Paul Jett

Students at every level need to learn to develop active listening skills. One of the best ways I have seen this done is through improvisational comedy. Improv has two simple rules - 1) you cannot negate what someone has just said or did and 2) you must add something meaningful to the scene. The first rule teaches a student how to accept without judgment what the speaker is saying. The second rule, however, is the hardest because in order to forces the active listener to really listen, internalize what the previous speaker just said, and create something new (synthesis).

I think that the most difficult thing to achieve with coaching is to build the trust necessary to do it effectively. Despite what everyone may say to the contrary, if you evaluate your direct reports in anyway, then they will see any coaching attempt as critical at best, at worst, as an effort to penalize them. I have tried to make my direct reports see that coaching is never used in the evaluation process, but despite all I say or do, I still sense reticence on their part to fully participate in the coaching process.

One of the most difficult things I find in public speaking is projecting my voice clearly. More often than not, the audio equipment will fail or not be working properly so it becomes VERY important to know how to project, much like actors on a stage, speaking from your diaphram while not actually yelling, if that makes sense.

One of my biggest problems in meetings is to regulate myself. I often find that when I run a meeting I can be a bit overbearing. active listening is a skill that I try to practice as much as possible during meetings in order to avoid just me dominating the discussion.

Active listening is a skill that everyone, including our students, need to learn to use on a regular basis. Often times, especially in meetings, people spend more time "thinking" about what they are going to say next instead of listening to what the speaker is actually saying! When I was in law school, we would practice improvisational comedy to improve our active listening skills - this may be something that will help team-building as well. Improv requires that all participants "listen" closely to what is being said at any given time - to listen in the "now."

In my department, its difficult to run a successful mentoring program due to simple numbers. I believe that a formal student mentoring program serves best - not only because it promotes that sense of belonging and bonding among students, but it also teaches leadership skills to the mentors and is yet one more notch they can put on the resume.

I believe that admissions would benefit greatly from meeting with program directors to establish a checklist of commonalities for prospective students. But they should also review these regularly, and remember that, as with any types of list, both admissions and faculty should not be a slave to this checklist. I completely agree that while the checklist is helpful, it is not, by itself, a predictor for success.

One of the things I like to do to encourage students come to class and come prepared is to start the class with a short quiz about the day's assignment/reading. It is not a difficult quiz and is often worth no more than 5 points - but I find that it helps to springboard classroom discussion and it does help keep students "locked" in.

I believe that setting the tone the first day is absolutely critical in providing students with the sense of structure and a framework for success. That being said, it also can be used useful as for retention - giving students a sense of companionship. I really like the idea sharing contact information on day one - I also like to send out a group email to the entire class after the first day to re-engage them and make sure everyone has everything they need to go forward.

I like to bring all of the new students in my department together where I can give them a "real" introduction into their chosen field. I think it is important to ignite their passion and desire for their chosen career. And I also feel it importnant to congratulate them on making this descision - not everyone in the world would be willing to commit to this, and for that each student is indeed special. Above all, I want them to leave feeling excited and confident that they can do this.