If there is nothing of note to discuss, do not simply cancel the meeting. Utilize the opportunity to connect with and mentor your staffers. One-on-one meetings can be used for personal development and skills building. Have a “bag of tricks” developed that you can utilize quickly and easily if you’re stuck in one of these “I-have-nothing-to-talk-about” situations. Skills building activities can include role playing and case scenarios related to topics pertaining to your staffers’ positions. Using this time for brainstorming can also create productive ideas for the entire team.

One such example of a “one-on-one” activity is the Supervisory Discussion Cards activity developed by Student Life Consultants. These handy cards contain multiple questions that are conversation starters related to personal development and teamwork. Each set of 25 double-sided cards contains 50 questions and comes complete with a four-page PDF activity handout that is downloaded immediately upon purchase.

*** Use the SLG0112 code to receive 20% off of your entire order. ***

This discount is available only until Friday, January 27, 2011.

What are some practices that you use with your employees to facilitate great “one-on-one” supervisory meetings? What advice can you offer to your colleagues related to what works and does not work for “one-on-one” supervisory meetings?

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Posted by studentlifeguru

Reflecting on the Past

March 29, 2011

A Journey of Self-Reflection

What pops into your mind when I say the University of California at Berkley?  Maybe images of hippies in  the late 1960′s wearing bell bottoms and strumming their guitars on the lawn between classes.  Or maybe you are a reader of the Student Life Guru Blog that has actually been UC Berkley and know that stereotype is long extinct. 

Take a look at this modern version of UC Berkley: http://bit.ly/eHiIlk (access date 3/29/2011.)  

Now gaze at this historical image of UC Berkley from 1907:  http://1.usa.gov/hZInBp  (access date 3/29/2011.)

The physical differences are both stunning and obvious.  Just like UC Berkley, in one hundred years a lot has changed on campuses all over the country.  Has the essence or mission of colleges and universities changed drastically in the last century?  Examine these photos again in terms of your own role at your college or university.

  • In my current position, what would my role to students be in 1911?
  • Do you think your current job would be vastly different in the past then it is now and how?
  • What sorts of interactions would you have with students in the early 1900′s?
  • How do you think students would perceive you one hundred years ago as their leader/mentor?
  • Do you think your mission towards students is different then your current mission? How? Why?

Maybe after some reflection you feel glad that you can happily tweet your staff to invite them to an impromptu cup of coffee for all their hard work or maybe like a colleague of yours in the distant past you put pen-to-paper and draft a glowing letter of thanks for your exceptional staffer. 

Has the mission, developing students and leaders, changed dramatically in one hundred years or is student development the same but the methods different?

___________________________________________________________

The 1907 image of the University of California at Berkley, along with 238 breathtaking panoramic views of colleges in the early 1900′s, are available in the Digital Collections of the Library of Congress (access date 3/29/2011.)  You just might be able to find an image of your school there! (Panoramic Photographs access date 3/29/2011.) You must actually click on college campuses embedded in the paragraph.

Current photos of UC Berkley are available on their website: http://www.berkeley.edu/photos/campus/ (access date 3/29/2011.)

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Posted by mhelfrich98

8 Steps in Administering a Peer Mentoring Program

October 31, 2010
New college students often feel overwhelmed and intimidated, especially at large schools. University-wide mentoring programs are a great way to help students get acclimated to their new environment. A mentor can show freshman and transfer students where their classes are, where to get meals, where to go for academic help, and can help them utilize other resources on campus. However, matching a mentor and protege (as we call new students and transfers) is not a simple or quick process. Here are eight steps our university uses in order to administer and nuture the mentoring relationship:
 
1. Applying to be a mentor:
All of our mentors first turn in an application to the mentoring office. The application asks for some personal information (address, phone number, e-mail, etc.), the mentors major and GPA (a certain GPA is required to be a mentor), their hobbies, the activities they are involved in on campus, and it also asks questions about how often the mentor wants to contact the protege. Many mentors are extremely busy and only have time to help the new students about once a month. That’s fine because the mentors are unpaid volunteers; we can’t force them to do anything. Also, once new students feel comfortable, once a month seems to be sufficient for many of them.
 
2. Requesting a mentor:
While every new student CAN have a mentor, none of them HAVE to have one. In order to have a mentor, the new student needs to fill out a request form, which asks for the same information as the mentor application (with the exception of the students’ GPA). The mentor requesting process occurs either at their orientation or once they get to school in the fall.  
 
3. Matching mentors and proteges:
Throughout the summer, the mentoring directors spend countless hours going through each application in order to match students. They usually match them based on major and school activities. This is because most majors have specific requirements and deadlines that only someone else in the major would be able to help the new students with.  However, some new students have special requests such as gender, race, sexual orientation, hometown, or amount of contact wanted.  
 
4. Starting the mentor/protege relationship:
Once a mentor and protege are matched, the protege’s information is emailed to the mentor. The mentor then contacts the protege (this is usually sometime in July) and asks if they have any questions about placement tests, roommates, living situation, meal plans, etc. From this point until school starts, the mentor usually contacts the protege about once a week. The proteges are nervous and excited and often have tons of questions! From a mentor standpoint, it’s really fun to see how excited the new students are!  In many instances, new students will express their concerns with their mentors. That’s exactly why we’re here for them! They stress about not getting along with a roommate, how to study for their first tests, and just about anything else that may be of concern for them. Mentors are seasoned college students and can guide the proteges to helpful resources.
 
5. Mentoring during the proteges’ first semester:
After about three weeks, the proteges start to find their niche on campus. They have less questions and begin to try to find things out on their own. Mentors usually back off a little bit and let the proteges become independent. However, we still contact the proteges about every 10 – 14 days to see how things are going with classes, roommates, etc. One of the most stressful times of the students’ first semester is scheduling for the spring semester. Mentors are a great resource for that because they have done this multiple times before.
 
6. Mentoring during the proteges’ second semester:
At this point, most of the proteges are on their own and don’t need much help. The mentoring office still sends out weekly emails with helpful campus information and resources. Mentors and Peer Mentoring Coordinators still contact the proteges to see how things are progressing with their classes. Once the school year ends, the mentor is no longer responsible for answering the proteges’ questions. However, most mentors and proteges remain friends throughout their time at college. For most proteges, their mentor was their “first friend,” and they continue their relationship outside of the program. 
 
7. Peer Mentoring Coordinators:
As mentioned previously, the mentoring department has “Peer Mentoring Coordinators.” These individuals are student workers that are responsible for facilitating the relationship between the mentors and proteges. They send out the weekly emails and about every two weeks they contact either the mentor or the protege to get their prospective on the relationship. They ask if the mentor has contacted the protege (to make sure that the relationship has been established), if they have met in person, and if the mentor is helpful. If the mentor and protege give the same report, we assume everything is working out and check in less frequently. If the mentor and protege give conflicting information, we try to work out the issue. If the issue cannot be resolved, we reassign a new mentor for the protege.  
 
8. Role Modeling and Personal Conduct:
As a mentor, it is important to lead by example. In college, new students pay close attention to the actions of older students. It is important to be mindful of your comments as well as your actions. Using profane language or gossiping about people is a bad example to set for new students.  It is also inappropriate to break the law by consuming illegal substances or behaving in an out of control manner. These are all inappropriate behaviors that we do not want to pass on to new students. While we encourage the new students to get involved on campus and do fun things, we also encourage all of the university students to make sound decisions. Good mentors with positive attitudes and behaviors are a vital aspect of university settings.
 
This program is intended for freshmen and transfer students.  It is all about them and what they need to have a successful first year at school. In addition, mentoring is a rewarding activity for older students. Becoming a mentor was important to me so that I could help new students, and I’d encourage you to do the same.
 
Hayley Simpson is from Pittsburgh, PA and is a senior Sport Management major at California University of PA.  She worked in the university’s athletic department for about two years and then decided to work in the mentoring department as a Peer Mentoring Coordinator.  She was also a volunteer mentor for two years.  She is still involved with the athletic department as well as the Sports Management Club. You can follow Hayley on Twitter @Hay2422 or email her at SIM0489@calu.edu.
 

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Posted by studentlifeguru

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