Agree with Debi--tone and energy. It's also about how we respond to their questions, summarize their concerns, help them problem solve, etc. can show how we feel about our students too!

After seeing all of the 6 barriers, I realize how I can easily default to one of those if I'm not being careful. It's great to be made more aware of what those are and what they look like.

After seeing all of the 6 barriers, I realize how I can easily default to one of those if I'm not being careful. It's great to be made more aware of what those are and what they look like.

Agree! Maybe if we added "anything else?" to each category of the needs anaylsis rather than just at the end like the script shows, it would make a huge difference!

I was thinking would it be possible to do a funnel for each of our main categories of the needs analysis (ed. background, why now, current job, POI, college search) but maybe that would be a little overboard?

I've just recently tried adding this into the end of our needs analysis by saying at the end, "So I want to make sure I'm hearing you correctly...." and summarize the main points of their answers. It shows I listened (and took notes, ha) but also makes that end question of "Is there anything else to add?" less awkward.

I've just recently tried adding this into the end of our needs analysis by saying at the end, "So I want to make sure I'm hearing you correctly...." and summarize the main points of their answers. It shows I listened (and took notes, ha) but also makes that end question of "Is there anything else to add?" less awkward.

I try to go into a little detail at the beginning of our initial calls with students letting them know I'm going to be asking them some questions about themselves to get to know them a little bit better. When I don't preface the conversation with "I'm going to ask you a little about yourself, your goals, your past education," people seem to have much shorter answers. Maybe it's all in my head but they seem a little more open and relaxed when I use some sort of softeners with them.

Agree! Sometimes I don't take the time to think how a why question can come off as them needing to justify themselves. Seems like why questions would usually fall into that below the line category too!

Knowing when to use an open vs a closed question in terms of controlling the conversation was extremely helpful to learn! Especially when sometimes you have students who want to tell you their life story and although may be interesting or may be giving you a lot of good info about themselves--it can get carried away and lose the purpose of the initial interview.