The Student Affairs Blog

Yes, I'm a risk manager.

You’ve received the honor, now what do you do with it?

Campus risk managers take different forms on every campus. Some institutions have specific departments that cover the spectrum (threat assessment, event safety, bystander intervention, classroom management, hazing recognition, etc.); others outsource to local attorneys or companies. A few use a combination and select one or two individuals to manage an aspect of the protocols.

Having served in the role in regards to campus activities, here are a few recommendations to help you cover your… uh, assets. (Please adapt them to fit your campus culture and needs.) Please note, I am not an attorney. Using the advice below as legal advice to save you in a situation is not recommended.

1.)    Meet with those in the know – ask your institution to clearly delineate your responsibilities in regards to risk management. (ie. Responsible for walk-thru’s of venues prior to events occurring.)

2.)    Obtain professional insurance. (ACPA recommends Professional Liability Insurance.)

3.)    Attend a work-shop on risk management in student affairs, as it pertains to your job duties. ( NCHERM, NACA, or APCA are great resources.)

4.)    Ask questions (especially if a situation is unclear).

5.)    Be aware of all necessary paperwork (ie. Event participation waivers when traveling off-campus, incident reports, meeting history notes).

6.)    Know that anyone can sue for anything. (It costs less than $50 to file in several states.) If you’ve done your homework and have written documentation, it may be a rough ride during the process but you’ll usually come out on top.

Risk Management Magic

Risk management. Words, much like lawsuit, that can make any professional cringe. Of course, everyone looks at the protocols differently depending on personal experiences. In the end, risk management for me comes down to two choices: the art of illusion or the act of preparation.

When I look at being a campus risk manager for events, I strive to find a bit of excitement in the position as this role is usually one that is loved, hated, but hardly ignored. Enter – Harry Houdini. 

Yes, Houdini was a magician, an escape artist, an entertainer; but he was also a risk manager. The “Challenge of the Mirror” (as noted in The Secret Life of Houdini: The Making of America’s First Superhero) is an example of Houdini in dual roles of risk manager and entertainer. He was challenged by The Daily Illustrated Mirror to escape from handcuffs made by a local blacksmith with a lock that “no mortal man can pick”. The actual escape from the cuffs took over an hour by all accounts and included requests to have his jacket removed (only to have to personally cut it off with his mouth using a pocketed penknife), for a drink of water, and for more comfortable arrangements (he was inside a cabinet). The audience was entertained.

Houdini had already proven to be a master with card tricks and in reacting to situations thrust upon him. Roll in Houdini – Risk Manager. Substantiation exists that the “Challenge of the Mirror” was one performance Houdini minutely planned. He commissioned the handcuffs using his own sketches, worked with the newspaper to issue the challenge, and encouraged local politicians to be in attendance. In effect, he knew the circumstances, the props, and the audience. He sealed his reputation as The Handcuff King.

In the role of campus risk manager, you take steps like Houdini’s – performing your own act of preparation. For an event: you evaluate the venue, the performer’s needs, available staff – ensuring you know your risks. The approved marketing scheme is intentional and appealing to your campus population, ensuring a high attendance and participation. Your institution’s reputation, or that of the sponsoring organization, is revered because the event is successful.

In my experience, institutions that rely on the art of illusion are often those that have dialogues about risk management in stealthily held meetings. The conclusion of the meeting may or may not be disseminated to staff members that have to respond in the situation. Campuses that are growing rapidly also use the art of illusion. For example, if your risk management plan still lists having a “crier” run building to building alerting individuals to an emergency – you fall into this category (Yes, this is in an emergency handbook at one not-to-be-named institution). Conversely, institutions (or departments) that rely on the act of preparation often have a task force to write policies, share information, and ensure all staff know the plan. If you have attended a meeting about quarantining students and entertaining them during an avian flu outbreak, you may fall into this category.

The next time that you receive the honor (or draw the short –straw) of campus risk manager, just remember Houdini –make a comprehensive plan and expect success. 

Faculty Ethics on Facebook - The Collaborative Project

Mark Clague, a faculty member at Michigan State, created a Facebook group titled Faculty Ethics on Facebook. The goal of the group is to collectively define a set of guidelines for faculty members to use when entering into the social networking world.

Here's the current list:

1. Keeping official course activities in official online tools and not on Facebook.

2. Never requiring students to participate in Facebook or having Facebook participation influence a course grade. (An exception is for class projects that might use Facebook for research purposes [such as a statistical analysis of how Facebook groups grow and fade] and make their connection to a course explicit.)

3. Not friending students unless they request the connection. Not poking students. Never pressuring students to friend the professor (such as repeated mention of a faculty profile in class).

4. Accepting friend requests from all students (unless the instructor makes the decision not to friend students at all).

5. Not looking at student profiles unless the faculty member has been friended by the student and even then using Facebook information judiciously and for educational purposes. In short, not spying on students, but getting to know them better when invited to do so.

6. Faculty members should avoid association with Facebook groups with explicit sexual content or views that might offend or compromise the student / teacher relationship. This guideline must be applied sensitively within the context of a diverse educational environment in which both students and faculty practice tolerance and accept competing views.

7. Taking extreme care with privacy settings and faculty profile content to limit profiles to information relevant to educational purposes. A broad variety of information may be appropriate, however, given the area of expertise / subject, the local customs of an instructor's school, and the personal dynamics of his or her classroom. Content should be placed thoughtfully and periodically reconsidered to maintain this educational standard.

8. Exercising appropriate discretion when using Facebook for personal communications (with friends, colleagues, other students, etc.) with the knowledge that faculty behavior on Facebook may be used as a model by our students.

9. Never misrepresenting oneself by using a false name or persona on Facebook, unless that characterization is connected explicitly with the real identity of the instructor.

10. Considering that the uneven power dynamics of the academy in which professors have authority over students, continue to shape the online relationship, even when the network tool (such as Facebook) is apparently democratic.

11. Keeping wall posts and other Facebook communication in concord with standard ethical practices of the educational relationship.

12. Never posting official course communication (feedback on an assignment, for example) in a public area of Facebook. Feedback might be given through private Facebook messaging when the student has asked a question via Facebook or a previous friend connection exists.

I previously posted a similar set of guidelines and think the two compliment each other well. What do you think about the guidelines? Would they work for you? If you were to add or change a point, what would it be? Join the discussion on this collaborative list and share your two cents.

Bias Incident Reporting Systems

After reading an article about Bias Incident Reporting at The College of William & Mary, I am not sure what is a fair, safe, legal system to implement. The goal of W&M's system is “to assist members of the William and Mary community—students, staff, and faculty—in bringing bias incidents to the College’s attention.” In theory it sounds like a good program. They initially allowed for anonymous reporting. But that lead to an outcry from not only within the school, but from outside groups. The pressure was so great that W&M revised the system, but it's still not perfect.

Problems still remain—for one thing, the website states that “If you are uncertain whether an occurrence meets the bias incident definition, please report the occurrence.” Even with the new, constitutional definition of a “bias incident,” this statement opens the door for abuse. Moreover, although anonymous reporting is no longer allowed, it is unclear whether someone accused of a “bias incident” has a right to know his or her accuser’s identity—and the right to confront one’s accuser is an essential aspect of due process.

Other schools have similar systems such as The University of Virginia and Oregon State University. Most include reporting via email, paper, phone, or in person but all are still torn as to the level of privacy given to both the reporter and the accused. I wonder what the level of abuse is for anonymous systems or is the reaction unfounded and exaggerated? I can't find any data saying the systems are abused or not abused.

How to Prepare your Campus for a Crisis

Karine Joly of Collegewebeditor.com  wrote a short blog with five steps for preparing your campus for an crisis. Here is a repost of the five tips:

 

1. Make sure the chief communication officer of your institution is part of your emergency team.
2. Include in your crisis plan your institution response to different possible scenarios. Define the type of communication channels to be use for the different situations and prepare the notification templates for each. In case of a crisis, you’ll be able to update and send these templates in minutes.
3. Practice, practice, practice. Train your emergency team to assess, evaluate and make decisions. Review and edit your crisis plan with what you learn from your drills.
4. If a crisis happens, send your alert notifications via several communication channels (phone, cell phone, email, text-messages, loud speaker, PA systems, etc.) and post the notification on the homepage of your website.
5. Use your website as the main hub for your communications with your campus community, parents, media representatives and the rest of the world throughout and after the crisis.

 

My 2 cents on this would be what about also having a Facebook app that flashes red when an emergency at your school is announced? 

Follow Up to - Woman Sues University Over MySpace Controversy

Kevin Guidry, the author of MistakenGoal which is a wonderful blog about the crossroads of Technology and Student Affairs, shared this PDF. It's a response from the high school where Stacy worked. Here's the full reprinting:

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Woman Sues University Over MySpace Controversy

Stacy Snyder, a former student, is suing Millersville University for $75,000 for denying her a teaching degree after the university found a picture of her drinking when she was underage on her Myspace page.

The day before her graduation, the university informed her of their decision and while the rest of her classmates received their teaching certificates, Stacy was denied. The university claimed she was promoting underage drinking by posting the picture on her Myspace page.

While a precedent isn't set yet on this issue, With the limited information I read about the case, I think Stacy is right to sue and I think Millersville had a knee jerk reaction as is oh so common with a lack of understanding among universities. Stacy was stupid for posting the picture and it's not clear if the university confronted her about it before going right to such a harsh discipline.

To pull a learning for the story, We need a bigger push to have year long training on proper internet use, including social networking sties, just as we have training on alcoholism, diversity and job placement. This is not the first or the last time this will happen. Universities should be more proactive in this training rather than wait until an issue occurs and then react.

Student Activities is on the front lines of this issue as they are embedded with the students and will usually be the first ones to hear about something and the first ones asked to do something about it.

Cornell University Moves Event Planning to the Web

Posted By: Tom Krieglstein, Swift Kick

The web is filled with articles related to Student Life. The hardest part is finding the content. Here is an article I stumbled on from a company called United Educators,which provides liability insurance and risk   management services to universities. While normally too much lawyer talks scares me, this one is interesting because they are using the internet to make risk management more...well...manageable.

Cornell University, in partnership with United Educators, has developed a new, high-tech   solution to the dilemma of how to make campus events safer.   The Ithaca, NY institution has harnessed the speed and   convenience of the World Wide Web to connect campus groups   that organize events with the administrators who must   approve each activity.

Cornell's "On-line Event Planning and Risk Management   System," created using FileMaker Pro 4.0 for Macintosh OS,   the leading database software and Home Page 3.0, a web   authoring tool both from FileMaker, Inc. enables university   officials to identify all the factors that can create   event-planning risk, says Allen Bova, the university's   director of risk management. He says the system helps alert   administrators to a host of problems - everything from   potentially overcrowded dance halls, gridlocked parking   lots, and noise violations, to the threat of food-borne   illness, the possibility of underage drinking, and the need   for emergency medical technicians at club rugby matches.

The system, made possible in part by funding from United   Educators' General Liability Grant Program, has made   Cornell's campus a safer place. "Since we put the system   online, we've seen about a 20 percent increase in event   planners and campus groups giving advance notice of their   events" says Bova. "The result has been faster, more   complete, and more comprehensive decision making on campus   event-planning issues," he says. "We have found that we can   better assess the impact and the risks of special   events."

The on-line system also makes campus events more   successful by prompting student groups to think carefully   about how they plan and run their events.

The Old Way, the Slow Way

Event planning can be especially difficult at a large   institution such as Cornell. With a student body numbering   over 19,000, the university hosted more than 1,000 events   during the 1997-98 academic year. The On-Line Event Planning   and Risk Management System has been bringing order to that   potential chaos since September, 1998.

The system computerizes what used to be a paper- and   time-intensive process. The new system - essentially a   series of interactive Web pages - works because everyone on   Cornell's campus has access to e-mail and the World Wide   Web. The entire process "lives" on a computer in the Student   Activities Office, but anyone can access the system via the   Web.

I would add here that using just the world wide web and e-mail is a bit outdated at this point. Communication channels are evolving all the time and this system would be wise to keep up.

It's a far cry from the old days. Since the early 1990s,   Cornell has required officially registered student   organizations to fill out a lengthy form for each campus   event they sponsor. But the number of student organizations   has grown dramatically in recent years, increasing from 450   to more than 580 between 1996 and 1998 alone. Those groups   now sponsor dozens of activities each week, including   meetings of student clubs and support groups, academic   gatherings, cultural events such as dance recitals and   concerts, and athletic events.

"Along with the increase in student organizations came an   increase in the number of events taking place on campus,"   says Joseph Scaffido, the assistant director of student   activities who was instrumental in developing the program.   "As more and more events were registered using campus   facilities, the ability to keep track of events became much   more difficult."

Creating a Campus-Wide Resource

Before the on-line system existed, the event planning and   approval process required plenty of time, endless patience,   and sometimes, comfortable shoes.

In my days as a student leader, the registration process to host an event was extremly intimidatating. There were pages of instructions on what fors to fill out and who needed to sign off on it

Event planners had to complete an official form and then   gather as many as 10 approval signatures from administrators   throughout the university. "After completing the form, they   would meet with a representative from the Student Activities   Office, who would indicate various university officials who   the event planner would have to notify," Scaffido says.   Trekking from office to office, "the event planner would   then meet with and get signatures from the approvers. This   was a tedious and sometimes frustrating process and could   take weeks to complete."

The On-Line Event Planning and Risk Management System   changed all that. Now that it is up and running:

• Event planners can register the details of their    proposed event without having to submit paperwork.
• Student Activities Office staff use e-mail to notify    all administrators who need to review the event    information.
• University officials can grant approval or submit    comments and questions on-line, without having to sign    papers or return phone calls.
• Administrators have the ability to conveniently    search for and review all scheduled events that need    their approval.
• In most cases, event planners can have their    activities approved in less than one working day.

Streamlining the Process

The on-line system has made event planning faster, more   convenient, and more efficient. At one time, a member of the   Student Activities Office staff was dedicated full-time to   collecting event forms, inputting the information into a   database, and serving as the primary campus contact for   event planning matters.

In contrast, the new system requires only a few hours a   week for routine record keeping. Events are still approved   by a team of campus administrators, but they now handle most   event planning issues by routine e-mail, not   hard-to-schedule meetings or rounds of telephone tag.

Most event approvals happen entirely electronically.   Event planners go to a special Student Activities Web page   and choose between two on-line forms: one for events where   alcoholic beverages will be served and another for "dry"   events. They fill in the blanks, providing all logistical   information, and then click on a "submit" button. That   automatically sends the information to Student Activities,   where a staff member reviews the form and then sends it   electronically to the various departments that need to give   their approval.

At the same time, the system sends an e-mail message to   the event planner stating that the approval process has   begun and providing a password that enables access to a Web   page reporting on the status of their event.

These departments typically need to approve events:

• Student Activities has overall responsibility    for coordinating on-campus events.
• Athletic Facilities approves events taking    place on athletic fields, in gyms, or at other buildings    and areas that the athletic department is responsible    for.
• Community Relations/Sales makes sure the    Cornell name and logo are used properly and oversees    events where merchandise of any kind is sold or given    away.
• Cornell Police track where and when events are    taking place for campus security, traffic control, and    occasional crowd control purposes.
• Risk Management and Insurance evaluates the    liability factors an event may present.
• Transportation Services considers events'    traffic, transit, and parking implications.
• Environmental Health and Safety must approve    events that involve an array of vital campus services,    enforcing building occupancy limits and providing    emergency medical response and fire prevention    services.

Administrators in each appropriate office receive an   e-mail with a link to a unique Web address where they can   find the event's approval form. They can then look at the   information that applies to their departments and either   approve it or not.

The system lets them ask questions or add comments, which   are sent automatically by e-mail to the event planner. A   club rugby tournament this fall illustrates the importance   of this feature. Although all necessary administrators   approved the event, several took the opportunity to advise   the organizer of key considerations. Risk Management and   Insurance noted that players needed to sign and file waivers   before participating. Environmental Health and Safety   reminded the organizer to make sure the campus emergency   medical services staff knew about the event. Once all   administrators have signed off and all comments or questions   have been addressed, an email message is automatically sent   to the planner stating that the event has received final   approval, and can go forward. Only if issues remain   unresolved will the event planner be invited to meet with   administrators to iron out details.

Bova says the Risk Management and Insurance Department   has ultimate authority to approve or disapprove an event. "I   consider our department the final check," he says. "If one   of the event planning team members isn't happy, then I'm not   happy."

Effects on Campus Operations

Once approved, the event information becomes a tool for   campus departments to use to plan their work and minimize   risk.

"The Cornell Police post all events that come through the   system so officers know all the details of the events that   are supposed to be taking place on their shift," Bova notes.   "If they come upon an event that wasn't listed, they can and   do shut it down." Campus police use event information to   help coordinate security when student groups invite   dignitaries to speak.

Environmental Health and Safety staff refer to the   approval information to issue burning permits for bonfires.   Food service staff check to make sure that caterers comply   with health and safety regulations.

The on-line system is not foolproof, Bova cautions.   Students, for example, can sometimes fail to tell the whole   truth about their events, just as they could before. A   student play produced last fall illustrates the problem.   "They had flash pots on stage to create explosion effects,"   Bova explains. "Well, they never told anyone about that   little detail or included it on the form. And of course,   some stage props caught fire during the performance.   Fortunately, they did have fire extinguishers, and no one   was injured, but the fact that they never told anyone about   this risk is cause for concern."

In the wake of that incident, Cornell officials have   begun conducting on-site inspections of student theater   sets. The university is also drawing up safety guidelines   that student troupes will have to follow.

Bova remains enthusiastic about the on-line system's   value as a planning tool. "It keeps all the members of our   event planning team on the same page, and helps us   anticipate and prevent problems and increase safety," he   says. That doesn't mean Cornell administrators are content   to rest on their laurels. For example, they made several   software upgrades within a month of rolling out the system   last fall.

Bova also believes there is room for improvement in who   must use the on-line system. Right now, only registered   student organizations are required to use it. Academic   departments and individual schools within the university can   and do opt out, sometimes with worrisome results.

"A number of Cornell units aren't using the system now,   and we want to encourage them to do so," Bova says. "One   school was the site of a wedding recently, but they did not   enter the event into the system. One of the caterer's   employees had a slip-and-fall accident, which raised   potential liability issues that my office, of course, was   concerned about." They have since agreed to begin using the   on-line event planning system. "I called the chief business   officer, who talked to the dean of the school. Between them,   they decided to get on the team," he says.

As more segments of the campus community begin to use the   on-line system, Bova envisions it becoming an even more   valuable resource.

Advice for Other Schools

Other institutions can learn from Cornell's experience.   Bova offers three tips, whether a school seeks to   computerize an existing event planning and risk management   system or start one from scratch:

1. Get everyone involved. "Approach event planning as a    team effort," Bova counsels. "Risk management cannot do    it alone." He credits the success of Cornell's on-line    event planning system to the participation of    administrative departments from throughout the    institution.    
2. Anticipate resistance. "Be prepared for people to    complain that the process is too time-consuming or too    bureaucratic," Bova says. Managing risks through    systematic event planning is difficult, but it is easier    to plan ahead than deal with the adverse consequences of    a mishap that could have been prevented. "You have to be    able to communicate the benefits of systematizing the    event-planning process to get other departments to join    in the effort," he says.    
3. Be positive. Bova says it is easy but wrong to    approach event planning in a negative way. "Go into it    with the idea that you want to approve every event," he    says. "You are there to help the university community    safely host events that support its educational mission."    The On-Line Event Planning and Risk Management System has    "helped us be a resource to event planners, not a    hindrance," Bova says. "We've approached this conversion    very positively and proactively. That's the whole idea    behind our effort."

For More Information

For more information about Cornell's On-Line Event   Planning and Risk Management System, contact Joe Scaffido,   Assistant Director of Student Activities at jss44@cornell.edu,   or Allen Bova, Director of Risk Management and Insurance at   ajb4@cornell.edu. To   view the web site, go to http://www.activities.cornell.edu/EventReg

                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Everyone's Talking: Emergency Text Messaging (Part 1)

The Virginia Tech shootings were a huge tragedy.

Like many tragedies, afterwards, many tried to put together cause and effect in a way that 1) makes the extraordinary understandable (justifying blame) and 2) can prescribe the necessary preventative so that it doesn't happen again.

The fear of blame leads to focus, focus leads to plans, and plans lead to money.

The process is normal and irrational. This type of tragedy is overwhelming and emotionally powerful precisely because it is rare.

It doesn't make sense to prioritize our spending on the rare and sensational over the commonplace and more statistically dangerous, but we do it any way. We waste tremendous amounts of time and money worrying about terrorism when we should worry about driving and heart disease.

With the help of the news, and "security consultants", schools are under "pressure" to do something to prevent another Virginia Tech.

The "low hanging fruit" in the conversation seems to have gelled into "emergency text messaging." The thinking, mostly by the media, goes - if only Virginia Tech could have warned everyone, lives would have been saved.

I'm starting here in a post about text messaging because it seems like schools are right in the middle of the reaction phase. "We have to get something . . . "

And the companies in the space are doing everything they can to attach their solutions to the irrational fear to close the sale. This is one of the more egregious examples from the home page of e2campus:

Just pay one dollar per student and "prevent another tragedy". If only it were that simple. Of course it is not.

This may or may not be a conversation that you as a student affairs professional are involved in. Perhaps it's conversation in IT and security.

Communication, emergency or otherwise, should be a conversation that student affairs professionals get involved in - because communication and engagement go hand in hand. For every day of emergency, thousands and thousands of regular days with programming, learning, and community building will take place.

If student affairs can get in on the conversation, perhaps the money can go to a solution that actually works for the thousands of days, instead of trying to cover for the highly unlikely. Maybe the money can go towards a little more proactive instead of just reactive.

I'll post a part 2 with a roundup of some of the available solutions to help with the conversation.

Building a High Powered Program Board, Part Two

Posted by: Del Suggs - Saltwatermusic.com

Last month I discussed organizational matters (officers, titles, responsibilities, and membership) to improve efficiency, performance, and diversity.   I also covered office hours, and the need for structure to improve your program board.  Even if your board is functioning well, there is nearly always room for improvement. 

In this column, I’ll deal with time management tools, and conflict resolution.  Perhaps you’ll get some ideas here that you can use to take your board to the next level.  It’s all part of building a High-Powered Program Board.

 

Time Management Tools

There never seems to be enough time to do everything.  And yet, some folks get much more work done than others.  A lot of productive people use good time management tools.  Such tools enable you to do more work in less time, and assist you in doing a better job.  While it’s important to work quickly, it’s even more important to do the best job you can.

First of all, have a good scheduling system.  It doesn’t matter if you use a Blackberry or another PDA, a Day Planner, a plain old calendar, or a pad of sticky notes.  What does matter is that it work for you, and that tasks don’t go uncompleted or forgotten.

Everything you do in programming, from scheduling events to promotion to election of members, has a deadline and a timeline.  A deadline, of course, is when something needs to be completed.  A timeline is a list of actions that must be completed-- and when they must be complete-- in order to meet the deadline.   

 

Timelines Matter

Create a timeline for your events by listing everything that needs to be done, starting at the end.  Do it like a David Letterman “Top Ten List.” 

Let’s use my concert for an example.  Take a page and have two vertical columns labeled “Date” and “Action.”  List the concert as the at the bottom of the page:  “Del Suggs Concert.”  Then list the date of the event to the “Date” side:  let’s say “February 14.” Above concert write:  “put up posters, and start publicity blitz.”  Since you want to do that a week before the show, count back seven days, and write “February 7” in the date column.  Say the campus newspaper comes out on the first of the month.  Write “Newspaper story” as an action.  Then find out the deadline for that issue of the paper-- it may be five to seven days before publication.  When your find out, fill in that date: “January 21.”

When you’ve finished this action and date list, you’ll have a timeline for everything that needs to be done for the event.  Try this for your programs.  It’s like an old school “To Do List” only with the deadlines for each item.  It’s a great way to both break down the big event into smaller tasks, and to make sure that the tasks are completed at the proper time.

 

Using a Form

Schedules and forms are excellent ways to manage the myriad of tasks involved in activities programming.  I’ve drafted a “Campus Event Form” and posted it at my website for your use.  Go to www.SaltwaterMusic.com, and click on the “Ed Resources” link in the menu bar.  Near the bottom of the page is the form (it is a PDF, so you’ll view it with Adobe Acrobat Reader).

This form covers most of the steps involved in presenting an event on campus.  Each item (such as “Request Contracts” or “Reserve Venue”) has a line for you to date and initial upon completion.  The idea is to have a list of everything that needs to be done, and to keep a record of when it gets done.  Feel free to change it in any way to fit your own program board needs.  I really believe you’ll find it helpful.

You can always create your own forms, too, for completing frequent yet complex tasks. For example, I have a personal form I created for tracking every single concert or lecture I present.  At the top, I have blanks for the school, date, showtime, topic, and all those little details about the actual event.  Then I have a date and checklist of business matters, such as “Contracts Sent,” “Contracts Returned,” “Promotional Material Sent,” and more.  At the bottom is pertinent information such as “Accommodations,” “Directions to Campus,” and a general “Remarks.”  I even have a blank for “Thanks to:” that I complete immediately after the show, so I don’t forget the people who helped me out when I was visiting your campus. 

 

All That?

Do I have to have a form for all of this?  Probably not, because after more than 750 college appearances I know what needs to be done.  But you and your student programmers probably don’t have that depth of experience.  In fact, some of your board members won’t even know everything that must be done, much less when it should be done.  That’s why a form can be so helpful.

And, it makes things simple because I can look at the form and see exactly when I send posters to a campus, rather than having to go to my computer database and search.  I generally apply Occam’s Razor to my use of technology.  In Latin, “entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem,” which translates to “entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity.”  To paraphrase-- simpler is better!

 

Resolving Conflicts

Let’s look briefly at conflict resolution.  Every program board has conflicts and disagreements between members.  Why are there conflicts?  Let me give you five quick causes of conflict:

 

• Interdependence:  Every member of the board depends on other members for help and support.
• Differences of Values, Goals, or Beliefs: Board members can be diverse, and have widely varying assumptions of worth, what is important, and even basic ideas.
• Stress: Program board members have an important job to do in producing major events on campus. Sometimes they actually have to take exams and write papers, too!
• Scarce Resources: Imagine a program board meeting when the homecoming budget just got slashed after the planning was completed. Who gets their event cut?
• Uncertainty:  Not knowing the outcome of an issue, problem, or concern.

It can be difficult to resolve conflicts.  One reason is the concept of winning and losing.  If you feel strongly about something, then stepping back from that conviction might make you feel like you lost the conflict.  Nobody likes to lose.

Another reason is sometimes referred to as “zero-sum.”  That’s like a balanced budget, where in order have one thing you have to eliminate something else.  So, in order for the conflict to be resolved, some one has to give up something.

The last reason conflicts can difficult to resolve can be the famous divorce term: “irreconcilable differences.”  Some times the sides just can’t be resolved.  In that case, you have to agree to disagree and move on.  But when that happens, you can count on conflict recurring.

 

Conflict Management and Strategies

Here are some ways to handle conflict.  See which strategy works best for you and your program board.

 

• Competition: Essentially, having each side compete against each other. You might see this as a discussion and vote on the matter.
• Accommodation:  This means finding a way to have both sides win.  It can be tough to do.
• Compromise:  Basically, each side gets part of what they want, while giving up something they want, like a negotiation.
• Collaboration: Having both sides work together, and come up with a mutually agreeable outcome. This can be the ultimate team building experience.
• Avoidance:  Just ignore the conflict.  This is a bad choice, because it won’t go away by itself.

Negotiation to Resolution

If you are faced with a dispute among your board members, you may need to take action. Here are some important things to keep in mind when your resolving conflicts.

First, prepare for the negotiation.  Just because you will be the mediator doesn’t mean you can enter the negotiation without adequate preparation.  Learn as much as you can about the issue, what is involved, and who is involved.  It’s important to be ready when you face the two sides.

Second, focus on the process.  You do this by keeping the people separate from the problem.  If it’s a budget matter, that means looking at the budget process and the outcome of that process, not “Brandi wants this much money, and Billy wants this much.” Try to take the people-- and the personalities-- out of the problem.

Third, deal with the actual issue or interest, not the position.  That means look at the Big Picture.  for example, it’s less important what program each of the opposing sides wants to present than it is to consider whether  the entire event matters.

Ultimately, you want to seek a balanced solution.  You may have to pick one side as the winner on occasion.  You may find a way to have both sides win sometimes.  But true long-term conflict resolution involves compromise and collaboration.  The sense that you are fair to both parties in resolving the conflict will go far in reducing future problems on your board.  Plus, it’s the right thing to do.

Next time I’ll deal with some exciting concepts called Branding and Marketing. In the meantime, if you have any questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you.  Just drop me an email, and I’ll get back to you.