Subject: Promoting a climate of cooperation and motivation for your staff, especially with the onslaught of the new semester's registration/first week of classes. (January 2005)

(The Commission Chair is grateful to these individuals for sharing their tips so quickly. She has taken some liberty in editing the original submissions for length and ease of readability.) 

• As you head into the registration period or other predictably hectic and frustrating times, remind yourself and staff that the time will be hectic and frustrating and that pulling together and supporting each other will help it go better.
  

  Contributor - Paul Hesterman, Director of Advising, College of Management and Academic Standing Coordinator, Provost's Office, Metropolitan State University, Paul.Hesterman@metrostate.edu

• Exceptionally busy times don't just "happen". In higher education cycles we can predictably name these times. Thus, it behooves us administrators to prepare ourselves and our staffs for these times. When I was actively engaged in a busy advising center, about three weeks before the busy cycle hits, I started talking with my staff members about how busy it will be and remind them that "this too shall pass". I also delayed any report deadlines or other pressing matters until after the rush subsided. This allowed my advisors to focus entirely on the students and not worry about the other parts of their jobs. I encouraged advisors to bring in snacks to share each day and I sprung for the drinks. And, of course, maintaining a sense of humor throughout is paramount to getting through the stress of the crunch times! 

  Contributor - Linda Chalmers, Executive Director, Transitional Student Advisement Services, University of Texas-San Antonio; Linda.Chalmers@utsa.edu

• .During the busiest times in the advising/registration cycle, we have a designated "Mom/Dad of the Day."  (We circulated an "optional" sign-up sheet a couple of weeks in advance of the busiest time, and people signed up for specific days as they wished.) On the day that a particular advising staff is "Mom" (or "Dad"), he/she adopts the role as he/she chooses -- perhaps bringing some kind of treats, writing encouraging notes and leaving them taped to the computers, or around midday reminding people to take their lunch breaks or bringing people water, coffee, etc.  The designated "Mom or Dad" takes it upon him/herself to be the motivator/listener/cheerleader for the day. 

We had fun saying, "Thanks, Mom or Dad!" to each other, and it did seem to lift spirits and remind us that we are all pulling together at these busiest times when it seems like we'll never catch up with the demand for our help.  Some of us still have some of our more memorable "Momly" notes in our desk drawers where we can read them when we need them.  It is a fun way to lighten up the workplace at the busiest times, weeks when we see hundreds of students, deliver many group advising sessions, and generally battle exhaustion.

Contributor — Sara Martin, Director of Advising, Clark College, Vancouver, WA; Smartin@clark.edu 

• The first week of class here is the week of drop/add where students are required to meet with an academic advisor in order to change class schedules. I make appointment sheets for each advisor with slots open every twenty minutes. Appointments begin a half hour after the office opens. There is no space on the appointment sheet for the lunch break, for which I allot an hour and a half. I used to leave space and write in "lunch" but students would squeeze their names in over and around that. Now, the appointment slots jump from 12:00 to 1:30 . The half hour in the morning and the 1 ½ hours at lunch ensure that advisors get the opportunity to check their voice mail or email or take care of any other urgent matter that there simply isn't time to during student appointments, and to refuel at lunch.

The institution changed the drop/add day to be after the first class day where before it coincided with it and students were milling about in droves and waiting in the office to be worked into the schedule. It made a huge difference! We found that by delaying the process by one day, students had time to 'live with' their class schedules, not expect immediate gratification, and it cut down on the number of our appointments!

We devote one advisor to seeing graduating seniors only on the first day of drop/add.

Contributor: Remi Stewart, Assistant Dean, Atlanta College of Art, Atlanta, GA; remi.stewart@woodruffcenter.org

• St. Patrick's Day falls the week before we begin multi-term registration on our campus. To help ease the pressure working up to registration when all advisors are running full out, I have given everyone in the office; advisors, staff, and peer advisors a shamrock with a unique number on Monday morning. Each day we pull a number and the person pulls a treasure from the Leprechaun's bag of treasure. They have the shamrock for luck and enjoy the small gifts pulled from the bag, it always bring a smile and breaks up a busy day.

Contributor: Helen Y. Hill, Ed.D., Director, Undergraduate Student Services,College of Business Administration, University of Central Florida; hhill@bus.ucf.edu