Advising and Helping
The Advising and Helping competency area addresses the knowledge, skills, and attitudes related to providing counseling and advising support, direction, feedback, critique, referral, and guidance to individuals and groups. [1]
The first activity that has aided in my achieving a proficient level of competency in advising and helping was advising a sustainability-focused student group at Baldwin-Wallace College during the 2011-2012 academic year. The inception of the group was during August 2011, when a group of resident assistants approached me to help create and advise the group. At the time, I was living in a geothermal residence hall, and had already begun expressing interest in learning more about sustainable practices in higher education. When the students connected with me, they indicated that their primary interest was in founding a student group dedicated to bettering composting options on campus, sustainable initiatives in general, and the establishment of a communal garden. As many of the students were much more highly educated in sustainable practices, my primary role was to provide encouragement and resources to the group, often in the form of support and campus networking. In working with the group, I began to realize the difference in supervising and advising students, a concept I had not previously endeavored to breach.
The second activity that has aided my development in advising and helping has been serving as a Greek House Director to the men of Kappa Sigma on the Bowling Green campus. During my year with the men of Kappa Sigma, my primary roles have been to serve as an advisor, a mentor, and a first-responder to crises in the house. One of the primary lessons I have gained from this experience has been a greater distinction between advising and supervising. The analogy I have taken akin to is that advising and supervising are much like trying to find a cabin in the woods. With students whom I've supervised, I can set clear expectations of the position, typically known as job responsibilities. Because the responsibilities are clearly articulated, students can be evaluated based off of the success in completing those job responsibilities. I liken this to providing the students with a map to the cabin, and expecting students to get to the cabin using the map. As for students whom I advise, I work to set goals and expectations with them, but rather than assessing their progress using performance evaluations, assess their success based off of progress and development. Rather than providing them with a map and having the explicit expectation being that they will make it to the cabin, I provide them directions to the cabin, and allow them to select their own path, using me as a reference along the journey. In practice, this has been working with the chapter president, along with several members in the house and chapter, to move the chapter forward. The chapter I work with currently lacks an image or competitive advantage against the other 16 men's fraternities on campus and has had several risk management issues over the past few years. My role, then, has been to have a series of conversations around values congruence, espoused and enacted values, and promoting the chapter in a positive light using those values. Furthermore, I've had a series of conversations that have revolved around making wise choices individuals, about safe group event planning practices, and how to enact congruent values in ritual and practice.
The second activity that has aided my development in advising and helping has been serving as a Greek House Director to the men of Kappa Sigma on the Bowling Green campus. During my year with the men of Kappa Sigma, my primary roles have been to serve as an advisor, a mentor, and a first-responder to crises in the house. One of the primary lessons I have gained from this experience has been a greater distinction between advising and supervising. The analogy I have taken akin to is that advising and supervising are much like trying to find a cabin in the woods. With students whom I've supervised, I can set clear expectations of the position, typically known as job responsibilities. Because the responsibilities are clearly articulated, students can be evaluated based off of the success in completing those job responsibilities. I liken this to providing the students with a map to the cabin, and expecting students to get to the cabin using the map. As for students whom I advise, I work to set goals and expectations with them, but rather than assessing their progress using performance evaluations, assess their success based off of progress and development. Rather than providing them with a map and having the explicit expectation being that they will make it to the cabin, I provide them directions to the cabin, and allow them to select their own path, using me as a reference along the journey. In practice, this has been working with the chapter president, along with several members in the house and chapter, to move the chapter forward. The chapter I work with currently lacks an image or competitive advantage against the other 16 men's fraternities on campus and has had several risk management issues over the past few years. My role, then, has been to have a series of conversations around values congruence, espoused and enacted values, and promoting the chapter in a positive light using those values. Furthermore, I've had a series of conversations that have revolved around making wise choices individuals, about safe group event planning practices, and how to enact congruent values in ritual and practice.
Basic
One should be able to:
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Intermediate
One should be able to:
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Advanced
One should be able to:
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