Throughout our professional life we ​​will always find changes. The key is how we manage change, how we present ourselves to change, and how we overcome obstacles to change.

What is Change and how is it Associated with Academic Advising?

Change is not easy, it never has been and it never will be, but it is essential for all people, companies and/or organizations if they want to stay competitive in the global market. In fact, Sharma (2008) states that change is often correlated with pain. According to Hechanova and Cementian-Oploc (2012), change is associated with leadership and leadership aligns people with their vision. As academic advisors or coaches on an in-person or virtual campus, we are always aligning our students with their vision. Who would actively want to do something if they knew it would cause pain? That is one of the main reasons why organizations and their supporters fail in the face of change: the fear of the unknown and the ease of maintaining the status quo. The change can be good, although we see this example; Can you imagine life if television never changed? We would still be looking at the big box that was on the living room floor with those aluminum bunny ears sticking out the back. Do you think those types of TVs would sell in today’s market? Not with the TVs that hang on the walls and project 3D images. From this example, change is good and change needs to occur for the elements of life to grow and sustain.

So let’s examine what happens when we are faced with change. Have I lost you already? Most people will drop their current activity that is causing them distress.

Let’s take a look at the higher education industry, and more importantly, how academic advisors can help students with change. How do students handle change? There are many great theories on how to manage change, such as Kotter’s 8-step change model gold Kurt Lewin’s 3 Phase Theory of Change, but the best way I have found through my research is through communication with my students. That’s it – simple communication. This is something we do every day with our students, but we don’t do it efficiently. Let’s look at Kotter’s 8-step model of change and the first three steps. According to Kotter (2007), they are:

create emergency

Build a powerful coalition

Create a vision for change

The question I want to ask is, “how do these three points work within the student council?” Please take a moment to reflect on how we can create a sense of urgency, empower our students to network and use resources, and create a vision for their change. How can we communicate this to you?

According to Lewis, Laster, and Kulkarni (2013), communication has a lot to do with the leadership style and philosophy of the particular institution and whether it incorporates transformational, transactional, top-down, or servant leadership, to name a few. It should be noted that institutions that have successfully made significant change have had change agents who understood the power of communication, both positive and negative. Furthermore, Lewis, Laster and Kulkarni (2013) state that trust is an important component of change and communication. Did you trust your academic adviser or guidance counselor when you were in school?

When talking to students and how they are going to adapt from a traditional environment to a non-traditional virtual environment, uncertainty is often the answer I get. How will this virtual education affect my life, my family and my work? Will taking classes online be more difficult or easier because of the flexibility? A simple explanation would be to ask them what their dreams are and why they are going back to school in a non-traditional setting. What is your “WHY”? During this time, I have found that it is a great opportunity to share with my students stories of personal relevance or stories that relate to the student’s experience. Additionally, Sharma (2008) uses appreciative inquiry techniques such as define, discover, and dream to help create focal points that can be used to remove change stressors and help overcome barriers that might be hindering change. In this case with students and schools, overcoming barriers is a huge and constant hurdle for professionals in the field, but being able to help our students realize their dreams is worth the little extra work.

Let’s take a look at the define, discover, and dream phases.

define phase

The definition phase in advising students is gaining a full understanding of what the student is seeking to achieve. This is the time when we can define goals and expectations about their program and how attending school will help them. Also, this is a good time to talk with students about any other issues they may have, such as time management, learning styles, technology needs, and concerns. It should also be noted that Bloom, Hutson, and He (2008) go into great detail about how appreciative inquiry correlates with student advising from a campus advising standpoint and have developed a great program called Advising. appreciative. In the definition phase, Bloom, Hutson, and He (2008) discuss how to disarm students’ fears and discover their goals. For the purposes of this article, we are looking closely at appreciative inquiry and how it relates to virtual and face-to-face campus advising.

discovery phase

This is a great time to work with your students to find out why they are in school. What is your big goal and plans for the future? Some responses you might get would be that they are the first in their family to attend school at the secondary level or that they might be looking to get out of a particular situation. The difference I have seen with students during this phase differs greatly from my experiences in advising on campus on the ground. Students in the virtual environment tend to be established adult learners, while on the basic campus, the demographic is 19-25 years old. Students in the virtual environment also tend to have different goals and dreams, just as mentioned above about how to get out of a particular situation or life event. Regardless of why they go to school, we must be able to listen and apply their dreams and goals to their program of study and design a plan that will get them where they ultimately want to be.

Some questions I like to ask during this phase include:

· So, tell me why you have selected this particular institution and this particular title.

· Tell me about a time when you were faced with a challenge that you didn’t think you could overcome. How did you overcome that and what did this challenge teach you?

sleep phase

This is my favorite phase and it is also an Appreciative Counseling phase. The experience I’ve had with this phase has really changed the scope of how I talk to and deal with my student population. Questions posed during this phase show students that the student advisors and coaches are really listening to them and that we genuinely care and have a vested interest in their success. Some of the questions I have asked during this phase include:

· Think outside the box, if money were not an issue, what would you do?

Or I like to ask a legacy question: what do you want to be remembered for?

I have found that students, when asked these questions, are very receptive and excited, as they have probably never been asked these types of questions before. This helps our student population in the virtual environment to grasp something that is tangible and provides them with a plan that is not transactional at all but much more of a life plan. It’s very exciting.

Conclusion

My challenge to you is to talk to your students and ask them about their dreams and goals. Whether in person or over the phone, get your students involved. Similar to the Kotter Model, establish a sense of urgency with your students to define why they are in school, align them with the right resources, and help them develop their vision for success. These three phases can be accomplished in a 60-minute appointment. I recommend that if you have the time to space it out, you make other appointments, but what I have found is that our students are busy enough that they don’t have to sit in an office or on the phone all day. The great part is that you will be surprised at what you will find and it will put them at ease as they transition from non-academic to academic. Students need networking alliances and partnerships in the virtual environment and going the extra mile; we can help our students with change management as they begin their journey in the world of lifelong learning.

References

Bloom. Jennifer L, Hutson. Bryant L, El. Ye, (2008). The Appreciative Advice Revolution, Champaign, IL: Stripes Publishing LLC.

Hechanova, Regina and Raquel Cementina-Olpoc. 2013. “Transformational Leadership, Change Management, and Commitment to Change: A Comparison Between Business and Academic Organizations.” Asia-Pacific Researcher in Education 22, no. 1:11-19. Education Research Complete, EBSCOhost (accessed July 10, 2013).

Kotter, JP (2007). Lead the change. Harvard Business Review, 85(1), 96-103.

Lewis, LK, Laster, N. & Kulkarni, V. (2013). Telling them what it will be like: Risky change pain preview in early announcements. Business Communication Magazine, 50(3), 278-308. doi:10.1177/0021943613487072

Sharma, R. (2008). Celebrating Change: The New Paradigm of Organizational Development. ICFAI Journal Of Soft Skills, 2(3), 23-28.