The Human and Organizational Resources competency is incredibly relevant to my profession as I reflect on my past and present experiences working in different focus areas in student affairs. Working in disability support services in the past and present, it quickly became obvious I must become aware of the politics of this organizational discourse, along with the selection, supervision, and motivation of staff I am responsible for hiring. As I transitioned back into Residence Life and Housing after a two-year hiatus, I heavily utilize this frame for matters of conflict resolution and mediation. As I gain my footing as a new professional, I’m becoming hyper aware of the importance of harnessing relationships with my professional network, regardless of the focus area.

 

Because of the nature of my past position as note taking coordinator at Framingham State University, I was directly involved in the appropriate hiring techniques of student staff, along with supervision of these 50+ students. I made quick and educated decisions, deciding to hire a student to deliver essential notes anonymously to another student with a physical or cognitive disability; here, I worked swiftly and efficiently to describe the hiring process and procedure, succinctly conveyed my expectations for this student’s role, and followed up accordingly to ensure the adequate services were being provided. Utilizing Reynolds (2009) texts on supervision has taught me confidence in the role as a supervisor. While I still strive for harmonious relationships, I also strive for working with students in a way that conveys set expectations and standards of our office and institution. 

 

The delivery of services both inside and outside the disability services realm is expedited when recognizing the importance of networks in the workplace. Simply put, holding and maintaining these relationships with friends and allies makes achieving your goal easier and more efficient (Bolman & Deal, 2013). In the MAP-Works office, the delivery of our services would have been virtually halted if we did not have an established relationship with other offices. During course registration time for all Salem State undergraduate students, we collaborated with key offices such as the Registrar, Financial Aid, Student Accounts, and Health Services and worked with students who have not registered for courses just yet, or had a hold on their account. In early 2015, my team and I called over 700 students who had not registered for courses for Fall 2015 semester. We collaborated with the Student Navigation Center to set up 30-minute appointments for students to discuss removing any and all holds from their accounts. We also helped supervise 6-10 volunteer students who assisted us with making these calls. Had it not been for this established rapport with other institutional offices, many students may have remained unregistered for courses for the Fall 2015 semester; we used our network to make things happen and the results were impactful! 

 

It truly pays to identify relevant relationships in an institution’s political system when working to complete a task (Bolman & Deal, 2013). When working at Framingham State, I often relied upon faculty to supply me with names of students who may have been a good fit for the note taking position, and I greatly valued the input of a faculty member who was invested in assisting me in delivering these crucial accommodations. In addition, many professors were keenly interested and ambitious to involve themselves in the student’s accommodation delivery process; I was frequently contacted by faculty who followed up to ensure a proper note taker has been hired to assist the student with a disability. I maintained this rapport and further developed relationships by taking our interaction outside of email. I often visited a faculty member during their office hours if I had a question or request. This helped me develop a more personal working relationship with them and conveyed to all that I was willing to take time out of my day to develop beneficial relationships. It is truly a win-win-win when students are able to accomplish their own academic endeavors, faculty are able to engage the students and prove they care about their academic success, and  support staff members can work efficiently and collaboratively to assist as necessary. This, in part, led to my nomination and win as Framingham State's Support Staff Member of the Year award, earned for my work throughout the Fall 2014/Spring 2015 semester. 

 

Making the transition back into Residence Life and Housing at Wentworth Institute of Technology has been much simpler than I imagined, due in part to my human resource leadership tendency (Bolman & Deal, 2013). Here, there is certainly congruence between my relationship-oriented mentality and that of the institution. At Wentworth, I have worked hard to emphasize the importance of our students and student leaders through extensive planning for our Resident Assistant (RA) training, held annually. I have also strived to develop a positive relationship and a "good fit" with my colleagues. In an environment where collaboration and mutually-beneficial relationships are a must, I work to balance engaging with my colleagues on a professional and personal basis. Additionally, I often address any conflict or discrepancies head-on and directly; this led my colleagues to ask me and my supervisor to lead a session on mediation and conflict resolution during our RA training in August 2015. We formatted this presentation to fit with Wentworth's RA training theme called "Building Your Lego-cy", a reference to building blocks, Legos, and leaving positive legacies. Attached you will find this presentation made to 49 RAs and 8 professional staff members on navigating those tricky conflicts that often arise in an institutional setting. 

 

Finally, I take great pride in my collaboration with fellow divisional professionals with Wentworth's Centralized Student Leadership Selection (CSLS) process. Here, we implemented strategies and protocols while making decisions regarding how we were going to recruit next year's student leaders (ACPA & NASPA, 2010). As one can imagine, planning a group process for over 100 potential student leaders can be hectic; with this comes space planning (see attached artifact), and effective assessment after the fact. With our post-group process evaluation (Link HERE), I worked to ensure the messages conveyed during the training (to both students and professionals assisting) were congruent with our desired outcome, which aligns with ACPA & NASPA's intermediate outcomes for professionals (2010). I received some very helpful feedback in regards to space usage, incorporation of themes and learning outcomes in activities, and time allotment for each activity. This feedback will be useful for next year's team that collaborate and play a major role in selecting the future of Wentworth student leaders!