Components of an Effective Advocacy Plan

Assessing and Understanding Student Needs

One of the key starting points for creating a successful advocacy plan is to first understand the needs of the students through assessment. Check out the Structuring a Coaching Conversation chapter in this book for some helpful tips on how to kickstart a coaching conversation. This step is crucial because it is during these early conversations that you will get a good grasp on what the student needs. By building rapport and setting the agenda, you can start a collaborative working relationship that will benefit the students you work with.

Of course, things happen throughout the semester, as a coach, you need to be able to adjust and be flexible. The remainder of this topic’s focus will be on utilizing the Support Challenge matrix to help coaches create a roadmap for identifying strategies for academic support. We will also be discussing how and when to tailor challenge strategies to encourage student personal growth and development. This approach will assist coaches in determining which resources are best for supporting students and which ones will challenge them. It is all about finding the right balance to help students succeed.

Strategies for Academic Support

Is Time Management the Answer?

There is no shortage of articles, books, magazines, etc. providing readers with tips and techniques for improving their time management skills. The purpose of this section is to challenge this perspective.

“Time management is an oxymoron.  Time is beyond our control, and the clock keeps ticking regardless of how we lead our lives.  Priority management is the answer to maximizing the time we have.”  – John C. Maxwell

Time is something that we all share the same, it is fixed, it is not something that will wait, and it is not manageable; however, you can control the choices you make when it comes to accomplishing goals, prioritizing those goals, and how efficiently you will complete those goals. When you start to challenge your perspective and view everything through the lens of ‘everything as a choice,’ you may start to realize that the goals you set that are not getting met, are not always from a lack of time, but they are placed on the back burner because we choose one priority over the other.

As a coach, challenge your perspective. Most literature suggests and agrees that the general rule of thumb for college students is that they should be spending an estimated 2-3 hours per credit hour outside of the classroom. That means, if a student is taking a 3-hour course, the high end of the range of outside work required for the class would be 9 hours; thus, a 15-hour course load may require 45 -60 hours of work per week. Let’s put that into perspective when you add that in with the typical ‘8-hour’ sleep recommendation and the assumption of a 1-hour break for 3 meals per day. By just including these basic metrics, we find that students only have 31 hours left in their week; TOTAL! This is a huge task to take on.

Check out the TedEd video by Brian Christian for some great tips on how to help students manage their time by focusing on what’s most important. After that, we’ll dive into setting SMART goals to help add a bit more structure to the perspective of managing priorities rather than trying to manage something that isn’t malleable.

Are These Goals SMART?

Setting SMART goals is an effective start to establishing an effective feedback loop between you and the students you coach. It will allow you to set the stage for the challenges you offer to your students. Finding the right balance between supporting students and challenging them to take steps to achieve their goals comes with time. As is anything else, it’s a process learned best through experience.

Suggestions for Coaches – Time Management and SMART Goals

Let’s be honest with ourselves for a moment; do you think that students are attributing 60 hours per week to their educational endeavors? Just like in your own lives, you juggle priorities and put things on the back burner when they are not imperatively necessary. Many of us function effectively in our professional lives and respond well to surprises or emergencies that may require more time out of our day. Maybe you get a flat tire, or the first ice causes your car not to start. Immediately, you start to adjust your schedule around this additional time demand because you prioritize returning to your level of efficiency.

Your students are no different and navigate similar challenges. For many, this is the first time they are responsible for managing their schedule completely on their own. They are not thinking about how the choice to attend a social event and stay up late will impact their ability to learn the following day, for some, they may miss that opportunity entirely. Successful journeys entail some sacrifice, so sharing personal stories about sacrifices you once made as a student to achieve success may help change the students’ perspective and even your own.

“How do I identify the appropriate resource?”

Identifying the appropriate resource can be a difficult task.  The first step to mastering the time-tested question “Which resource is the appropriate resource?” is to make it your goal to familiarize yourself with the resources, tools, and services that are available to students on your college campus. You certainly don’t need to become an expert on every single office on campus; however, the more familiar you are, the more opportunities you will have to offer to students when road-mapping their advocacy plans. Think about it, if you only knew of half of the services on campus, you might miss the opportunity to share a resource with a student because of your lack of awareness of an office on your college campus.

Strategies for Challenging Your Students

Feedback Loop

In How to Have a Coaching Conversation, you learned how to structure a coaching conversation. One key component discussed is following up with your students. Establishing regular check-ins with your cohort of students is an important tool for having lasting impacts on your student’s overall educational journey. Think about it, you only have 16 weeks in a semester, there is limited time to accomplish academic goals in a single semester. By touching base with your students regularly, you can build rapport and solid relationships with them. Aim for at least four follow-ups each semester.

Utilizing an effective feedback loop is also an excellent tool for coaches to challenge their students. After your first meeting with students, you can challenge students to seek support from services available on campus. It is a great idea to prompt them to reflect on their experiences and let them know you would love to chat about it during your next meeting. Keeping track of your conversations and reflections, as covered in How to Have a Coaching Conversation, will help you recall important points and ensure you follow up on any challenges you set for them.

Your end goal, as a coach, should be to empower your students with the skills they need to tackle the challenges they experience in higher education independently. When your coaching relationship ends, or the semester ends, it should be a springboard for your students to continue using the tools, resources, and services at their disposal as they navigate their path to success in their academic and professional careers. Use your feedback loop to monitor and tailor your strategies to focus on creating a student-centered approach to coaching.

Suggestions for Coaches

It’s time to get your hands dirty and get in there. We can illustrate these scenarios time and time again, but finding your balance between supporting and challenging students when creating an advocacy plan comes with experience. The possibilities are endless on how a coaching conversation might go. Using the tips and tricks we discuss in this entire book will help you navigate what might feel like the ‘unknown,’ but the best way to find your balance is to get your hands dirty and try it out yourself.

References

Maxwell, J. C. (n.d.). Quote about leadership. BrainyQuote. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/john_c_maxwell_600911

Parikh, P. (2022). SMART goal setting. In Fundamentals of success. eCampusOntario. https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/fundamentalsofsuccess/chapter/4-4-smart-goal-setting/

TED-Ed. (2018). How to manage your time more effectively (according to machines) – Brian Christian [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDbdXTMnOmE

Winegeart, K. (2021, June 7). Photo by Karsten Winegeart on unsplash. Black asphalt road in the middle of brown field during daytime photo – Free Ca Image on Unsplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/black-asphalt-road-in-the-middle-of-brown-field-during-daytime-fDnGcw01nJw