Like SAND Through the Hourglass

S.A.N.D.Student Appreciation:

Nurturing & Developing

Presented byMathew Gregory and Natalie Munoz

Goals of this Presentation

• To understand the theories and research that exist around motivation and staff development.

• To reflect on and share your own motivational tools and staff development techniques.

• To implement S.A.N.D. to fulfill the needs of your staff.

About Stony Brook’s Campus Residences

• Twenty-six residence halls grouped into six quads offering specialized housing options

• Three on-campus apartment complexes• Over 9,500 students in housing and

approximately 220 Resident Assistants

Natalie’s Staff

• Manages 3 Upperclassman/Graduate Apartment Buildings

• Supervises 450 students and 9 Resident Assistants

Matthew’s Staff

• Manages a corridor style residence hall with over 280 undergraduate residents

• Supervises 6 Resident Assistants• Academic College Theme of Information and

Technology Studies

Current Student Staff Development Practices at

SBU• Undergraduate College Themes• Student Employee Learning Outcomes– Personal Development

• 360⁰ Evaluations with Student Staff– Professional Development• Community Development/Activities Planner• Administrative• Helper• Limit Setter• Overall Staff Member

What Do You Do…

• with your staff to motivate them?• with your staff to appreciate them?

What is S.A.N.D?

• A motivational tool• A team building exercise• An opportunity for student staff to assess their

professional development needs on a weekly basis

How To Set Up S.A.N.D.

• Purchase glass jars and different colors of sand• Determine goals and/or mission of your

university or department• Assign a color of sand to each goal• At each staff meeting allow students to

nominate themselves and/or their staff members for accomplishing one of the goals

• As students are nominated fill their jar with the correlating color of sand.

History of S.A.N.D.

An organization

elicits the performance it rewards.

-Diane Hodges

What is a Competency?

• The term competency implies a level of understanding and confidence that must be reached before one can hope to perform at a satisfactory level.

ACPA Professional Competencies

• Advising and Helping• Assessment, Evaluation, and Research• Ethics• Legal Foundations• Leadership and Management/Administration• Pluralism and Inclusion• Student Learning and Development• Teaching

ACPA CompetenciesAdvising and Helping

Assessment, Evaluation and Research

Ethics

Legal Foundations

Leadership and Management/Administration

Pluralism and Inclusion

Student Learning and Development

Teaching

S.A.N.D.Compassionate

Purposeful

Virtuous

Diplomat

Leader

Includer

Educator

S.A.N.D. Competencies

“Keep it Simple”

ACPA Competency• Advising & Helping– Application of theories

and skills related to providing support, direction, feedback, critique, and guidance to individuals and groups.

S.A.N.D. Competency• Compassionate– A student staff member

who builds meaningful relationships. They establish healthy, mutually beneficial relationships with other staff members and residents.


ACPA Competency S.A.N.D. Competency• Virtuous– A staff member that

demonstrates humanitarianism. They understand, appreciate, and promote service learning while upholding all policies and following proper procedures.

• Ethics– The ability to assess

daily activities from an ethical perspective, as well as understanding and applying ethical standards to one’s work

ACPA Competency• Leadership & Management

Administration– Influencing, motivating,

and enabling others to contribute toward the effectiveness and success of their organization… deployment of resources to advance mission, goals, initiatives.

S.A.N.D. Competency• Leader– A student staff member

who demonstrates effective leadership. They are skilled in guiding and assisting their staff, peers, and community in meeting goals.


“Keep it Simple”ACPA Competency

• Assessment, Evaluation & Research– Design and

implementation of quantitative and qualitative techniques and tools focused on student learning and satisfaction…and other emergent issues

S.A.N.D. Competency• Purposeful– A student staff member

who appreciates the application of theory to practice. Identifies a need/learning outcomes and evaluates process


ACPA Competency• Pluralism & Inclusion– An understanding and

valuing of diverse groups and views, civic engagement, and social responsibility.

S.A.N.D. Competency• Includer– A student staff member

who understands and appreciates cultural and human differences. They encourage multiculturalism and cross-cultural interaction


ACPA Competency S.A.N.D. Competency• Diplomat– A student staff member

who is the peacemaker. They incorporate the ethical reasoning into action and appropriately challenge the unfair, unjust, or uncivil behavior of other individuals or groups.

• Legal Foundations– The ability to assess

daily activities from a legal perspective as well as understanding and applying knowledge of legal issues to one’s work environment and relationships.


ACPA Competency S.A.N.D. Competency• Educator– A student staff member

who understands their role in student learning and development. They thrive on sharing newly learned information with others.

• Teaching – Knowledge and understanding

of concepts and principles of teaching, learning, and training theory and how to apply them to improve student affairs practice

• Student Learning and Development– Knowledge and understanding

of concepts and principles of student development and student learning theories.


• Supervisor Recognition–This award is specifically from the RHD

regarding things that may not exactly fit into a S.A.N.D. category, but is deserving of recognition.

S.A.N.D. Demonstration

Theory Concepts Behind S.A.N.D.

Theoretical Concepts

• Professional Development–Assessment of Needs (McClelland, 1985)–Motivation (Carpenter)

• Positive Reinforcement (Pavlov, 1890)• Staff Development–Challenge and Support (Sanford, 1967)

• Staff Dynamics (Tuckman, 1965)

Professional Development:Assessment of Needs

(McClelland, 1985)

• The need for achievement (n-ach)

• The need for authority and power (n-pow)

• The need for affiliation (n-affil)

Student Appreciation: Nurturing & Developing

Professional Development:

Motivation (Carpenter)Dimensions Occupation Profession

Theory, intellectual Absent Present

Relevance to social values Not relevant Relevant

Training period Short Long

Non-specialized Specialized

Involves things Involves symbols

Subculture Subculture

Unimportant Important

Motivation Self-interest Service

Autonomy Absent Present

Commitment Short term Long term

Sense of Community Low High

Code of Ethics Underdeveloped Highly developed

Source: D. Stanley Carpenter, Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession

Reinforcement Methods (Pavlov, 1890)

Source: Principles of Management and Organizational Behavior by Bauer, Carpenter, and Erdogan

Challenge and Support (Sanford, 1967)

Staff Dynamics (Tuckman, 1965)

• Forming• Storming• Norming• Performing• Adjourning

Source: "Bruce Tuckman's 1965 Forming Storming Norming Performing team development model"

RESULTS

Pre-Test Results & Feedback

Strongly Agree

Agree Agree Slightly

Neutral Disagree Slightly

Disagree Strongly Disagree

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

7 Being purposeful is an important aspect of the RA position

13 Being an educator is an important aspect of the RA position

14 I feel competent in my ability to educate others

Post-Test Results & Feedback

Strongly

Agree

Agree

Agree Sl

ightly

Neutral

Disagre

e Sligh

tly

Disagre

e

Strongly

Disagre

e0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

3

3.5

Post-Test Results

Being purposeful is an im-portant aspect of the RA position

Being an educator is an im-portant aspect of the RA position

I feel competent in my abil-ity to educate others

Qualitative Feedback

• 100% (11/11) of the Student Staff reported that SAND made them feel appreciated. – Peer Recognition-7– Contributes to a sense of caring among staff-2– Encouragement-1– Supervisor Recognition-1– Role Model-1

Qualitative Research• 100% reported that SAND contributed to their

understanding of their role as a Resident Assistant–Understand areas of improvement as a

Resident Assistant–Understand the different roles of the

Resident Assistant– Learn from their peers and gain valuable

knowledge

Qualitative Research

• 9 out of 11 Student Staff reported feeling motivated to fulfill a competency by participating in SAND.

• 1 out of 11 Student Staff reported feeling not motivated.

• 1 out of 11 Student Staff reported feeling internal motivation.

Qualitative ResearchStrengths Weaknesses

Awareness of strengths and weaknesses Modesty

Positively impacted staff dynamics Not willing to go above and beyond

Motivated to acquire new competencies Feeling of disappointment

Enhanced Staff Morale Non –enthusiastic staff member

Peer Recognition Limited staff relationships

Appreciation Students may feel they have a competency, but do not receive a nomination

Keepsake


• 10 out of 11 Student Staff reported that S.A.N.D. positively impacted their staff dynamics. – Appreciation has built community– Humor


• 10 out of 11 Student Staff reported that they enjoyed SAND. – Recognition-5– Fun-5– Challenge -1

• 1 out of 11 Student Staff reported mixed emotions.

Reflection

• Are any of your techniques/tools research based?• How do you assess your staff’s needs?• What steps can you take to ensure that

the needs of your staff are being met?

S.A.N.D.Giveaway!

Citations• Dweck, C.S. (2001). Resources in education. Philadelphia, PA: Psychology Pr.• McClelland, D.C. (1985). Human motivation. United States: Scott, Forseman

and Company.• Komives, S.R. , & Woodward, D.B. (2003). Student services. San Francisco,

CA: Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.• DeNisi, A.S., & Griffin, R.W. (2004). Human resource management. Boston,

MA: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH).• Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., & Guid-DiBrito, F. (1998). Student development in

college. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.• Chickering, A.W., & Reisser, L. (1993). Education and identity. San Francisco,

CA: Jossey-Bass.• Yukl, G. (2006). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson

- Prentice Hall.• ACPA. About ACPA. Retrieved from http://www2.myacpa.org/au/index.php• Deluga, R.J., & Winters Jr., J.J. (1991). Why the Aggravation? Reasons

students become resident assistants, interpersonal stress, and job satisfaction. Journal of College Student Development, 32, 546-552.

• Bierman, S.E., & Carpenter, D.S. (1994). An Analysis of resident assistant work motivation. Journal of College Student Development, 35, 467-474.

• Tuckman, Bruce. (1965) Forming Storming Norming Performing team development model.