Q - As Head Resident of my residence hall, one of my duties is to cover staff recognition/development for the 6 Administrative Advisors and 6 Community Coordinators in my hall (AAs and CCs are the RA position split into two jobs).  I am interested in any creative ideas for staff recognition (staff awards, birthdays, bulletin boards that show achievements, etc.) as well as any good events for staff development.  Any suggestions or resources would be much appreciated.

Residence Life Professional Answers:

This is a practice in humility and being able to admit that you made a mistake. The Bonehead Award works like this:

The award goes to the person who did the most bone-headed thing in the given time period (since the last award was given, the last week, etc.

People who would like to, nominate themselves. People may only  nominate themself. It is always good for a strong laugh. Then everyone votes. The winner gets whatever you have chosen to be the bonehead award and the award gets passed on from winner to winner. You may chose to have each  winner host the awards session the next time it is held.

This has worked very well in keeping us more humble and able to admit that  we screw up occasionally but can laugh about it and learn from it rather than beat ourselves up about it. 

Trey Reckling
Resident Director, Savannah College of Art and Design

    My name is Gregg Stewart and I am a Residence Life Coordinator for the University of Central Oklahoma.  Have  some exciting ideas that you might be interested in.  As far as recognition for RAs I would recommend submitting of the month nominations to the National Residence Halls Association for program and RA of the month awards.  Also through SWACURH and NRHH there are recognition awards.  At OSU we had an end of the year banquet for all the residence halls and each hall had a banquet. The RAs selected a resident assistant of the year. 

As far as staff development we have OSBI (Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation) come and give a great drug awareness and prevention program to our RAs.  Also campus police on self-defense, jurisdiction issues and date-rape on campus are good development programs.  Others of interest are AIDS/STDs, depression/suicide, homesickness and stress/time management.  We do a thing here at UCO called the RA stress free zone.  It gives our staff a chance to be on campus and not be RAs.
    I hope I answered your questions. 

Gregg Stewart
Residence Life Coordinator
University of Central Oklahoma

Hello!

I'm writing in response to your question about recognition for your staff.

One thing that I've done with my staff that they've seemed to enjoy is making clipboards.  We take an ordinary clipboard and decorate it with nice statements or pictures, then decopage' them to the back of the board.  Usually, I'll ask them to write down some nice comments for one another, bring in some glue and magazines, then we cut away.  It helps them get to know one another and recognizes the nice things they do for one another.

I've also asked them to write down nice things and then combined the comments onto a 5x7 piece of paper and framed it.  This way, they'll always be able to look at the frame for nice things that others have said about them.

For general recognition, we do 2 surprise "Appreciation Day" activities per year.  I usually find a student I know really well and can depend upon to get a card signed by each resident.  I also work with the hall government to make signs that we can post on the staff members' doors.  Last year, my hall government actually went door to door and asked for donations to take the staff out to dinner...they raised over $150 and we all went out! ;)  It was great!  I have also in the past posted signs in the lobby with the names of the staff members and voicemailed my hall to ask people to come by and write nice notes to them.

Also...last year we had RHDs sit in the dining hall and offer free candy grams to be delivered to the staff on Appreciation Day.  The staff loved getting the candy grams from their residents and other RAs.

I've also done other things like making a mix tape for the staff that included their favorite songs, as well as made them a memory book (kind of like a year book) from pictures and comments (overheards mostly) that we all loved from training or during the year.

I hope some of these ideas help!  Best of luck as your year gets into full swing!!

Steve Crudup
Resident Director, O'Connor Hall
Dickinson Community
Binghamton University

One thing that I did with my first staff was a game of Staff Jeopardy.  I had them fill out a survey of--favorite food, best birthday, furthest traveled, best vacation place, perfect job, etc. and then set up a three team jeopardy game (I had 9 staff members). We played it in the second half of two staff meetings and they talked about it the week in-between almost incessantly.

Another thing, was I had them vote for RA of the Month and made a certificate that the Director of Residence Life, the Dean of Students and I signed.  The frames were like $2.00 and the certificates basically free--I used Publisher.  It was a great way for them to appreciate each other.

Then we basically did the easy stuff--secret staff, secret santa, etc.  You could also have your hall council sponsor an RA appreciation day--they get a special meal at the cafeteria together , the residents are given cards and or posters to write thank you to their RA's--I actually posted stall
story/bathroom talk pages that read--My RA is the Best because..

These were precious!

Hope these ideas help!

Holly Habicht, Residence Life Coordinator, Ga Tech
 

Residence Life Professional Answers:

Hello from Bowling Green State University!

How to motivate RAs?  That's a question that professional staff struggles with all of the time.  Personally, I try to motivate on a one-on-one basis. I get to know my RAs and do things that will make them happy depending on their likes and dislikes.  I put candy in their boxes, little notes for a job well done, and toys that fit their personalities.

At the beginning of the spring semester, I review the goals and objectives that they had set at the beginning of the fall semester and do a LOT of teambuilding.  I have 11 RAs in 2 buildings, so they like that time to see each other.

Good luck!
Aimee Zimmer
Anderson/Bromfield Residence Hall Director
Bowling Green State University

 

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Residence Life Professional Answers:

You have a tough situation there...but one thing I can suggest is incentive!  One thing that works on our campus is that all programs done throughout the semester are eligible for programming awards that are recognized at each of our end of semester campus-wide staff banquets.  At the end of the year, all programs are also in the running for "Programs of the Year"...and our institution also nominates these programs for ACPA Model Programming Awards.  Our insitution has a history of having many of these programs receiving this distinction...so it's a real incentive.  This tends to make some staff want to earn an award they can put on a resume'...

Also...I have a programming board in the RA Office that indicates which programs my staff have completed throughout the semester and year.  They look at it as an incentive to "fill" their spots on the board and it also adds a little bit of healthy competition, as some want to do better than others.

I meet with my staff individually every other week...and during that meeting, I have them discuss programming ideas with me.  I won't let them turn in a proposal form without having discussed the idea with me prior.  This way, I know what their plans are beforehand...and I can also make sure it has enough quality to merit credit.  This doesn't always work, but I have a relationship with the the where they know that if they don't do enough to merit credit that I won't give them credit.  It is a hard line, but as long as you are consistent and up front...it can work.  Programming is also a big portion of their performance program (contract)...so I have opportunity to say that they need to fulfill this to be renewed.

If all else fails...encourage the staff to assess the interests of their floors and do programming based on that.  It may not be the "high quality" stuff...but at least you'll know that they are meeting the needs of their individual communities.  Programming should be based on the needs of the students...so you can at least rest assured that your staff is meeting this goal.

Best of luck with everything!

Steve Crudup
Resident Director, O'Connor Hall
Dickinson Community
Binghamton University

Hello!  I am a Residence Coordinator at the University of Miami in Miami, FL.  I have been in the field for 8 years and know that supervising student staff can be frustrating when their motivation seems to ebb and flow through the semester.

I do have an idea for you to consider however.  I just did a program on Motivation for our leadership summit this semester.  I hope you can receive attachments *CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD PRESENTATION AS A WORD DOCUMENT*  as I am sending along with this message the handouts from that presentation.  As a matter of fact, this attachment has all the things I used for handouts as well as all of my personal notes that I used to do the program.  It was very well received by the student leaders.  

If you as a supervisor can identify ways to tap into the basic human desires of your staff members, you will ignite the natural motivators inside them and they will produce new and innovative program ideas.  Don't forget that recognition and Thank You's are easy ways to motivate others to achieve and are often the things that we do the LEAST often.   Something that a staff member can hold on to as a recognition piece has longer lasting effects than pizza parties or short term external motivators.  When they can keep reading the thank you or recognizer, they can re-tap that energy that the note generated in the first place. 

Adrienne Otto Frame
Residence Coordinator
Mahoney Residential College
University of Miami

I want to take a moment to brag about my RAs for a moment.  The  month of September my RAs (7 males) completed 13 programs with a total attendance of 681.  That is 52 people per program, that is truly awesome.  Of course the programs covered only one spoke of the wellness wheel-the social spoke.  The RAs now know they have to cover three more of the spokes, and they know I won't accept anything light (movies and such).  One of my RAs just completed a voter registration drive, a political spoke.  He registered over a hundred new voters in a week.  Another is doing program concerning drug and alcohol use during National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week.  He is bringing in sociologist and other experts, this of course covers physical and emotional spokes.  One reason the programming is so successful here is because I help them, I work with them, I don't do their work for them.  I praise their efforts in public, let them get recognized for the impact they are making.  15 pre-programming guides have been turned in for the month of October, it is very awesome to work for RAs that dedicate themselves to making a difference like the way they do.  I don't know what your requirements are, but I might suggest you reiterate those requirements to your RAs in staff meetings or in one-on-one meetings.  Offer advice, ask questions, do they understand what makes a good program?  If you use the wellness wheel maybe go over it again and describe some good positive programs for each spoke.  Hope this was helpful. 

Gregg Stewart
Residence Life Coordinator
University of Central Oklahoma

 

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