Six Ways Managers Can Support the Advancing Practice Program

Managerial support is important the success of the Advancing Practice program and workplace learning is increased when managers take an active role in the learning process.

Read more about the Managers Role in Employee Learning and the four major trends that support “learning alliances”. See also Learning, Training & Development - How New Information is Taken In and Processed and Motivate Staff to Continue Developing Their Skills

1

GRANT RELEASE TIME

Grant and plan ahead for release time if possible. In-person workshops are announced several months ahead making it easy to plan for the future. The program is designed to have minimal impact on operations – in most months only 2-3 hours of release time will be needed to participate.

2

ENCOURAGE BROAD AND CONSISTENT PARTICIPATION

Encourage attendance by all advisors at every level and career stage (not just those who are eager for professional development) and encourage consistent involvement and attendance.

3

DISCUSS INDIVIDUAL PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Take time to discuss professional development goals with participating staff members. The Advancing Practice curriculum offers workshops and resource materials in five foundational areas of advising (conceptual, informational, relational, technological and personal knowledge). Use the core competencies statement to help your advisors identify areas where on-going development might be needed. The program is likely to be more meaningful if learning goals are personalized.

See related article on Kolb and Fry’s Learning Process – Reinforce learning through applying it to concreate experience (experiencing)…

4

USE STAFF MEETING TIME ON ADVANCING PRACTICE TOPICS

Supplement in-person workshops by talking about the featured monthly topic in your staff meetings. For example, if stereotype threat is the featured topic, spend some time in staff meetings talking about stereotype threat as it relates to your student population (how it might present in an individual appointment and how to mitigate its impact). Consider circulating a related article for discussion.

See related article on Kolb and Fry’s Learning Process – Reinforce learning by engaging employees in reflective observation (reflecting) and abstract conceptualization (thinking)

5

ENCOURAGE RELATED SPECIAL PROJECTS

The primary goal of the program is to inspire interest in new topics and facilitate the acquisition of new skills and expertise. Encourage your advisors to take on a related special project. For example, if the topic is social media and advising, encourage your staff to develop a new initiative around social media. Advisors may also want to delve deeper into a broad topic by creating a conference presentation on a new interest. Project based learning is powerful learning. Give your advisors the opportunity to become agents in their own learning and development.

See related article on Kolb and Fry’s Learning Process – Reinforce learning by encouraging active experimentation…

6

LOOK FOR WAYS TO FEATURE AND RECOGNIZE INDIVIDUAL AND GROUP PROGRESS

We would like to feature stories of engagement and success in our newsletter and resource materials. If someone on your staff engages in a particularly meaningful way let us know.

Thank you for your support.