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Student Employee Lessons Learned

Developing Self-Authorship Through Synergistic Supervision

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Learning Outcomes

Participants will be able to articulate experiences that have contributed to their self-authorship development.
Participants will better understand where they are in their self-authorship development.
Participants will start thinking about conversations to have with supervisors/supervisees that are supportive of self-authorship development.
Participants will better understand how to apply/incorporate synergistic supervision to their supervisor/supervisee relationships.

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Introduction!

Rachael Tregler, graduate student at Marquette University

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Before diving into the presentation, I would like to introduce myself. My name is Rachael Tregler, and I graduated with my bachelor’s of Business Administration from UW-Milwaukee in 2015 and am now a second-year graduate student at Marquette University studying Student Affairs in Higher Education. I am also the Graduate Assistant for Marquette’s Alumni Memorial Union.

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More importantly, I have worked as a student union employee in both graduate and undergraduate roles since 2010, which would make this my seventh year working - can you believe that! Clearly, over the years I have developed a strong passion for working within a student union and student employee context, but it didn’t start out that way. In fact, I started working at my first union job at UWM’s Information Center two weeks prior to my first day of classes EVER with one goal in mind...

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To develop a

professional identity

What does this mean?

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Partner Activity

What department/school do you work for?
Why did you first apply for the job?

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Developing YOUR Professional Identity:

Self-Authorship Theory

Professional identity, like any personal identity, ties into this idea of self-authorship. Baxter Magolda defines self-authorship as “the internal capacity to define one’s beliefs, identity, and social relations” and answers the three following questions (Evans et al.,2010, p.184):

How do I know?
Who Am I?
How do I want to construct relationships with others?

Baxter Magolda (2008) also discovered three key elements of self-authorship: trusting the internal voice, building an internal foundation, and securing internal commitments. Further, she maintained that challenging dependence and authority were key characteristics of environments that promoted self-authorship. Helping learners situate learning in their experience, validating their learning, and promoting the co-construction of meaning were also important to the path to self-authorship.

*** Before moving on, does anyone need further clarification on self-authorship theory?

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Four Phases of Self-Authorship

Phase 1: Following Formulas
Phase 2: Crossroads
Phase 3: Becoming the Author of One’s Life
Phase 4: Internal Foundation

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Four phases towards self-authorship:

Phase 1: Following Formulas: allowing others to define who you are, “young adults follow the plans laid out for them” while assuring themselves they created these plans themselves (p.185)
Phase 2: Crossroads: the plans a student has been following do not necessarily fit anymore, and new plans need to be established; students are dissatisfied with self
Phase 3: Becoming the Author of One’s Life: creating the ability to choose own beliefs and stand up for them (especially when facing conflict or opposing views)
Phase 4: Internal Foundation: “grounded in their self-determined belief system, in their sense of who they are, and the mutuality of their relationships” (p. 186)

In order to develop a strong internal foundation, students need to trust the internal voice and build an internal foundation.

Using your personal experiences as an employee (including in a student employment context), brainstorm a few examples that fall under each of the four phases. Please use your personal experiences (give them a few minutes to jot ideas down; ask for 2-3 volunteers to share).

Phase 1: “The professional values of this department are what I also value because my supervisor told me so”
Phase 2: “Do I agree with these professional values?”
Phase 3: “These are my professional values, which may align with or differ from the department”
Phase 4: “I firmly believe in these professional values”

By a show of hands, what phase do you think you are in at this point in your professional development?

Phase 1: Following formulas?
Phase 2: Crossroads?
Phase 3: Becoming the Author of One’s Life?
Phase 4: Internal Foundation?

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Most students, including student employees, find themselves in Phase 2: Crossroads

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The Crossroads

Discovery/realization the need to establish:

Own sense of self (beliefs & values)
Career paths more suited to needs & interests
More authentic relationships

Seek to become more autonomous

"A clearer sense of direction & more self-confidence marked the end of the crossroads," (Evans, et. al, 2010, p. 185).

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How can supervisors guide student employees through the crossroads phase to the path of self-authorship?

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What is supervision?

Winston & Creamer, 1997

“One of the most complex activities that student affairs professionals are called upon to perform”

E.g., supervisors of student employees

Schuh and Carlisle (1991)

“Any relationship where one person has the responsibility to provide leadership, direction, information, motivation, evaluation or support for one person and more persons”

Can anyone give me a definition of what supervision is? Allow for 3-4 volunteers to respond.

“There are a number of different ways that supervision is defined:”

Supervision, as defined by Winston and Creamer (1997) is “one of the most complex activities that student affairs professionals are called upon to perform.”

It is much more than monitoring the day-to-day job responsibilities of a staff member.

In a broad sense, Schuh and Carlisle (1991) define supervision as “any relationship where one person has the responsibility to provide leadership, direction, information, motivation, evaluation, or support for one person and more persons.” Simply put, supervision is a helping process.

Ideally, supervision should do the following (Winston & Creamer, 1997):

Support staff
Encourage true collaboration
Be tailored to the individual and the context of the relationship
Result in the accomplishment of organizational goals and the supervisee’s personal
Professional development (i.e. self-authorship)

For supervisors, facilitating this helping process with student employees prepares the next generation of professionals entering into the workforce, no matter what field that may be.

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Students and Supervision

“The literature demonstrates that entry-level [professionals] need seasoned supervisors to make sense of work experiences and to create teachable moments from which the new professional can learn.”

Shupp & Armino, 2012

Based upon the literature, we can ascertain a few things about graduate students and supervision.

First, student employees want a supervisor who is both nurturing and caring. In fact, it is not uncommon for students to anticipate being “apprenticed to their supervisors,” and plan to rely upon their immediate supervisors for guidance, support in making decisions and assistance in solving problems (Harned & Murphy, 1998).

Second, students likely have a wide variety of wants when it comes to supervision (Shupp & Arminio, 2012; Winston & Hirt, 2003; Barham & Winston, 2006):

Supervision that is intentional and tailored to their unique needs
On-going and consistent feedback via informal means and formal evaluations
Professional development opportunities and developmental support
Consistent attention and treatment that has a professional focus and involves guidance, teaching, and modeling appropriate behavior
A supervisor who is both accessible and approachable and willing to engage in open and frequent communication Opportunities to express frustrations in a safe environment and unconditional support A personal, meaningful relationship with a supervisor
Demonstrated trust

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A Synergistic Model of Supervision

Synergistic Supervision has nine components (Winston & Creamer, 1997):

Dual focus
Joint effort
Two-way communication
Focus on competence
Growth orientation
Proactivity
Goal-based
Systematic and ongoing process
Holism

Overwhelmed? Have no fear! There is a supervision model within student affairs called Synergistic Supervision that is consistent with all of the above expectations of students and also advocates for a collaborative effort between the supervisor and supervisee.

What is synergistic supervision? Synergistic supervision is an approach that embodies effective supervisory practices. It is a “cooperative effort between the supervisor and staff members that allows the effect of their joint efforts to be greater than the sum of their individual contributions.” Basically, synergistic supervision can be expressed as “1+1 = 3” (Winston & Creamer, 1997).

Synergistic Supervision has nine components (Winston & Creamer, 1997):

Dual focus
Joint effort
Two-way communication
Focus on competence
Growth orientation
Proactivity
Goal-based
Systematic and ongoing process
Holism

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Application

Self-Authorship Theory →
Validating learners’ capacity to know	Ensure students know input is important; be more human/approachable; encourage sharing of ideas
Situating learning in learners	Recognize/draw on students’ experiences; avoid marginalizing; explain transferable skills; address opportunities for learning
Mutually constructing meaning	Learning is something you do together; supervising is relational; allow employees to see reasoning
Reflection, goal setting, planning	Encourage reflection when goal setting and planning; discuss academic and non-academic life experiences

Synergistic Supervision
Dual focus; join effort; two-way communication
Focus on competence; growth orientation; proactivity
Joint effort; two-way communication
Goal-based; systematic and ongoing process; holism

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Self-authorship emerges from creating environments that challenged dependence on authority and meaning-making processes (Learning Partnership Model). Such environments utilize several key principles (Baxter Magolda, 1992):

Validating learners' capacity to know

Ensure students know their input is important
Be more human, approachable and concerned—students more likely to see knowledge construction as reachable
Encourage active sharing of ideas and viewpoints

Situating learning in learners

Recognize & acknowledge that students bring their personal experiences into the workplace
Avoid marginalizing students
Explain the relevance of job responsibilities/skills to students' long-term careers
Address behavior as an opportunity for growth and learning

Mutually constructing meaning

Frame learning as something you do together
Present supervising & learning as relational
Allow students to see your reasoning processes

When supervising:

Encouraging reflection when goal setting and planning
Discussing academic and non-academic life experiences

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As you can see, these different elements of developing self-authorship directly correlate with the nine components associated with synergistic supervision.

“Student [employees] who worked with supervisors who encouraged reflection in goal setting and intentional planning and discussed with students their nonacademic life experiences were more likely to develop abilities and perspectives associated with self-authorship” (Evans et al., 190)

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Develop YOUR

Action Plan!

So we will close out the session by having all of you create your own action plan for incorporating synergistic supervision into your supervisor/supervisee relationships. I am going to pass out a worksheet that includes each of the nine components of synergistic supervision. The instructions ask to:

“Develop at least one action item you plan on implementing for each of the nine components of Synergistic Supervision between you and your supervisor(s)/supervisee(s). Refer to the back of this handout for questions to consider when developing your action plan. Also, consider how each of your action items will enhance your professional (self-authorship) development.”

“If you turn to the back page of the worksheet, I have also included questions to consider when developing these action items. I will give you all about 5 minutes to develop your plan and will offer assistance for anyone having trouble.”

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QUESTIONS?