Organizational and Human Resource
According to ACPA and NASPA (2015), the Organizational and Human Resource competency includes a variety of knowledge relating to management of institutional and human capital and other resources. Specifically, this includes the development of managers with skills in areas such as staff “selection, supervision, motivation, formal evaluation” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 24). I have grown in this area throughout many of my positions. Despite this, some of the best examples of this competence come most specifically from my work as a graduate hall director. In this role, I supervised eleven resident advisors and one student desk manager. As such, I have become familiar with effective aspects of supervision.
One area of supervision I have become successful at is “provid[ing] constructive feedback in a timely manner” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 24). In order to track staff performance, I have created an excel document (see link below) in which I note each staff member’s timeliness and success with each of their responsibilities and assigned tasks. By using this document, I am able to remain organized regarding each individual’s ability to manage their role. I am also able to reference my notes inside this document during each of my bi-weekly meetings with student staff. To start these meetings I ask the staff members to reflect on their own performance since we last met, and then I talk about my own observations. Additionally, each staff member and I talk about action steps to improve performance moving forward.
These clear notes have allowed me to not only provide timely feedback but to also “effectively intervene with employees in regard to morale, behavioral expectations, conflict, and performance issues” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 26). For example, I had one resident advisor not complete their intentional interaction submissions for a single week. Following this, I had a conversation about why they were unable to complete the interactions on time. Throughout our conversation we talked about the importance of interactions and set action steps to complete them in the future. Two weeks later, the same resident advisor was still not submitting the interactions. As such, I talked with the staff member again and pursued the job action process. Our conversation included a discussion of our previously outlined and signed expectations as well as the job contract. After this, I constructed a job action letter using a general format from the office (see link below). The letter stated the specific reason for job action as well as the importance of consistently completing all aspects of the resident advisor job. Furthermore, it included a section related to the specific plan of action for future success. In the following weeks I continued to check in with the resident advisor and sent thank you texts when interactions continued to be submitted on time.
In addition to supervision, I have developed competence in the creation of policy and procedure. Specifically, I have crafted new policies and procedures that improve the effectiveness and efficiency of our residence hall operations. One example of this is the conduct communication process I created (see link below). Although we have a standard procedure for notifying students of conduct meetings through our case management system, I noticed that students regularly did not open those letters or attend their appointments. Managing this process with so many no-shows was difficult. As such, I crafted a communication process that included multiple communication types within a specific timeframe.
Once I created the aforementioned procedure, I met with both the full-time hall director and the student desk manager to discuss their roles within this process. Moreover, I asked for feedback and made slight adjustments to the overall document. As we began using this communication process, more students opened their initial letters or were able to be reached through other communication. This allowed the full-time hall director and me to more efficiently and equitably execute the conduct process. Resultantly, I demonstrated the ability to “effectively develop and manage…policies, procedures, processes, and materials” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 25). In addition to this, I was able to “communicate with [students] using effective verbal and non-verbal strategies appropriate to the situation in ways that the[y] prefer” (ACPA & NASPA, 2015, p. 24). Specifically, I was able to determine from previous communications that many residents preferred Outlook calendar invites and face-to-face communication over the emails through which letters were being delivered. In noticing the differing types of communication, I was able to meet the varying communicative needs of our residents.
Such varied experiences related to this competency culminate in what I believe to be an exemplary level of competence. Although the aforementioned examples are only part of this development, they showcase some key elements of management. This strong foundation will allow me to continue refining my current skills and proceed in my growth as a manager in all aspects of higher education and student affairs.
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American College Personnel Association & National Association of Student Personnel Administrators. (2015). Professional competency areas for student affairs practitioners. Washington, DC: Authors. Retrieved from http://www.naspa.org/images/uploads/main/ACPA_NASPA_Professional_Competencies_FINAL.pdf